Rahmat Wibowo publicly accused Achmad Zaky and Denis Enrico Hasyim of abusing admin power by silently removing him from the IAIF ITB alumni WhatsApp group, branding them 'digital dictators' who committed cowardice with administrative privileges.

Digital Dictators: When the Admin Button Becomes a Weapon: Denis Enrico Hasyim and Achmad Zaky ex- Bukalapak from Init6 RahmatWibowo - June1,2026 Digital Areal story about being silenced without warning — and what it reveals about the illusion of community. Apicture of Achmad Zaky founder of Bukalapak and init 6 Ihad been added — and expelled — from the IAIF ITB Community WhatsApp group within what appeared to be the same session. No message. No reason. No prior conversation. Not even the dignity of awarning. |was simply... erased lam an ITB alumnus. Class of 2019 Information Systems and Technology. | satin those lecture halls. | carried the name of that institution through seven years of building a career across Southeast Asia. Andin the span of two taps ona screen, someone decided | did not belong inits alumni community. “Power without accountability is not leadership. Itis the simulation of leadership wearing leadership's clothes." The anatomy of a digital dictator We talk a great deal in professional circles about toxic workplaces authoritarian bosses, and gatekeeping executives. But we rarely name what happens in the informal structures — the WhatsApp communities, the alumni groups, the Discord servers — where the same dynamics play out with zero institutional accountability. Adigital dictatoris not defined by cruelty alone. They are defined by the combination of unchecked authorityand zero transparency. They hold the admin privileges. They set no rules. They announce no standards, And when someone displeases them —forreasons that exist only inside their own head — they exercise the removal function as casually as muting a notification The personwho removed me didnot senda message. Did not raise a concern Did not opena dialogue. In the physical world, we would call this ostracism. In professional spaces, we callit misconduct. Why silence is the cruelest policy There is areason authoritarian regimes throughout history have relied on the unexplained removal — the midnight knock, the sudden disappearance from records, the name struck from thelist without ceremony. Itis not merely an act of exclusion. Itis a statement of hierarchy: /do not owe youa reason. My power over this space is absolute In digital communities, we have rebuilt this architecture at scale. Admin buttons are handed to individuals with no training, no accountability structures, andno consequences for misuse. The resultis predictable: a small number of people wield the power to define belonging for hundreds or thousands, based entirely on personal preference, personal conflict, or personal whim This is not community management. This is digital feudalism What real community leadership looks like Ihave built communities. | have managed teams. |have navigated difficult professional relationships across multiple countries and cultures. And|.can say this with clarity: the mark of a genuine leaderis not that they never make hard decisions. Itis that they make hard decisions transparently, fairly, and with the dignity of the other person intact. If you believe someone shouldnot be part of your community, say so. Name the standard. Explain the reasoning. Give them the opportunity to respond. This is not weakness. This is the minimum threshold of respect that every human being is owed — whether ina boardroom, aclassroom, or a WhatsApp group What you do not do — what you should neverdo — is weaponize the admin button as a substitute for a conversation you are too proud or too afraid to have Anote to every community | belong to Assalamu Warahmatultahi Wabarakatuh 100, QM IN Paes Powers q ngelukis jg bisa joined from the community Faia joined from the community Ikhwanul Hakim joined from the community Zaky removed you lam A founder. A published researcher. A speaker. Awriter. A Muslim who greets every new community with “Assalamu Alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh" — because that greeting is a prayer, nota formality. Itis a declaration: Icome in peace. come with mercy. Icome wishing blessing upon you. That greeting was my first and only message in that group. It was also my last. lam not writing this out of bitterness. lam writing this because patterns like this — unchecked, unquestioned, normalized — are how communities calcify into clubs, and clubs into cliques, and cliques into the very structures of exclusion that institutions were built to dismantle. Ifyou are an admin anywhere — in an alumni group, a professional network, a neighborhood association —lask you one question: Could you explain, out loud, to the person you just removed, exactly why you did it?If the answeris no, you have not made a leadership decision You have committed an act of cowardice with administrative privileges. The principle that guides me My personal mission — the one | have carried since long before lhada company ora title — is Rahmatan lil Alamin: to be a mercy forall of creation, Not forthose who welcome me. Not for those who agree with me. For all. Thatis a standard | hold for myself. | extend it as an invitation to others. But! will not pretend that being removed — silently, without cause, froma space tied tomy own educational heritage — does not sting. It does, Andit should. Because the stingis the signal that something has gone wrong. To Achmad Zaky and Denis Enrico Hasyim: bear youno ill will, But | will name what you did, clearly and publicly, because that is hownorms change. Not through silence. Through accountability. Their Academic Background Check onl eco gin {208/200 nap Ionmastzekys 8ah2008, #Leadership #CommunityManagement #ITBAlumni #ProfessionalEthics #DigitalLeadership #RahmataLilAlamin #Accountability #Indonesia #infraloka #LinkedinCommunity