Oh dear boys and girls, not sure if you will still talk to me after this long hiatus. I´m not going to go into the details of why but I´m determined to go ahead with some fun stuff from now on.

Do you remember my teaser post a while back. Well I am now finally starting to put short versions of the information I got by chatting to some Indonesian bloggers online. (I transcribed the recording, then shortened and grouped the information into thematic blocks. I tried to stick to the original text as much as I could.) The interviews/chats all took place in January/Febuary 2008.

To me the blogosphere seems like a big family clan, where there are dominant and influential figures, some outsiders, moderators, provocateurs and so on. Following this logic, let´s start with someone who sees himself as the mascot of the Indonesian blogosphere....

PART ONE: WIMAR WITOELAR - THE MASCOT



Perspetif online

On my blog, ideas are discussed seriously, but in a popular manner. People like how I present things on Television or in my articles, so we also present it that way in our blog. It is a multimedia enterprise.

In 1993 I got an invitation to do television talk show. In ‘94 it got banned by Suharto, but because of that it became more popular and so we went to the radio an on to live stage shows. The radio show is still going on until now. Broadcasting on 150 stations around the country. We are very strong in that area, we have won awards, for television and radio. The online version, perspektif online actually came as an afterthought, ‘just for fun’. But we are consistent, even in the way we have fun, we take things seriously. It is also very recognizable. I have a logo that appears everywhere. We have T-Shirts. It is very branded. But everybody knows we are serious. When Suharto was ill, the foreign press quoted what I wrote. I think we appeal to a lot of people.

Everything that is said in the TV show can be discussed on the radio, on the internet or newspaper articles. It cycles. So to me, there is not so much difference between the traditional media and the electronic media. I appear all over. Kompas or other newspapers like that find it difficult to adapt to web 2.0. Their websites are more or less internet depictions of the print versions.

Everything we have is interactive, everything we write depends on collective intelligence and everything we write is connected to our social networks. We did the web 2.0 thing even before I knew the definition.

The internet is a people’s movement. Our site got most hits during the election campaign for the governor of Jakarta.

My show ‘Our Governor’ got taken off air because the governor didn’t like it. I then moved the issues to the blog and the discussion continued over there.

When we started the blog I didn’t even know what a blog was. We just tinkered around with it. I am an internet person since the very beginning, by training I am a computer scientist. But I am a practitioner not an expert. I don’t know the statistics.

Up until now, we don’t make money with this. We have a professional PR company, where we make our money.

Indonesian Blogoshphere

I’m on the steering committee of Blogger Indonesia. I am their mascot because they say I am the oldest blogger and I am also the most visible. Otherwise others wouldn’t know what blogs are. I was Invited to be part of the show, but Enda Nasution, Ong Hock Chuan, Budi Putra, Priyadi, Wicaksono, that is the true committee. And of course Shinta of bubu.com

The internet in Indonesia is not only for a tech-savvy elite but for eager communicators. If they want to speak out, and know that they can do so, someone will lead the to blog. Someone will give them access to computers. It is not based on technology per se, but on the desire to communicate. Young people are bloggers, members of friendster or facebook. The techno-savvy are more like consultants, there are a few of them that spread the word. Then it goes from mouth to mouth. The bloggers are not techno savvy. They are curhat - people. (people who like to express their feelings) there is a small circle of techno savvy who think up innovations in blogging, who discuss where it’s going, but they are not the persons who drive the traffic of blogs. Most people who blog know nothing about the internet or computers, they write very well or take photographs…

I think Indonesia has a pent up capacity for writing. When Suharto went away this came to the surface. There was a surplus of magazines. In Suharto’s times to publish a magazine, you had to pay a lot for a license.

The role of the internet during the student’s movement

I can point our several links between the internet and Suhartos downfall Yes, mailing lists and emails were important. I was a student activist also in the 60ies, as well as in the 90ies. In ‘98 at the time of students’ movement the internet proved as an excellent tool to mobilize. We could show up with 500 000 people in no time. Perspektif online was actually based on a strong mailing list, and it is still now.

Secondly and more specifically, the internet proved to be a powerful tool in reporting. Newspapers quickly lost track of the movement but it had news portals, specifically detik.com. It single handedly created the revolution in internet publishing. 6 reporters tried their hand at making a website. And because they appeared at the time of the internet boom, it quickly developed from a 6 person project in the basement of a stadium into a company with a high market value t at one time. And then it dropped again. They have been left behind by citizen journalism. They are not bloggers. Now they have a 400 people company that does advertising etc.

The internet has always been at the core of anything that is new in communication. If you look at political movements you will find out Partei Keadilan Sejahtera (PKS) was almost built up on the internet. I admire their use of the new medium. So certainly it is part of the reform and people of the establishment don’t quite know how to deal with it.

The role of the government in the development of internet access and computer literacy

With all due respect to Pak Habibie and Minister Nuh because I know them both, they have no role at all in the development of the internet. Habibie is an expert designer of airplanes. He is a man of the past generation. Habibie was never available via emails. Gus Dur on the other hand is.

The Habibie Center is a very political group. A group of intellectuals to continue the dialogue and of course they raise technology issues. But being involved in technology issues is very different to hacking around on a computer. They talk about it but I don’t think they do anything.

Mohammad Nuh is a nice person who was lifted from being director the 10th of September Institute of Technology , very old school. He doesn’t understand the internet either. In fact when he declared the Hari Blogger, he was doing an illegal act because you cannot declare a national holiday without the consent of the parliament. But he is a nice guy and well, don’t take it too seriously. As long as he comes and makes us feel good. He provided a prize. I always say when you want to do something well do it without the help of the government. It only constrains you more.

The internet infrastructure is provided by Telkom. The ministry is just hanging on and looking at it. They’re supposed to take the initiative but they’re not. The ministry is basically a political organization to accommodate people who had nothing to do after the ministry of information was disbanded. When we had the Department of Information under Harmoko it issued permits for newspapers and controlled the media. President Wahid abolished it because it was unnecessary and also authoritarian. But being in a hurry he didn’t realize that he put thousands of people out of a job. And when Megawati came along she decided ok, let’s call it informatics instead of information because the people are allergic to everything related to mind control. Let it deal with information technology. But they didn’t understand it at all! Maybe it’s gotten better now….


Thanks very much Pak Witoelar for giving this in depth insight and as always, sharing your opinion and being open for discussion!