TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Aidatul Fitriyah, an alumnus of the Faculty of Humanities at Airlangga University (Unair) from Indonesia, won two international awards at the 3rd International Article Writing Competition held by Multimedia University, Malaysia, on July 20, 2025. She received the awards for her research on the film Bidaah.
Aidatul won the first category in Language and Communication. She and her colleague, Ahmad Harith Irfan, an alumnus of the University of Malaya, won first place in this category.
The second award was in the Media Criticism category. Aidatul and Ahmad Dailami Fadhil, a student at Sidi Ben Abdellah University in Morocco, won second place.
Aidatul had her own reasons for researching and criticizing the Malaysian drama series. According to her, "Bidaah" boldly depicts the practice of preserving religion within closed communities.
Aidatul said the issues depicted in the film raised concerns about the rise of religious deviations. Moreover, these events often escape open criticism.
"Through film as a popular medium, we can uncover how power operates symbolically and hidden within the guise of spirituality," said Aidatul.
He believes that research that stems from intellectual unease has more potential to raise public awareness. "This isn't just about religious representation, but about how religion is exploited to subjugate human reason, body, and will," he said.
Aidatul also hopes that the findings of his analysis will not simply be academic documents but can become impactful critical discourse. "This achievement isn't just about prestige, but about validation of hard work and the courage to think critically to side with the oppressed," said the 2024 Unair Outstanding Graduate.
Aidatul and his team wrote two studies with different approaches to the film Bidaah. The first study used Fairclough's Critical Discourse Analysis theory to examine how language, symbols, and visuals are used as tools of ideological domination.
The second study used an analytical approach from the perspective of Islamic theology and Islamic jurisprudence. This approach, he said, was used to critique the deviant religious doctrine depicted in the film Bidaah.
He explained that both studies were conducted intensively through textual and visual analysis of each scene. The goal was to explore how religious authority is used as a tool of domination, shaping deviant doctrine within the framework of social discourse.
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