Communication model of musyawarah and role of traditional leaders in building public acceptance to support nuclear powerplant development plan at Bengkayang Regency

Abstract

The paper aims to explain communication strategy to increase the public acceptance of nuclear power plant in Bengkayang Regency. West Kalimantan will be the first area to have a nuclear power plant in Indonesia. In order to get the permit to build it, the government need public acceptance. Nevertheless, society divided into pro and cons on the nuclear issue. Government need a new communication strategy to bridge the divided opinion. This study aims to elaborate on the concept of deliberation communication and social perception. The qualitative method used in doing this research. Data analysis conducted by interview and literature studies. Results of the research found that the society of Bengkayang tends to trust their traditional leaders. The best communication strategy to help people understand the message is by having deliberation communication. Within the deliberation, the communicator should be accompanied by the traditional leader. Before that, the expert has to convince those traditional leaders to support the message they wanted to deliver to the people. Others finding of this research was the people only need a simple explanation on the benefit and risk with a nuclear power plant in there area.