UPNVJ Public Relations – The Chancellor of the National Development University “Veteran” Jakarta (UPNVJ), Prof. Dr. Anter Venus, MA, Comm., assessed that the concept of national defense must adapt to the changing nature of threats in the digital era. National defense, he said, no longer only deals with physical or military threats, but also cognitive warfare, narrative and ideological battles, and the challenges of artificial intelligence (AI). This view was conveyed in a Focus Group Discussion (FGD) between UPNVJ and the Indonesian National Defense Movement (GBNI) at the UPNVJ Pondok Labu Campus, South Jakarta, Saturday (15/8/2026).
The FGD discussed strategies for developing national defense, including educational models that can reach communities in regional, rural, and border areas.
Venus said changes in the strategic environment mean that the national defense approach needs to increasingly focus on non-military threats.
"The approach is a non-military one. Non-military means not about war. The war has changed. It's now a war of cognition, a war of narrative, a war of ideology," Venus said.
According to him, the digital space is now a crucial arena for maintaining national resilience. The rapid flow of information, competing narratives, disinformation, and the development of AI can influence how people receive information, form perceptions, and even take stances on national issues.
"Challenges in cyberspace, especially AI challenges, can also lead us astray. That's what we want to discuss," he said.
National Defense Enters the Digital Space
The changing nature of these threats, Venus said, demands a broader understanding of national defense. National defense awareness cannot be built solely through conventional defense understandings; it also requires strengthening the public's critical thinking, ideological resilience, digital literacy, and the ability to verify information.
This approach is relevant to UPNVJ's experience as a National Defense Campus. Through the National Defense Study Center, UPNVJ develops the Actualization of National Defense (ABN) based on five core values: love of the homeland, national awareness, loyalty to Pancasila as the state ideology, willingness to sacrifice for the nation and state, and initial national defense skills.
These values are not only translated through physical activities, but also through education, digital transformation, entrepreneurship, public health, literacy, local wisdom, diversity, and community empowerment.
Venus believes that strengthening national defense requires the involvement of many parties, including central and regional governments, universities, schools, youth organizations, and the community.
"Everyone agrees that we want to spread ideas, including building a national National Defense Movement. One way to achieve this is through training and national defense education," he said.
Cognitive Warfare Targets Ways of Thinking
Venus focuses specifically on cognitive warfare because threats in this context don't have to target physical territory. The target can shift to how people think, evaluate information, perceive events, and even understand values and ideologies.
This challenge becomes even more relevant as society increasingly relies on digital spaces as a source of information. Technology allows information to be produced and disseminated in a fraction of the time, while requiring the public to have adequate skills to distinguish between fact, opinion, manipulation, and misleading information.
Therefore, national defense education must keep pace with changing times. Strengthening national resilience must go hand in hand with the public's ability to deal with disinformation, narrative manipulation, polarization, and the various consequences of AI technology developments.
This orientation also serves as one of the bases for UPNVJ and GBNI to formulate guidelines and a national defense education curriculum that can be implemented systematically in various regions of Indonesia.
"What we're being asked to do is to find out how GBNI, along with UPN, can design guidelines and a curriculum to be implemented throughout Indonesia. Not just in higher education, but also in rural and regional communities," Venus said.
The guidelines are designed to cover objectives, materials, activity duration, teacher qualifications, organizing institutions, collaboration patterns, networks, and funding schemes.
" The output will be guidelines and a curriculum for regional training. Of course, the guidelines will include objectives, duration, and so on. Broader strategies will include who the network is with, regional collaborations, and funding," he said.
National Defense Built through Collaboration
In its implementation, national defense education will require a broad collaborative ecosystem. At the regional level, the National Unity and Politics Agency (Kesbangpol), schools, universities, community organizations, and youth groups can take roles according to the characteristics of their respective regions.
At the village level, organizations such as Karang Taruna can also be involved so that national defense education does not follow a uniform pattern, but adapts to the needs of the community.
"When GBNI goes to the regions, it will partner not only with government agencies but also with schools and universities in the regions," Venus said.
The FGD was attended by GBNI officials, including General Chair Drs. H. Abu Hasan, M.Pd.; Daily Chair Prof. Dr. H. Mansyur Achmad KM, M.Si.; Head of BACADNAS Lt. Gen. TNI Gabriel Lema; and Secretary General Agung RC Prabowo, SE, MM, along with academics and other stakeholders.
For Venus, UPNVJ's identity as a National Defense Campus must be translated into knowledge, education, and empowerment models relevant to the changing strategic environment. National defense is not simply about symbols and conceptual understanding; it must equip the community to face the real threats of their time.
Amidst the cognitive warfare, narrative and ideological battles, disinformation, and the development of AI, UPNVJ is pushing national defense education toward strengthening intellectual resilience, digital literacy, Pancasila values, and citizens' critical thinking skills. With this non-military approach, national defense is expected to remain relevant as an instrument for strengthening national resilience in the digital age.