THE INFLUENCE OF WATCHING NEWS ABOUT CHURCH BOMBINGS IN SURABAYA ON THE PUBLIC PERCEPTION TOWARD THE VEILED MUSLIM WOMEN IN YOGYAKARTA

Abstract

p> Wearing veil is the right for Muslim women in Indonesia. However, they should be careful with the recent social condition. Some people feel anxious, fear or even suspicious against veiled Muslim women. Moreover, after both electronic and social media provided information on terrorism cases, most people assume that it is done by Muslims. Based on the negative perception, the study aims to observe the effects of watching news about church bombing in Surabaya to people’s opinion about the veiled Muslim woman in Yogyakarta. The theory in this study is the cultivation and meaning of the message. This research is a quantitative method, precisely using a survey. The data are retrieved using questionnaires, and samples and are taken using purposive sampling technique. The result shows that R. Square is 0.227 which means that 22.7% variable factors’ perception on veiled Muslim women are affected after watching news about church bombing, while the 77.3% is affected by other variables. Based on the ANOVA, the value of F count equals to 28.827 with a 0.000 probability level (significance) which means watching a news about church bombing in Surabaya has significant impact on the public perception of the veiled Muslim women. </p

Full text

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Ulul Albab Volume 20, No.2 Tahun 2019
THE INFLUENCE OF WATCHING NEWS ABOUT
CHURCH BOMBINGS IN SURABAYA ON THE
PUBLIC PERCEPTION TOWARD THE VEILED
MUSLIM WOMEN IN YOGYAKARTA
Dendy Suseno Adhiarso
University of AMIKOM Yogyakarta, Indonesia
E-mail: dendysuseno@gmail.com
Abstract
Wearing veil is the right for Muslim women in Indonesia. However, they
should be careful with the recent social condition. Some people feel anxious,
fear or even suspicious against veiled Muslim women. Moreover, after both
electronic and social media provided information on terrorism cases, most
people assume that it is done by Muslims. Based on the negative perception,
the study aims to observe the effects of watching news about church bombing
in Surabaya to people’s opinion about the veiled Muslim woman in
Yogyakarta. The theory in this study is the cultivation and meaning of the
message. This research is a quantitative method, precisely using a survey.
The data are retrieved using questionnaires, and samples and are taken
using purposive sampling technique. The result shows that R. Square is
0.227 which means that 22.7% variable factors’ perception on veiled
Muslim women are affected after watching news about church bombing,
while the 77.3% is affected by other variables. Based on the ANOVA, the
value of F count equals to 28.827 with a 0.000 probability level
(significance) which means watching a news about church bombing in
Surabaya has significant impact on the public perception of the veiled
Muslim women.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18860/ua.v20i2.5662

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Penggunaan cadar merupakan hak bagi muslimah di Indonesia. Namun
mereka harus berhati-hati dengan kondisi sosial yang berkembang saat ini.
Sebagian masyarakat merasa resah, khawatir, bahkan curiga terhadap
muslimah bercadar. Terlebih setelah media elektronik maupun sosial
memberikan informasi kasus terorisme, sebagian masyarakat beranggapan
bahwa itu merupakan perilaku orang Islam. Berdasarkan persepsi negatif
tersebut, penelitian ini ditujukan untuk melihat pengaruh menonton
pemberitaan bom gereja di Surabaya terhadap persepsi masyarakat
Yogyakarta tentang muslimah bercadar. Penelitian ini menggunakan teori
kultivasi dan pemaknaan pesan. Metode penelitiannya adalah kuantitatif,
dengan menggunakan survey. Data diambil menggunakan kuesioner, serta
sampel diambil menggunakan teknik purposive sampling. Hasil penelitian
menunjukkan bahwa R. Square yang bernilai 0,227, mempunyai arti
bahwa 22,7 % variabel faktor apabila variabel menonton tayangan bom
gereja Surabaya mempengaruhi persepsi masyarakat tentang muslimah
bercadar, dan 77,3% sisanya dipengaruhi oleh variabel-variabel lain diluar
penelitian. Berdasarkan uji ANOVA, diperoleh nilai F hitung sebesar
28,827 dengan tingkat probabilitas 0,000 (signifikansi) artinya menonton
tayangan bom gereja Surabaya mempunyai pengaruh yang signifikan
terhadap persepsi masyarakat tentang muslimah bercadar.
Keywords: impressions bombs; public perception, veiled Muslim women
Received: October 29, 2018; Accepted: December 26, 2019
Introduction
Media is a tool used to move a message from the source to the
recipient (Leonardi, Huysman, and Steinfield 2013). Communications
press propaganda lot of numbers begin the traditional as well as modern
example gong, drum, musical stages, newspapers, bulletin boards,
magazines, movies, radio, and television. Of all that, in general, can be
classified as a medium of writing or in print, visual, audio and audiovisual.
The TV as a medium of communication, of course, has a message to be
delivered. Then the contents of the word in a visual form consist of
dimensions of the material, while the film as a media tool plays as a
dimension of the relationship (Williams 2004). In this case, for example, a
story filled with violence and sexism presented by the audio-visual media
(Film and Television) may pose more significant influence. For example,

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children or adolescents may imitate what they watched in a film. In
comparison with what they saw through magazines and radio; the magazine
has only visual meanwhile radio has audio. So, the impact will be very
different.
Some messages can be learned from a news broadcast; for example,
one of trending news is about the bombardment in several churches in
Surabaya. The impact caused by these impressions is great especially for the
veiled Muslim in Yogyakarta. Their psychological conditions are affected to
the extent they feel like the accused ones, often terrorized by the public
because the general public perception is that everyone wearing a veil is
terrorist. People, then, tend to fear and avoid those veiled Muslim women
because they are always associated with suicide terror bombing as happened
in three churches in Surabaya year 2018 (Buntut Teror Bom di Surabaya,
DIY Kini Berstatus Siaga 1 2018). A subsequent explosion in Sidoarjo
uproar as a result of hearing the explosion of one of the rooms in a flats,
which later be revealed as a room of terrorists. After the bombardment of
three churches, Surabaya was back in confusion as a result of terrorist
suicide bombing in Polrestabes Surabaya, in which the person involved one
family. A few moments later, terror aftershocks occurred again. No longer a
suicide bomber, but to crash and assault with a sharp weapon against the
police officers who were on duty in Riau Police. The tense of accused
people arrested in some places, not to mention the widespread circulation
of hoax news in social media, would increasingly make the rowdy
atmosphere in the society. Terror in Surabaya and Sidoarjo also harmed
family members in which children of the suspected terrorists involved in
the bombing.
After watching various programs on television which give
information on terrorism cases, most people assumed that terrorists are
Muslims; although it has not been proven (PBNU: Pelaku Teror Bom di
Surabaya Bukan Islam 2018). Based on the perception of some anti-
terrorism people, they believe that veiled Muslim women are synonymous
with terrorism (Menyusul serangan teror, pemakai cadar dan celana
cingkrang menangkis kecurigaan 2018). So the researchers want to see how
media’s role, especially television, in providing news about acts of terrorism.
That is because television functions to inform and to influence public
through the displayed information. When it broadcasts the amount of news
on terrorism, the public will have erroneous perception on Muslims,
especially Muslim women wearing burqa (veil). The authors are interested to

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learn the effect of watching the news on church bombing in Surabaya to
public perception toward the veiled Muslim woman in Yogyakarta.
Cultivation Theory
Cultivation theory is one of cumulative effects of mass media theory
that identifies the relation between mass media exposure, namely television,
and mass audience belief and attitude about the world around them
(Griffin 2006). In short, the theory hypothesizes that television viewers
would maintain the trust and conception of the world around it in line
with what they watch through screen. Cultivation theory states that
television bears responsibility in forming and cultivating conception or
perspective on social reality (Shanahan, Shanahan, and Morgan 1999). It
means, it has substantial effect to its audience to view their individual
reality and culture. Moreover, the theory emphasizes the macro system
influence of television on society as a whole. Thus, to describe their view of
TV as a medium that influence the culture, the researchers have basis on
four (4) stages of process. They are the analysis of messaging system, forming
a variety of questions about viewers’ social reality, audience survey, and
comparison of social reality among audiences/viewers. Based on the
hypothesis of cultivation theory, highly engaged viewers tend to see the
world as a place filled with violence after watching programs broadcasting
about violence (Scharrer and Blackburn 2018).
Reception Theory
Theoretically, analysis of reception theory refers to the study of
meaning, production and audience interaction with text. Focus of this
theory is the process of decoding, interpretation, and analysis of the core
understanding of the reception concept. In mass communication, the
communication process is conceptualized as a circuit or loop. This model
was criticized because of its directness (sender/message/receiver) focusing
on the level of message exchange and the absence of concepts that have
been structured from different moments as a complex structure of
relationship. This theory shows that the message and its implicit meaning
might be different. The encode and decode are not always symmetrical (Hall
2001). The symmetry degree in this theory is used as the degree of
understanding in exchanging messages in communication process. The
degree depends on equivalence relation formed between encoder and
decoder; in addition to their position as message creator and the recipient.

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There are three positions in which audience is behind the encoding in
communication:
a. hegemonic dominance occurs when accidentally viewers interpret the
connoted messages. This position is ideal in transparent
communication, in which individuals act against an appropriate code of
what is perceived to dominate to have more power than other systems.
b. negotiation position is when the audience is able to accept the dominant
ideology and will move to follow it up with a few exceptions.
c. oppositional position is illustrated when audiences accept and understand,
both literally and connotatively, but they encode it in opposite way.
This only happens when the audience has a critical thinking in rejecting
any form of message delivered by media and interpreting their choice.
By looking at the position which refers to the Reception Theory,
researchers will try to describe things associated with the process of hoax
message meaning on facebook account of community anti-hoax.
Mass Media
Mass media is one of the means to satisfy the human need for
information and entertainment (Wimmer and Dominick 2013). It is the
result of modern technology as a product of mass communication channels.
It is also one crucial element in the process of mass communication. Mass
media are grouped into (1) printed media which includes newspapers,
magazines, books, brochures, and so on, and (2) electronic media, such as
radio, television, films, slides, video, and others (Speck and Elliott 1997).
Recently, mass media has rapidly developed thanks to the discovery of
internet. From then on, mass media has been dominating, fulfilling, and
affecting society’s everyday life. The mass media inform, entertain, delight,
and sometimes disturb its audiences. Press can stir people’s emotion or
influence their, and establish their reality. Three critical concepts about
mass media are: (1) it is a form of business centered on profits; (2) the
development and change in the delivery and consumption of mass media
are influenced by technological development; and (3) mass media always
simultaneously affect public life, politics, and culture (Croteau and Hoynes
2006).
It can be concluded that mass media as communication channel
conveys information or message to wider audience. It influences almost all
aspects of audiences’ life in terms of social, cultural, economic, politic, and

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so forth. It collects money as a service of providing information and
entertainment. The mass media is also a business that is centered on
profits. Historically, the book is the first mass media, while the internet is
the newest mass media (Dutta-Bergman 2004).
Television News
According to Dean M. Lyle Spencer in his book Writing News, later
quoted by George Fox Mott (New Survey Journalism), news can be defined
as any fact that is accurate or an idea that can draw attention to a large
number of readers (Neuzil 2008). Meanwhile, according to Mitchell V.
Charnley, news is timely report regarding the facts or opinions that have
appeal or importance for society (Maier 2005). Television News refers to
practice of information deployment about latest event through television.
This news can last from a few seconds up to several hours to present the
most recent development of event regionally and internationally. Television
channels usually present news program as part of its periodic function and
broadcast everyday at certain times. Sometimes, television can also be
inserted with the 'news at a glance' to provide a cutting-edge report about an
event that is happening or other crucial impromptu news.
Terrorism
Terror or Terrorism is always synonymous with violence. Terrorism
is the peak of intensity and is the apex of violence (McCauley and
Moskalenko 2014). Terrorism without violence could have happened but
nowadays the opposite occurs. Terrorism is not the same as intimidation or
sabotage. They are usually different in the target (Ganor 2005). Victims of
terrorism are often innocent. Terrorists intend to create the sensation that
the public will pay attention to what they stand for. Acts of terror are not
the same as vandalism, whose motive is damaging physical object. It is also
different with the mafia, action emphasizing omerta whose followers took
oath to keep their mouth shut. Omerta is an extreme form of loyalty and
solidarity in facing other parties, especially the ruler. Unlike Yakuza or
Cosa Nostra which emphasizes the code of omerta, the modern terrorist
frequently issues statements and demands. They want to attract public
attention and utilize the mass media to deliver their message of war (Sarno
2014).
However, lately terrorists need significant investment for their
global activities. For realizing it, they do not do it openly but secretly to

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raise fund. Regarding definite understanding of the term ‘terrorism’, there
has never been one single definition of it. According to M. Cherif
Bassiouni, International Criminal Law expert, it is not easy to hold the
same understanding that can be universally accepted and it is difficult to
maintain control over the meaning of terrorism (Bassiouni and Derby
1981). Therefore, terrorism is a subjective view (Walker, Stanton, and
Jenkins 2017). The United Nations (UN) held an Ad Hoc Committee on
terrorism for seven years since 1972 aiming to determine the definition of
terrorism. However, their effort did not meet the end since there was no
result of terrorism formulation. The most authentic one is to understand
etymology taken from dictionaries and encyclopedias. From the
etymological sense, it can be interpreted that its development is usually not
far from the necessary knowledge (Strydom 2006).
Expert and institution dealing with terrorism argued about the
definition of terrorism in multiple ways. Terror implies the use of force to
create fear within community, rather than only to increase violence victims.
Publication of news about terrorism in mass media is actually fulfilling the
goal of the terrorist itself so that people’s mindset on terrorism is about
something scary or dangerous. There is also suspicion that terrorism is a
planned concept as a mean of intimidation. In this concept, terrorism is
used to intrude into political interest (Hendropriyono 2009).
Veiled Muslim Women
Veil is known as part of hijab worn to cover woman’s face except the
eyes (Reece 1996). This is worn when the Muslim women go outside the
house to keep her from the opposite gender’s view and to stay away from
dangerous intent. Veil itself is often regarded as the Middle Eastern culture.
The mask is also called niqab by Arab society in general (Shirazi and Mishra
2010). Whether it is obligatory or sunna, wearing veil had been started
since the era of the Prophet Muhammad. This shows in one of hadith that
at Ihram women are not allowed to use niqab or veil masks and gloves.
Hijab, the headscarf, and veil cannot be separated from the life of a
Muslim woman. The rule of wearing hijab is meant to guard women from
danger and is a mandatory in Islam. This applies to the entire Muslim
women in the world (Coulson 1964). Unfortunately, in Indonesia, many
people still negatively judge that wearing veil is excessive. Furthermore,
some badly claim that Muslim women wearing veil is part of terrorist

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because people tend to follow the western’s point of view that veiled women
are dangerous.
Public Perception
Etymologically, perception means observation, while, generally it
means the impression of outlook, assessment, and response to something.
So, it can be defined as understanding the object, event, or relationship
obtained by concluding information and interpreting message; in other
words, it gives meaning to the sensory stimuli. Perception as a process by
which individual organizes and interpretes the sensory impression to give
meaning. Thus, the impression or perception is one's view of a particular
object (Masturi 2010).
Understanding is a process to know or recognize object with the
help of sense. This process begins with observation which is a selective
process. It involves understanding and identifying the purpose and the
event. Based on the explanation, the researchers found that perception
arises because of the things establishing one’s direct reception through the
process of sensing, organizing, focusing. The selector and interpretation are
affected by external (stimulus) and individual (personal) factors which
together form one's attitude.
Society is a term commonly used to refer to unit of human life, both
in writing and everyday language. In English, the term "society" is derived
from the Latin "sicius" which means comrade, meanwhile in Arabic "syrik"
means hanging out. Besides, public is any group of people living and
working long enough so they think of themselves as a social entity with clear
definition of boundary (Lippmann 1992). Mac Iver and Page states that
society is a system of authority and cooperation between the various groups
of classes, of monitoring behavior and it means that freedom of man has
changed. Civilization is the social fabric and the community is always
evolving (Urry 2000).
Research Method
The approach in this study is quantitative research by the use of
survey. The data are collected using questionnaire and documentation. The
sample applied is purposive sampling technique. Researcher considers to
include certain elements to get correct information reflecting the
population (Kaplan 2004). Instrument used in this research is intended to

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produce accurate data by using a Likert scale. The statistical tool used is a
simple regression analysis with the formula:
Y = a + bX
Y: The dependent variable/dependent
X: Variables
a: Constants
b: Regression coefficients
Result
In analyzing factors affecting public perception on veiled Muslim
women in Yogyakarta, the equation is as follows:
Table 1
Summary of Regression Data Results
Information
B
t
Sig
Constants
Watching a church bombing Surabaya
2,396
0.437
7.408
5.369
0,000
0,000
R : 0.477 Sig F: 0000
R-square : 0.227 Df: 99
F : 28.827
Sources: Primary data are processed
The equation obtained is:
Y = 2.396 + 0.437 X + e
The constant of 2.396 indicates that the independent variable
remains unchanged (equal to zero) then public perception of the veiled
Muslim women in Yogyakarta is at 3.726.
Regression coefficient 0.437 indicates that if the variable watching
bombardment news increased by one unit, then the public perception of
the veiled Muslim women will increase by 0.437 where other variables are
considered constant. Positive regression coefficient shows that watching the
news about bombardment in Surabaya has positive influence in public
perception on veiled Muslim women.

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R. Square 0.227 means that 22.7% have variable factors. It reveals
that their perception is influenced after watching the news. Other variables
outside the research also influence their perception besides the news they
watched or got from mass media.
From the regression equation, we learn that variable factor in
watching the news has significant influence to public perception on the
veiled Muslim women.
The statistical F-test indicates if all the independent variables
included in the regression model, it jointly influenced the dependent ones.
F-test result can be seen in the table below.
Table 2
Results of F-Test
Source: Secondary data is processed
According to the table above (ANOVA), the value of F-count equals
to 28.827 with a 0.000 probability level (significance). Since the probability
is less than 0.05 and the F-value is more significant than 3.29, then the
regression model can be used to predict the public's perception on the
veiled Muslim women. In other words, watching news about church
bombardment in Surabaya has significant impact on public opinion.
The t-value watching news about church bombardment in Surabaya
(X) (5.369) > t-table (1.980), Ho was rejected. It means that there is
significant influence to public perception about the veiled Muslim women
since the value is smaller than 0 05.
Discussion
The data obtained reveals that there is a significant relationship
between watching news about church bombardment in Surabaya and the
public perception on the veiled Muslim women. Although seeing women
ANOVA
b
2.584
1
2.584
28.827
.000
a
8.784
98
.090
11.368
99
Regression
Residual
Total
Model
1
S um of
Squares
df
Mean Square
F
Sig.
Predictors: (Constant), y
a.
Dependent Variable: x
b.

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wearing hijab in Indonesia is common, since the majority of Indonesian is
Muslim, people feel strange seeing the Muslim women with veiled. There is
still negative stigma of society about veiled Muslim women. One of the
trigger is that because the news broadcasted in television about act of
terrorism led people to have negative thought against veiled Muslim
women. The trigger appears because, in the news they watched, the wife or
family of terrorist shown often wear veil. They easily believe that women
with veiled are associated with radicalism movement or terrorism.
Television and other media are the instrument of information,
entertainment, social control, and connector of regions. Along with the
content delivery through television, the meaning or message will be
interpreted differently by the audiences. Besides, the abundant news on
terrorism in Indonesia shows figure of veiled woman as a relative of the
suspected terrorist and relates it with ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria).
It then leads to public’s perception that Muslim women wearing veil is one
of characteristics of terrorist group members. Moreover, the veiled Muslim
women in Indonesia are in minority category that it makes the perception
even growing bigger.
This finding was in line with the experimental research result in
Europe which has negative response from the non-Muslims in Britain either
explicitly or implicitly against Muslim women who are considered
conservative seen from the headscarf. There are some veiled Muslim women
who get positive response from the society but it is lower than the negative
one. It can be concluded that veiled women get the highest negative
response from non-Muslims, either implicitly or explicitly. Besides seen as
fanatics and radicals, the respondents also considered the veiled women as
an exclusive and closed group which imitate other cultures i.e. Arabic
women (Everett 2015).
This kind of experienced was also happened in the United States of
America since we already knew that Muslim women there are part of
minority. The Muslim women who wear hijab and niqab in the USA also
received the same unfair treatment from surrounding society called
microaggression or subtle forms of discrimination i.e. negative messages or
offensive language (Al Wazni 2015). Offensive language is not experienced
directly by the veiled Muslim women in Indonesia. They just merely hear
the same public opinion that veil is not part of Indonesian culture.
Furthermore, Indonesian climate is also not suitable for those wearing veil.
These actually degrade the veiled women status by uttering unbased

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opinions without understanding the context or their perspective. This
attitude is also simultaneously alienating veiled women because public tends
to see them as imitators or adopters of foreign culture. That the veil is a
symbol of fanaticism and radicalism as terrorist characteristics also makes
the participants of this study feel offended since they are not like what
people view them as. Being considered as strangers is the thing they are
used to because people do not understand or even care about their
motivation in wearing veil (Read and Bartkowski 2000).
Another impact of stigma and negative public response to veiled
Muslim is disturbed or uncomfortable feeling, confusion, and resignation
(in Islam we called tawakkal). Disturbed feeling arises because Muslim
women think that all stigmas against them were not right. Confusion and
dilemma also appear; when they keep in silent, the misunderstanding
within their surrounding community gets bigger since they will be
considered apathy; when they want to be more open about their choice and
give explanation of why they wear veil, they are considered extreme.
Meanwhile resignation emerges eventually as they feel uncertain of what
they need to do so that people could change their negative judgement.
The stigma addressed to them as veiled Muslim women makes them
aware of solving the problem they face. They take two ways as solutions:
cognitive and social approaches. The first one focuses on how they cultivate
their mindset toward stigma directed to them. Some choose to ignore while
others surrender. Another approach is to try explaining directly to the
people responding negatively. Moreover, they also try to engage in activities
with people in their environment. The first approach is more to make a
clarification on their motivation wearing veil; meanwhile the second one is
to show that veiled women are not introvert. To overcome this stigma, one
of veiled Muslim women gave a very good example or solution that they
should be actively involved in social activities. They should not limit their
activities when they are with men. It means that they need to be in
reasonable interaction with males. Furthermore, veiled Muslim women
should participate in the association founded by their community they live
in (Yulikhah 2017).
From the social perspective, stigma toward a group leads to disunity
within community which happened after the terrorism phenomena in some
regions in Indonesia. The primary purpose of terrorism is to cause fear and
disharmony in society. Then, social trust will also be negatively affected
because of the growth of suspiciousness within society. The suspicious

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feeling leads to conflict in which people start to have negative stigma against
veiled Muslim women after watching news about church bombardment in
Surabaya (Mahyudin 2016). Regarding the stigma, one of viral news was
about veiled woman dragged down from Gayatri bus station, Tulungagung.
The head of the bus station, Oni Suryanto, said officers did it because they
were suspicious of the bag brought by the woman. Moreover, she did not
wear shoes nor slippers when getting on the bus to Ponorogo. Watching the
phenomena, Minister of Religious Affairs, Lukman Hakim Saifuddin, asked
veiled women to understand the current condition caused by suicide
bombings in Surabaya, East Java. Furthermore, veiled women are expected
to maintain their attitude so as not to attract attention. The minister also
asked the community not to worry or have suspiciousness to veiled women
as a part of respecting others’ believes (Sosiolog Khawatir Stigma
Perempuan Bercadar Usai Aksi Teror 2018).
A media-literate society will filter all contents in media, on the other
hand, people who are indifferent will directly believe what have been
presented by media. Yogyakarta citizens are urban communities and are a
highly engaged customers of media. Definitely, they did not miss the news
about church bombings in Surabaya broadcasted by television. They also
watched that the suspected terrorists are veiled women. As a result,
Yogyakarta citizens have anxiety which leads to negative mindset toward
those women.
The message carried on media’s news undoubtedly influence both
Yogyakarta citizens as audiences and veiled women as objects. The media
pictures them as women wearing big veiled that only their eyes can be seen-
their palms are even covered with glove. They usually wear long unfit dress
(not long pants nor long skirts). Moreover, they only wear dark colored
clothes i.e black, dark blue, or dark brown. Public has already been familiar
with the women wearing jilbab or hijab. They have no worries or prejudice
toward these women. However, veil is something they are not yet familiar
with. The media has never taken any role to educate people about the veil
worn by some minority of Muslim women. As a result, people let their
minds to freely think about their own opinion on the veiled Muslim
women which is mostly negative.
To this day, media displays veiled Muslim women when they are
talking about terrorists’ relatives. No wonder do people think that those
wearing veil are related to terrorists either as a wife, daughters, or siblings.
This prejudice grows even bigger when the news on church bombing in

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Surabaya became the headlines in mass media for several weeks. It affects
the social life in a negative way because when people have neighbors
wearing veil, they think that the veiled Muslim women in their area are part
of terrorist’s community. This prejudice, without question, brings bad
nuance in everyday life. Both parties-public and veiled Muslim women-feel
uncomfortable to live side by side in one area.
Since there is no further explanation or educative information
about the ‘veil’ itself in media, it has not been fully accepted by Indonesia
citizens in general because they just try to understand veil in their local
culture. Hence, they think it is something unusual. Their stigmas on veiled
women as 'wife of a terrorist' and 'Muslim fanatics' keep on growing.
The media often become the primary reference for public, especially
for sensitive issue and painful personal experience. The introvert life of
veiled women tends to arise others’ prejudice so that media makes use of
the situation to increase their news value. They never show positive side of
veiled women since they tend to show them as the wife of terrorist. They are
also related to those following radicalism movement. Indonesian citizen
who believe in pluralism and are sometimes narrow-minded then consider
them as a threat. This stigma is really unfortunate because Indonesia is a
democratic country which appreciate several religions and believes.
Veiled Muslim women, like other women, have potential to increase
and be useful for their surrounding. In this chaos situation, it is better for
them to be more confidence and positive in order to be able to mingle with
others. If they have good reputation and competence, their social lives will
work well. It is definitely not easy because some faced failure in trying to
communicate with public. It happened because they are actually not ready
psychologically to face public who have negative stigma toward veiled
women.
Meanwhile, this study also found that two of respondents have not
been consistent in wearing veil in their daily activities. This is because of
their limitation in communicating with other people and their family
disagreement toward their wearing-veil decision. The implication of this
research is to expand the enrichment of academic theoretical about
interpersonal communication link with the values in confidence. In
practical terms, this study describes how veiled women should perform
good communication within the community so that people can reduce
stereotypes and erase the stigma.
Conclusion

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The reseracher found that there is significant influence between
watching church bombings in Surabaya and public’s perception on veiled
Muslim women in Yogyakarta. Having portrayed in media’s headlines when
reporting about terrorism stimulates public’s opinion that those wearing
veil are related to terrorists (family i.e. wife, daughter, or sibling) and
terrorism activities (member of radical group).
Therefore, to not create any misunderstanding, media-whatever the
platform is-should give educative and informative content, specifically on
veiled Muslim women. This is considered crucial so that society has a clear
knowledge that veil is not related to terrorism and that wearing veil is the
choice of some Muslim women. In this way, mass media stays neutral which
is the main characteristic of Journalism.
Furthermore, veiled Muslim women are not supposed to be
introvert. They are highly suggested to try to be more open toward their
surrounding environment. This could be done by: first, routinely interact
with the neighbors; second, actively participate in neighborhood activities
such as annual competition and other collaborative works; and third,
mingling with any event held in neighbor's house. By doing so, the
suspicious feeling on veiled Muslim women will be gradually decreased.
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