Sad Stories and Communication

Lately we had a lot of sad stories. Earthquakes, floods, bombings... I think there will be plenty of sad or terrible stories around the world. Mother earth seems to get really tired of our foolish actions and she couldn't help those natural disasters to happen. On the other side people were also keep continuing their terrible actions towards others. In time like this, it is tiring to watch the news. Actually I don't want to talk about sad stories here. Yet, sometimes I can't stand to keep my mouth shout (actually to keep my fingers from dancing on the keyboard).

One thing that made me write this post is the communication problem with the government on relocation of people from the land belong to the state. One thing that I've seen from SBY's period (and I don't like it) is that the violent approach on land relocating was coming back. We had it in the New Order, and we don't really need it. Perhaps it is the military back ground that bring it in? I've sensed the increased violent at the end of 2007 and wrote about it in my year-end reflection. Now, three years later my fear came true... There was a big crash over the relocation. It was not a fight for a high density human settlement, but it was a defensive action over a piece of land that is known as a "sacred tomb".

They have made a deal but there were already victims and broken hearts. Actually we do need a good communication between the citizen and the government. The printed Kompas published some interesting opinions, yet I really like the one written by a well known Indonesian Psychologist, Sarlito Wirawan Sarwono "Dari Cina Benteng ke Mbah Priuk". So, one day before the incident in Koja there was already another show of power in Tangerang. The victim in Tangerang are the Chinese descendant of the Chinese (mostly men) who ran out of Batavia after the massal murder of Chinese in 1740, that was why they are known as "Cina Benteng". They are Chinese minority and being financially poor their relocation from their old environment wouldn't cause any big news, but we were probably overseen the lost of a living museum. We've lost Condet, the living museum of Betawi cultural heritage. Now we're loosing another part of historical heritage.

I like Pak Sarlito's opinion as he showed a good example from Solo, where the communication between the government and the citizen can create a win-win solution. We do understand the need to build the city, to beautify a site, or to boost its financial function. But, we also need to understand that those poor people do need the government to help them stand up to be able to walk out of their poverty. In the case of Koja, I think it is not really the "sacred tomb" that matter, but it became the representative of a struggle to show their existence. "We do exist here..." or "This is our land..." That's the message to the government and they should be clever enough to read the message and plan a better approaches in other places. We've got plenty problems of land ownership. It is still fresh in my mind the case of the relocation of those military pensioner who lived in their old institution's houses but asked to leave as they are no longer in service for the institution. A blogger here stated the need to recheck the status of land/house ownership for those institutional houses (Rumah Dinas).

Opinions are written out, will the government be wiser and listen to the voice of its people?

Sad story from Mexico

It is actually not only a sad story, but I feel that we can consider it a disaster to humanity. How can parents let their daughter death and even pretending of loosing her? How can a mother sit on her daughter's bed where she hide the body? If it was not Paulette Gebara Farah's parents who killed her, then who did it? Who hide the body and who made it reappear? Why did they need ten days before they found the body?

Jan Barret wrote about this story in Bloggernews.net, and got some comments. One comment stated "Some news said on a plastic bag and others involved in sheets. So, there are different versions, all from newspaper or TV news that does not match. Also, they said that parents and 2 babysitters had inconsistency on what they declare before, now they just mention inconsistency in mother’s declaration." So, even medias' reports did not match...

Yet, one universal thing is the sadness of seeing that situation is not a priviledge of a certain community or a certain nation...but it goes out to the flattened world. I hope Paulette rest in peace, and that there'll be no more case like that happened. Not there, and not here...

It was a little late for me to find out this story. I've got to admit that I didn't browse around often enough to have hard news. I found this story in the printed Kompas and then googling here to find out more. So, mainstream media (for me) is still an important source of news.

Lesson learned from Kompasiana's case

I've learned a very good lesson from Kompasiana. After the meeting with Jacob Oetama, Kompasiana had various of postings (also read my blogpost "Kompas and Kompasiana"), but one posting seemed to make the administrator felt uncomfortable. Then that post became unaccessible, and the writer was banned from the community. Yet, the writer had the post written in his own blog.

The writer was not the only one who posted his own post. The post was also quoted or discussed by several other writers (you can read it here, or here, in a forum like this, or googling for more) when giving their comments on the freedom of writing in public blogs like Kompasiana. It is understandable that a case like this happened in Kompasiana as it is unedited. OMNI, Wikimu, Panyingkul, and Kabar Indonesia are all having their edited version. May it be with a minimum editorial change as in Wikimu, or with consultation and editing like in OMNI and Panyingkul. Kompasiana is really your own blog; you write and then you can publish it directly.

I remember that in the introduction to the interview with Wikimu's CEO for OMNI
I wrote this:

Multicultural and multiracial Indonesia certainly presents some interesting challenges for citizen journalism Web sites. Some delicate matters need to be watched really carefully in order to sustain national stability. With that in mind, how would any citizen journalism Web site provide a free forum to write down one's opinion while at the same time guarding the public and national safety?

First hand coverage openly showing the real situation sometimes adds flames to a mass anger caused by prejudice and miscommunication. I refer to showing the real situation as it stands as transparency. Once an article is published it can be forwarded anywhere. Readers can comment directly, without being edited, the chances of miscommunication will always be in the air.

It was the reason why I keep my eyes on Kompasiana. Actually I don't really have enough free time to watch all the growth of citixen journalism in Indonesia. But it does evolving, and I hope that it will keep growing as a foundation for demcracy, not to destroy our unity in diversities.

From this story I can pick an important lesson from the web 2.0, as once you have your story published it doesn't really belong to your authority anymore. And it is really showing the freedom of expression as writers can look for any outlet to share his views. Being banned in one public blog, you can still share your voice in other outlets.

Kompas and Kompasiana

The daily printed Kompas has not only ventured into Kompas Cyber Media, but also into citizen journalism through its Kompasiana.com.

I remember that the founder and owner of Kompas Group, Jakob Oetama, had his skepticism toward news written by citizens. He told me that in the a short conversation before the press conference of the Indonesian-Japan Expo 2008. So I was really interested in knowing his opinion now...about one and a half year after that moment. Especially now, when Kompasiana had already opened its door to public contributors. Kompasiana doesn't need editorial permission to get published. It is really on your own...just a click away! Personally I think that editorial is still very important. Wikimu didn't have a very strict editorial process like the one I've found in OhmyNews International(OMNI). I learned a lot about journalism from OMNI but I also learned a lot about the new media from the comments that came from Wikimu's readers.

I shared my wonderful day with Kompasianers in a writing "Kompas Menulis Bersama Pembaca (Catatanku dari Kompasiana Modis)". Kompas is now starting to ask readers to write. From some articles that I've read in both Kompasiana and the printed Kompas, I can say that Kompas is now writing with its readers, hopefully that will help them evolving as printed media through the changing need of the community.

Another writing from Linda Djalil, a Kompasianer who was once a professional journalist, made me write about how I've met Jakob Oetama in the Indonesian-Japan Expo 2008. Linda wrote a letter for Pak Jakob, the founder and owner Kompas. In the letter she also revealed how she was once gave a wrong name (jokingly) to a Kompas' journalist, and it was printed out without being checked. I like to ask for the press release when I came to an event. It used to be preserved only for journalists. It was not easy as a citizen to get a press release, while it is important for us to do our check and recheck too. If it is the goodie bag that matter, actually that is not important for me. It is those piece of papers which I valued (and hopefully it has something in it, as sometimes the content is not really very informative, but I do need it especially for names). I always think that giving a chance for a blogger to get a press release would help eliminate those fake journalists (known here as wartawan bodrex), but there is always the possibility of people looking at a blogger as a "fake journalist". It really depends on the personality of the blogger, so I can't insist on my opinion. We'll see through the expanding horizon of citizen journalism.

Mas Isjet, one of the administrators in Kompasiana asked me to write about OMNI. I do need time to prepare that kind of writing, but may be I'll be happy to share a bit of my experience being a citizen reporter for both Wikimu and OMNI.

These days, time is more valuable than anything else. Being a citizen reporter made me think of myself as a real citizen. I demanded myself to exist not only in online world but also in the real world (I did have my share of being a citizen in the neighbourhood, but these days I just really try to be better). My real world is around my house, so I won't be catching up with those celebrity bloggers. Yet, that is why I love being a citizen reporter, because I can also present my views in my own words, using my own free time. I can write after mid-night or very early in the morning, things that would never be possible to have in the real world. How can I go out to chat with my neighbour (a fellow housewife) at midnight? That's impossible in the real world, but I can do it in the internet. So writing for citizen journalism websites help me to go out without really going out of the walls of my home.

Kompasiana is the first citizen journalism outlet from the mainstream media. I heard that Politikana is also belongs to Tempo. I thought it was only founded by people who are closed to Tempo, and in the progress it was supported by Tempo. I do need to do more interviews to find it out. Yet, with Kompas and its public Kompasiana, I'm hoping to see another approach toward citizen journalism.

Links to my writings in Citizen Journalism Websites

These writings are in Bahasa Indonesia. As I became more into blogging in English here, I did not upload my writings in Bahasa Indonesia here (like I used to be).

Yet, I would like to have it in one file, so it would be easier to remember or to find it later.

Penting Mana, Fotografer Pandai Atau Kamera Pintar? I like to have beautiful pictures in my writings, but I am not diligent enough to study photography. I have a lot of photographers in my family, so it wasn't seem so important. But being in citizen journalism made me wonder back to photography and asked myself, "Which one is more important, the photographer or a good camera?"

Berkunjung Ke Museum POLRI, Membuat Anak-anak Enggan Beranjak Pulang
This one is about a rather new museum, Museum POLRI, the Indonesian Police Museum. I was not really enthusiastic on this museum, but my kids seemed to enjoy it...

OSK 2010, Pengalaman Pertama Si Kembar This year my twins tried the Kuark Science Olympiad, an interesting new experience for them, and it was the last Kuark Olympiad for my eldest son.

Hari Sabtu Kenangan: Kompasiana Nangkring dan Kapal yang Bisa Beranak Short story of my first offline meeting with Kompasiana, the citizen journalism website from the daily Kompas.

Renungan Diri Di Hari Nyepi I made a self reflection during the Balinese Saka New Year which was celebrated with Nyepi, a Silent Day. This perhaps inspired the World Silent Day, but the one that I remembered when I wrote this piece was the Earth Hour.

I'm not really active in my cyber life at the moment. Going back to teaching elementary and Junior High School took a lot of my energy. Balancing my offline and online life is also my most important resolution this year. Let it be God who decide my path, I'll walk with Him...

Scrambled Thoughts on Citizen Journalism

I've got a lot of things in my mind, but I don't really have the time to write it out. So, perhaps it is the same reason of those professionals who are not writing out their voices. It's not because they don't really care or they don't want to communicate with others, but because they are already busy with their own daily life.

A fellow blogger, Lily Yulianti Farid, who founded the citizen journalism website "Panyingkul.com" said in Pesta Blogger 2009 that those involved in citizen journalism need to be techno savvy. I would rather say that we do need to be internet literate. After that, we should also be willing to share news to the world. Yet, it is so true that new media needs deeper knowledge than being internet literate. I found in "Teaching Online Journalism" lots of new knowledge about sharing in the internet. It is really clear that journalists have to go further on the exploration of making the most out of the new media.

Lily wrote in her blog that in spite of using the term "citizen journalism", it would be better fitted in as "friendship journalism". Gina Chen said in her blog post "Journalism's relationship with social media has matured" that she's definitely agree that social media has made news and political involvement more accessible to everyone, particularly to young people. I'm thinking that way too. Winarni's book “Makassar dari Jendela Pete-pete - catatan seorang pengguna jalan” is written while she was on her way to graduate from the architectural study in the University. Citizen journalism, when used wisely, can help young students to discover their passions. They can explore more as they have more free time than the older generation who have more obligations (of course older generation can still be amazed of their "newly found" passion or perhaps "fogotten" passion).

News were surrounding me, and only those that I put into writing came into my blog (which also made them written memories, others are only photos and notes in my computer). It's not that other events weren't important, but one doesn't have time to cover all those interesting stories. That's why I love citizen journalism websites, in term of sharing news; unimportant news for the mainstream media, or a slightly different point of view from the mainstream media. Even if I didn't write it as soon as it happened, I can still write about it later on through different way of presenting it. It would even be better if other contributors had something to write to fill in the emptiness.

If I don't write about Haiti, it is not because a lack of concern. It's only the matter of lack of time to write. Having facebook and twitter would perhaps a good solution for certain people to share their two cents.

Professional journalists who blog would find that blogs are helping them to reach out for their readers. They are no more dependent on mainstream media as their outlet, and they can still publish their stories (which took their time and perhaps also their financial support in composing the stories, which are too precious to keep under the desk) when their article were being rejected by the mainstream media. Blog readers can also be their supporters to voice out the truth.

I think I still have more wrinkled thoughts on citizen journalism in my mind. Citizen journalism is still evolving, I just hope that it will grow up for the better of the world's communication.

The painting has a life of its own. I try to let it come through (Jackson Pollock). Citizen journalism has also a life of its own. I try to be a part of its colourful life...

"Abad Bapak Saya" and the spirit of netizens

Last Thursday, 14th January 2010, I was blessed with a chance to attend a workshop with Geert Mak. He is a Dutch writer who wrote the book "De eeuw van mijn vader" which was translated into "Abad Bapak Saya" (The Century of My Father). The Indonesian book launched last Thursday in Erasmus Huis. The chance to meet the author is not the only blessing, we were also presented with a copy of the book...for free! What a blessing! (An example of a good day said a friend, Krismariana. There, I've met friends who are also contributors to wikimu.com and another friend that I previously met in Pesta Blogger 2008, and also made new acquaintances). The Dutch edition was first published in 1999, and after ten years it is now accessible in bahasa Indonesia.

Geert Mak said that he was never in his wildest dream imagine that his book will be presented in bahasa Indonesia for Indonesian readers. Yet, as his story covered a part of his parents' life in Indonesia made that book an interesting book for Indonesian readers. His way of presenting it together with the world's history is another interesting aspect that would make it a nice source of knowledge on history.

I was really fascinated with the enormous "treasures" of old letters and pictures that he used in his book. I wonder how long it was for him to collect and rechecked all those facts. Actually I came to the workshop because I was still thinking about my grandmother's biography. At the moment I'm actually stop doing anything on that case as families seemed to have an objection on me continuing it. Various reasons are behind that objection. My mother objected it as she feels that I'm going to spend more time on that book and neglect my children. My aunties perhaps think about the private content (which of course is possible to be edited). I'm also afraid that there is a frightened feeling of being exposed as a part of Chinese Indonesians. My family were so widely distributed that we are no longer belong to a certain part of Indonesia, but Indonesia itself. For me, I'm Makassarese even if people would not accept it as I'm also Chinese Indonesian. Through personal process and the help from the era of Reformasi I am now able to accept my own background. Writing this book is kind of reminding ourselves about our root...so I think it is so sad that I've got to "forget" that book.

Based on my own lack of knowledge about writing a personal memoir that employed a lot of historical facts, I asked two questions:

1. Did you create this book basically from your own memory and enriched it with other inputs, or were you starting from your journalistic research and enriched it with personal memories?

2. It seems that you've got great support from your family in writing out this book. I wonder if there were members of the family who objected the idea of writing it down. How would you deal with it?

Actually half part of my questions was answered when Mak answered previous questions, so the answer that I write here is not exactly the answer that he gave me. I posed my questions so that I could get more technical guidance. Here, I combined his answer with his previous answers that would go inline with my questions.

Mak clearly stated that he started the book as a journalistic experiment, an experiment of writing a readable book of Dutch history at the era of his father. In the process it would also serve to create understanding between generations. Younger generation could read what was happening at that moment which prompted the older generation to act out their history. History always moves. Every generation has their own questions on history. He tried to write it out to give more clarity to his readers. The story teller in his book is the writer (Mak himself), but the experience that he described belong to the point of view of his parents. His own memory came a bit later in the book as he entered his age of understanding what was happening. He mixed memories and history but he stressed the fact that he rechecked all the data from the letter, and he only wrote dialogue if he was really sure that the dialogue happened (verified). He was very lucky as his grandfather (a school teacher) kept all the letters that were helping him in his research.

For the second question he answered me that he was not ready to write it out until fifteen years after his father passed away. He also sorted his facts, and then put only those related to the history (or his book). Yes, I think being a part of the family will help him sensible enough to sort which details are for public, which weren't. Glad that he published the story!

One important lesson I've learned that day is the description of a journalist. He said that a journalist never write about himself. I think it is the essential part that differentiate blogging and citizen reporting. Blogging seems easier as it conveys only messages from the blogger (the writer), it can touches various aspects of life...mostly aspects that are closer to the writer's life. Yet, it's not really that easy as you've also think about your personal boundaries. Mak was able to write the book after his parents passed away. Reporting is more complicated as we've got to check and recheck information, we've got to visit and do some interviews if needed. Then from the huge data that you've had in your hands, you've got to slim it down and present a readable and understandable piece of writing. Yet, your personal life is safe untouched...

Mak also mentioned about the vanishing of letters as telephone and short messages took up its place in exchanging news. Then, I think that is the hole where bloggers can fitted in. Our news will be the treasure for the generation in the next century.

Blogging is not journalism said Gina Chen in her blog "Save the Media", and actually during these three years of blogging I've kept asking myself about the term "citizen journalism". I came to blogging through citizen journalism websites, but that is not why I would like to see citizen journalism websites continue to exist as a counterpart of professional journalism.

Why "citizen journalism" is also important in the process of blogging? Or why we do need it for the journalism itself? In my case it is basically due to the spirit of journalism. Journalism tried to see things objectively. If we are trying to blog within the corridor of journalism, then we're going to see "things" objectively. For me, it also helps me to be more curious on what is happening around me. It helps me to see the reaction of readers, or how a certain matter can be viewed through different point of views. When writing for a newspaper or a newsletter, you are aware of your readers' type. Usually writers made their own research to find out the background of their readers. The internet has widely spread readers, so it will need double work to explain things to readers (who don't really know, or may be never even imagine a bit about your country, or your culture).

One great example came from the workshop with Geert Mak. One editor asked Mak how to handle different facts in a book. The example is Indonesian Independence day, she was editing a book which stated the Indonesian Independence day is December 27, 1949 (the formal soverignty was transferred to the United States of Indonesia; term taken from Encyclopaedia Britannica) while for Indonesians the Independence Day is August 17, 1945. Mak answered that professionally she could call the writer asking about it, or add footnote (as she already did).

Another participant asked Mak if he was also avoiding to state the exact date of the Indonesian independence as he did not wrote down the date 17. Mak answered that question by underlining that he was not aware about not writing the complete date, and he added that he wrote it for the Dutch readers...where the symbolical meaning of the date is not significant. He would like his book readers to judge his stand for Indonesia by reading the whole book.

It is a coincidence (or perhaps not?) that the Jakarta Post's opinion column published that same morning presented an article "RI's Indeoendence Day: A forgotten piece of history". It is a scholar's perspective over a seminar about Indonesian independence movement which was held at the Central Museum of Utrecht, the Netherlands. Perhaps it was why that questions came into the workshop.

In the section of the Museum Volunteer Tour Guide of the Indonesian Heritage Society, we've once faced that kind of problem. A Dutch lady mistakenly cited the wrong date of Indonesian Independence. I forgot how we found it out, either one of her visitors complained and she reported in, or the visitor reported it formally. It was decided that to be professional every volunteer tour guides should honored the date used by the Indonesian government. No prejudice, we worked it out peacefully...

The question in Mak's workshop made me wondering about history lesson. It was explained by the moderator (I forgot his name) that now history is not an obligatory subject. So, only those who took the subject would be better informed about the history of the Dutch-Indie period.

Actually I would like to hear more about it, as we (Indonesian) are going to face the same problem about how to put East Timor in our history books. Younger generations will have different way of seeing things as perhaps my father's generation or even from my generation. That is how I see blogs and the product of citizen journalism websites are functioning, as a bridge to cross, a place to clarify prejudices, and also a way to differentiate between objective views and subjective views.

The spirit of netizens is sharing and communicating. As a reporter I do hope that we're going to bridge misunderstanding between generations and between nations. As a blogger I'm letting out my piece of thinking and put it together in the universal cyber storage to be "the treasure" for the next century. I'm still not sure about the term "citizen journalism" as I'm always preferring the word "citizen reporter" than "citizen journalist", but I do hope that writing netizens are going to make the world better!

Farewell to Gus Dur, a Father of the Nation

Yesterday (December 30, 2009) Indonesians lost another charismatic figure, KH. Abdurrahman Wahid, also famously known as Gus Dur. He was our fourth President before being impeached and ended his period of presidency (read full story in English Wikipedia or in Indonesian Wikipedia)

Gus Dur was a very smart man who was probably an example of a man whose thinking cap is using a black box approaches. He was using basically his intuitive mind to settle his goals. It was the reason of his being a controversial leader. People did not really know his reasons.

1999 I voted for Megawati, but our voices for Ibu Mega could not bring her to the chair of appointed president. It was not a direct vote, so we are still depending on the parties' coalition in MPR (People's representatives). Those representatives had chosen Gus Dur as our fourth president. I've got foreign friends who questioned his capability as a president. I thought Indonesians were probably did not ready to have a woman president. I tried to explained to my friends why Gus Dur would also be a good president. One of my friends asked (due to his eye sight problem): "But, how could he do his presidential duty? Even an ambassador has a pile of reading tasks!" I just answered that he could do it with all the staffs around him. I also added that I'd been in a seminar where he was one of the speakers. I saw him fast asleep in a period of conversation. Yet, to my astonishment his comment on that specific conversation was not showing any remark that he was asleep. While watching TV One covering the preparation of his funeral, I heard someone remembering the same aspect of Gus Dur. He never really slept, yet he stole his sleep without loosing his alertness.

With more outlets of Indonesian citizen journalism today, I can gather more opinions. The one from an expert like Faisal Basri (uploaded in English in Kompasiana) or from a mere citizen (this one is in Bahasa Indonesia can be found in wikimu.com).

Ex minister, Kusmayanto Kadiman, raised his voice as a citizen in Kompasiana in his writing "Bon Voyage Gus, We Love You Full!" (using the Indonesians most lovable phrase from the late mbah Surip). I agree that rumours should not become a big issue. The fact that he was buried as a Moslem, with a funeral attended by Moslems and non Moslems (both with sincere feeling of loosing him) shows that he is accepted as a great leader that goes beyond religious issues. Yes..., despite his being inconsistent and unpredictable he was doing a lot of pioneering steps towards pluralism and democracy (while at the same moment he might be seen as undemocratic for his black box way of approaches and for being stubborn). One example of mixed feelings towards his unreadable action (at the moment) can be read (in bahasa Indonesia) through this writing "Gus Dur dan Aceh".

Another important comment that I gathered through the television today is the importance of rehabilitating Gus Dur's name (for the reason of impeachment) which is more urgent than giving him a status as a national hero. I'm not sure how to do it without a judicial action, but seeing the content of both English and Indonesian wikipedia I think it is important to think it over before gathering 5.000.000 facebookers to support him as a national hero. Without rehabilitating his name, it would be normal if another question like this is popped out.

Thank you Gus Dur, you've been doing a lot during your short presidential period, and you've been planting more seeds of pluralism and humanity during your life time. You were not only serving us, Indonesian peoples, now you've also finished your good job serving the Creator.

Citizen journalism is a way to communicate

I always believe that we do need better communication, that is why I joined my voice with bloggers around the world in this cyber world.

East Timor is always an interesting subject for me, that's the reason I wrote Perlukah Film "Balibo Five" Dilarang di Indonesia? for Kompasiana, the corner for citizen journalism in Kompas.com.

I am limiting my browsing time, so I did not read other posts in the same tag of Balibo Five. I was reading an opinion column in the printed Kompas, and feel the need to write my opinion for citizen journalism site. I was including the link of my old writing for OhMyNews International (OMNI), and the link of another Indonesian citizen reporter for OMNI. We do need citizen journalism as a communication tool. That's why I like variety of comments. We shared and get feedback.

Today I browse and found this post in Kompasiana as an interesting piece with lots of information. I did not read it when I uploaded my writing two days after the author uploaded that post. 34 years...a very long pain for those related to the victims. I haven't got a chance to see the film, so I can't say my reaction to the film. I've got my prejudice, I've got my short opinion of the short official trailer, but I should be able to see the film and hear the discussion before I can make any judgement. So, I think we do need to see the film and make our decision about the content. If needed, we can make our own version of film on the situation at that time. Yet, the most important thing is to open a communication. It would even be better if those involve in it share their voices. Life is not long enough...34 years gone by...God is not blind, why don't we make way to forgive and be forgiven? It would not be forgotten, but we can make it a good lesson for the future.

The Power of Netizens' Voices

In an article "Trapped Inside a Broken Judicial System After Hitting Send" by Norimitsu Onishi, Prita Mulyasari was quoted saying: "People always lose to the powerful in this country. I'm a mother, a regular person like everybody else, so a lot of people identified with me and felt sympathy."

That's so true...that's why people accepted to give her our supports when she lost her case in the civil defamation law suit. People started collecting coins to show the hospital that we are standing together with her. She is the representative of ourselves, people who do not have power towards the powerful and resourceful person or institution. She is also the symbol of our needs to have better service as customers, especially for the health service. Coins are also the symbolization of how how cheap is the value of our judicial law. Another blogger said it out nicely:

collecting coins for Prita has surpassed the actual case, and has grown into a making a statement towards the corrupt judicial system this country has. coin us, we’ll coin you back. I do support this movement. I support it because I think that we have the right to speak out (responsibly mind you), we have the right to know what we are charged with (if arrested) and we have the right to a fair trial. And I don’t think Prita got any of that.

The government should see this case as a positive input to develop our national and international health services. Then, we might hope that people will trust our hospitals. Health services like hospitals can only give charity or discounted services if they have money to support the financial budget. It could only be attained by having the high class society as their patients to help supporting the cost for the low income patients. We do need to gain consumers' trust in our local hospitals. Seeing the advertisements we can clearly see that Indonesian patients are targeted consumers of hospitals abroad. This case is giving a negative impact, but actually it would be easier to be forgotten if we are not facing the arrogance hospitality of a hospital.

The coins collected has surpassed the needed amount to pay off Prita's fine. Updated status can be seen through Face Book or mailing list. The hospital is dropping the civil suit against Prita, but we don't know yet about the two doctors who were also charged in their law suits. I think it would be wiser to drop the case (both sides, the hospital and Prita). We can use the case as a good example of how vulnerable the position of consumers and bloggers in voicing their voices through the internet if the implementation of the Bill of Act on Electronic Information and Transaction (UU ITE) is not implemented wisely. An old post from Dunia Anggara showed the author's concern towards freedom of speech and expression. Some commentators disagree with him, but Prita's case show how vulnerable the position of a citizen when voicing his/her opinion online. Prita's right as a patient to get the information about her health condition seemed to be forgotten. As someone who felt that her complaint was entering deaf ears, her reaction of mailing her fellow friends (and friends mailing their friends) should not be seen as defaming one's name or institution. They should clarify it, not issuing a civil law suit.

Prita's case showed us the power of netizen's voices. It is also showing us that small contribution can also build a huge amount, a powerful action. If we can do a bit in our own shoes, then together we can change the world.

If Prita doesn't need to pay the fine, then people are suggesting her to use the money for other victims of unbalance power in front of the judicial law (if we should not say the corrupted judicial law). It seems that the cyber world is waking up, building another stand that show the power of netizens' voices.

Talking about cyber voices, there is one nice post came from blogger Yoris Sebastian about Budi Soehardi who received CNN Heroes 2009 award. It reminded me of how nationality is not depending on where one's live or work. Being abroad, working for a foreign brand of airline, didn't stop Budi from thinking about people from his country. One comment underlined that the orphanage is not in East Timor but in Kupang. It doesn't really matter where the orphanage was build, the point is he (and his family) do care about those children. They are the victim of the East Timor war. Life is being very difficult for them and education is the most important way to help building better life for those children. Sharing inspirational story like that (and also about the newspaper boy who became an architect) is really a good way to inspire people to act. So, the power of netizens' voices will only be powerful if the readers are inspired to act...The cyber world is also making the world smaller, you do not need to be Indonesian to support Prita. Borders are fading out, just like how quick the world responded and helped us during the tsunami and earthquakes. Ready to do something for others?

Some links on Prita's case can be read here:
http://thejakartaglobe.com/national/donors-close-to-paying-off-pritas-fine/346090
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/12/12/2769940.htm
http://thejakartaglobe.com/home/omni-says-its-ready-to-drop-civil-suit-against-prita-but-there-is-a-catch/346833

Learning More about Citizen Journalism

Hectic schedule made me a bit frustrated on providing time to write. I've still contributed some pictures but yet some other plans are kept in my mind...

I'm happy that a journalist based media worker had given me some questions on two articles I wrote for wikimu. She is doing her research for her master degree in journalism and was interested in analyzing those two articles. I'm happy because that way I can see which type of writing that took the interest of readers. Actually it would be nice to be able to know which type of article is interesting for common readers, and which one is interesting for those journalists. She promised me to send the soft copy of her thesis. At least I can see how interactive the article for her, and how did she grab my answers for her questions.

I've been watching how the media reacted to citizen journalism. I've also experienced how some media tried to use citizen journalism but only for their own sake. I'm not going to say which media are they. From the positive token, I think the Jakarta Post is an example from the media who used citizen journalism as a good interactive communication with its readers. An example of their balance reporting on opinion can also be seen in the articles about the annual memory of May Riot. After publishing an opinion writing that the writers have not forgotten it, which I paste in my previous posting, it was also published another opinion in a routine column of its Sunday edition.

Our national celebration of amnesia

Sun, 05/17/2009 1:36 PM | On the Town

As a scrawny high school kid in my red-checkered uniform with my black solidarity arm-band, I witnessed history in 1998. The euphoria of people-power was thick in the air of Jakarta.

We demanded reform, and we demanded the smiling tyrant be toppled from his 32-year reign. May 12 was a day of chaos. The streets of Jakarta were a battle ground. People screamed and threw rocks, while others looted everything from television sets to mattresses' and shampoo.

As the protest and mayhem escalated, the demand for Soeharto to step down reign was finally met. He announced his resignation with a big grin. The look was insulting: it was as though he believed he had done nothing wrong.

The old man proclaimed "ora pate'an", a Javanese phrase which means "nothing to lose" (whether he was president or not). Millions cheered in victory, but the damage was already done.

Contrary to Soeharto's claims, much was lost. Lives were lost. Buildings and businesses were destroyed. And my sisters were never the same after being violently raped.

Following the turmoil, blame games and cover-ups were thrown about on our television screens. The words "provocateurs" and "anarchy" suddenly became popular. Claims the mass action was provoked by a treacherous group connected to military generals was the word on the street.

Change, you ask? Reform became just another word in our history books. Certain parties reaped benefits from the revolution, while the majority of Indonesians gained nothing.

2009; eleven years later, some of the student activists who demanded reform have now joined the comfortable ranks of government, working for the very things they fought against in 1998.

The murders of university students during the protests remain unsolved to this day. Eleven years is a long time to wait for justice. However, it is not long enough for us, the generation that experienced it, to forget.

We were there. Why have we forgotten? Why have we ignored it, as if it never happened? Was it all in vain?

Last August, in celebration of Independence Day, a television station aired a 30 second bumper about national heroes. Along with Tjoet Njak Dien, Diponegoro, and those who fought against the colonialists for independence, was one man who made my heart stop: General Soeharto. Eleven years ago, he was a villain, a mass murderer, a man responsible for chaos. Now he is officially a TV hero. Men who a few years ago were implicated in the death and disappearances of students are now candidates in the presidential race, and they have a significant number of supporters.

Have we forgotten, or have we been conditioned to forget?

I have contacted several people involved in the 1998 riots and asked them to recall the events.

My then boyfriend was a high school student back in 1998. He wasn't an activist, nor was he directly involved in the action. But the atmosphere of the moment encouraged him to get involved in the euphoria.

"My school mates and I went to the University of Indonesia to join in the action, but we weren't taken seriously by the students. On our way back, we passed through an area where we saw a mass of people, got off the bus and joined in," he recalled.

Now he is a business executive. He hardly ever thinks about 1998 and is cynical of terms like "change" and "revolution".

"I think people who experienced 1998 have a reason to be apathetic. We saw that nothing really changed after the reform. Now we just do what we think is best for ourselves. The government will always remain the way it is," he said.

Lisa was also affected by the events of eleven years ago. She had her home looted by bunch of strange men. They broke in and accused her of hiding people in her house that was located near a big university.

"They kept asking *Where are you hiding them?' but I had no idea what they were talking about. We had an young son and we didn't want to fight back."

Now the Indonesian Idol fanatic claims to be disgusted by anything political. "Whenever there is political news or anything confronting on TV, I just change the channel. I don't give a shit. I just want to be a good wife and mother. As long as my family's happy, I'm happy." she said.

The "magic box" and its mind-numbing programs have proven to be an effective yet subtle lobotomizing tool. But can we blame apathy on the media alone? Every year, newspapers print stories related to the events of May 1998. Televisions air bumpers with dramatic musical scores portraying the events. As long as things remain the same, why should we expect people to care? Here in Jakarta, aside from a few political activists demanding justice for murder and rape victims, it is business as usual. Just yesterday, I served a coffee and a croissant to my regular customer, Rika, a senior student at Trisakti - the university where four students were shot dead on May 12, 1998. I asked her if her and her friends were commemorating the tragedy. "Maybe..I don't know. That's way before my time," she said hesitantly.

Oh well, can you really blame them for their apathy? For those of us who still care, families of the victims demanding justice for their losses - people who are still struggling for change you have my respect and support.

Keep loving and keep fighting.

- Kartika Jahja

That is what I do like from a media, the objectivity of seeing one topic. Both articles are against public amnesia, but the way it was presented were different. The second article was also including how the public amnesia could be developed.

Actually these other way of presenting stories made me thinking back into the case of our military action in East Timor and the truth that was seeking by the family of the Australian journalists. I've made a note as a citizen journalist before, and I think we can learn a lot of things if media keep their objectivity open to the public, and also hearing and digging into public opinions as well. And public opinion is actually the content of citizen journalism outlets.

BC Blogger Day...D-day!

Ouf...I can't do my live reporting as the wi-fi provided could not connect my friend's laptop to the internet.

I did my reporting for wikimu.com, it is still waiting for the moderation before going on air. This is the article that will be publish (sorry it is in Bahasa Indonesia, wait until I finish the one I did for OMNI...soon, I still have some agenda this evening...including going to the church...he...he...he...).


British Council Blogger Day

Setelah acara Pesta Blogger Nasional tahun lalu, bulan April ini blogger Indonesia kembali berkumpul bersama, kali ini atas undangan dari British Council. Banyak suara kecewa yang terdengar di dunia maya karena jumlah blogger yang diundang sangat terbatas, hanya seratus orang dalam pengumuman resmi di website panitia BC60 Now. Rupanya undangan ini berhubungan dengan ulang tahun ke 60 kehadiran British Council di Indonesia.

Ballroom Ritz Carlton Hotel Pacific Place tampak sangat ramai, ternyata acara ini berlangsung secara bersamaan dengan acara lain dari British Council “A festival of bright ideas” yang berisi pengenalan terhadap institusi pendidikan di Inggris.

Acara untuk para blogger dibuka oleh Mbak Dina Lucky dari British Council, sekaligus membuka kesempatan kompetisi live blogging, secara bersamaan juga diumumkan akan adanya perlombaan blogging dari British Council selama tiga bulan mendatang.

Acara pertama adalah perkenalan terhadap beberapa program yang bisa membantu mempermudah dan mempercanggih penampilan blog seorang blogger. Pembicara dalam acara ini Mas Zeddy Iskandar memberikan gambaran mengenai Windows Live Writer, Microsoft Popfly.

Sementara acara berlangsung sudah banyak blogger yang memulai melakukan live blogging. Sayang sekali ternyata sarana wifi yang disediakan kurang memadai, sementara kondisi gedung juga menyulitkan penerimaan layanan 3G. Jadi niat saya untuk blogging langsung selama acara, yang katanya baru pertama kali dijadikan kompetisi di Indonesia, tidak bisa berlangsung sukses.

Sesi berikut dimulai oleh Mbak Miund mulai ngeblog tahun 2004 karena diajarkan oleh teman yang sedang sekolah di luar negeri. Tulisan-tulisannya ternyata menjadi populer dan kemudian dijadikan buku. Dari buku dan blog saling membantu publikasinya.

Demikian juga dengan mas Radit yang awalnya senang menulis buku harian sejak kelas 4 SD dan kemudian tertarik untuk berpindah menulis ke blog (kambing jantan). Mas Radit juga kemudian menghasilkan buku-buku yang awalnya juga berawal dari kepopuleran blognya.

Mas Wicak yang di dunia blogging lebih dikenal sebagai Ndoro Kakung Pecas Ndahe, yang sehari-harinya berprofesi sebagai wartawan, maka blog menjadi media alternatif untuk menampung tulisan-tulisannya di luar tugas perusahaan.

Blog bisa menjadi sangat bermanfaat ketika misalnya terjadi bencana, seperti ketika terjadi bencana gempa bumi di Jogjakarta. Sebuah kelompok blogger Bangsari, menggunakan blognya sebagai wadah untuk mengumpulkan dana sebagai sumbangan untuk membantu warga di daerah Bangsari, sebuah pelosok di dekat Jogjakarta. Blog juga bisa menjadi sarana untuk berbagi ilmu seperti bagi para guru dan murid. Ada juga blogger (ndobos) yang mengulas mengenai keberadaan burung-burung langka dari Indonesia.

Blog bisa menarik dari isinya, maupun dari desainnya. Yang mampu menggabungkan keduanya tentunya bisa menghasilkan sebuah blog yang lebih menarik. Mas Wicak mengumpamakan memiliki blog seperti memelihara tomagochi atau tanaman anthurium, harus selalu dipelihara agar tidak mati.
Bang Enda Nasution yang berperan sebagai moderator di acara ini, juga berbagi kisah mengenai komunitas blogger yang bisa saling berbagi dan saling menguatkan.

Masalah lain yang juga sempat disinggung dalam acara ini adalah hal-hal yang bersangkutan dengan RUU Informasi dan Transaksi Elektronik. Tampaknya para pembicara memandang lebih penting bagi pemerintah untuk memperhatikan masalah Hak Kekayaan Intelektual (Copy Right) daripada mengatur pemblokiran situs-situs yang dicurigai memiliki konten pornografi. Dalam pembicaraan ternyata memang ada juga penulis yang mengambil isi blog orang lain dan berani menerbitkannya. Pemilik blog yang secara kebetulan melihat buku yang diterbitkan kemudian mengajukan somasi. Memang hal-hal penting seperti ini yang lebih penting dimasyarakatkan agar masyarakat Indonesia bisa semakin belajar menghargai hak kekayaan intelektual orang lain, dan di lain pihak juga bisa terbantu untuk mempertahankan hak-haknya sebagai penulis atau penghasil karya kreatif.

Perbincangan lain sedikit menyinggung masalah negatif yang juga hadir dalam dunia blogging, misalnya saja cyber bully, dimana komentator bisa memberikan ejekan dan tekanan yang tidak menyenangkan pemilik blog.

Masih banyak hal lain yang terungkap dalam perbincangan itu, antara lain ada seorang blogger yang diterima bekerja karena yang mewawancara pernah membaca blognya. Jadi, bagaimana? Anda tertarik ngeblog? Acara hari ini secara resmi juga meluncurkan kompetisi blog dari British Council yang akan berlangsung selama tiga bulan, dengan topik ulasan yang berbeda setiap bulannya. Mau tahu? Tengok http://bcnow60.org/blogger-day/

What is a Blogger Day?

When I first heard about the British Council Blogger Day, I thought it would be more than the National Blogger Party. I knew after the party (by an unintended browsed) that there were a lot of expatriates who are blogging from Jakarta regretted that they did not have the invitation to come to the meeting. I was a bit surprised that the invitation aimed only for Indonesians, but it was “National”…so perhaps they were looking to map the number and the location of Indonesian bloggers. I did see some expats (at least some Caucasian visitors, as some other Asian journalists –either blogger or not- couldn’t be guessed only from their physical appearances) in that National Blogger Party.

I think a blogger day is the chance to meet as many bloggers as we can meet in that offline meeting. It is a chance to enlarge our network and exchanging views with new acquaintances that could be continue online afterwards.

Recently an Indonesian who claimed himself as a real techno-savvy has made a statement that made some Indonesian bloggers’ very crossed! He called bloggers as hackers, and also as somebody who doesn’t have works to attend to, who do like to copy-paste others’ piece of work. I did not hear or read this statement myself, but I did read it in a lot of postings.

Last year the Jakarta Post printed in its front page (October 28, 2007) the headline “Blogging party gets official stamp of approval”. The Communications and Information Muhammad Nuh gave the Indonesian bloggers a special day (October 27) as the National Bloggers day. This year, because Indonesia is fighting against pornographic materials in the internet, there might be chances that we would not able to enter international sites. The government will block risky sites, they will produce a list to give to the ISP providers to be banned. Now, all Indonesian internet users are nervously waiting for that list to come. We are also afraid of the impact of pornographic sites to our children, but closing links can also closing our chance to be the part of the global world. So, the British Council’s invitation to perform a special British Council Blogger Day, is like a confirmation for bloggers (mostly to Indonesian bloggers) to do the right thing…continue blogging…yet, keep it on the right track! I did hope that it will be also a chance to meet international bloggers.

Today, I found a post by Jakartass about this British Council Blogger Day. He’s got a lot of interesting points that I would like to copy the whole blog post in my blog (he….he…he…kidding, I’d like to keep this blog as my personal journal of a citizen reporter), and the comments are also showing that the expats are (again) uninvited. Is it going to be true? We’ll see on Sunday!

He pointed out “famous blogger” (in parentheses) perhaps because he did not know these bloggers who write their blogs in Bahasa Indonesia. He admitted in the comment that his readers are mostly outside Indonesia. He stated the probability that Indonesian Anonymus is more popular here in Indonesia. This blog is also written in English, so is it English is the only language that can suit the label “famous”?

I’m a new in the blogosphere, I came to blogging through the Citizen Journalism websites. I’ve seen different characters of readers through the CJ websites. Indonesian readers are different with the International readers. I've chosen deliberately to became a bridge blogger. I don’t have enough time and energy like Mer, who can blog in three languages…English, Indonesian, and Sundanese (local dialect)! I don’t really care about being famous or being the celebrity blogger, as long as I’ve got good friends around the world. Friends who share the same concern as I do, friends who will support me when I am mentally down in writing, and friends that will enriched my way of seeing things! Thank you friends!:)

“Quantity is more important than quality?” The same questions popped in my mind when I saw the British Council Blogger Day's competition. How would we go to a meeting and ending up just writing in front of our laptop computers? (Actually I only have PC, but I’m going to ask my friend to bring along her laptop so I can borrow it…he…he…he…what’s friends are for?) No, that meeting is the chance to be mingling with new friends. I’ve got my lesson in Seoul, and from all the bloggers meetings that I attended lately…get in touch with others! But think of creativity…How could we make quantity and quality work together? Be creative! Isn’t that what British Council is promoting through their activities? Be a creative person!

I do need to quote these long sentences from Jakartass’ blog as it has something important for a citizen reporter. For longer reading go straight to his blog.

Writing is not easy. Yes, we can all rant, but if we post in haste, then we generally regret our utterances. The only times I have ever posted more or less on the spur of the moment are when I have reported earthquakes, sometimes before the official media. Enda Nasution, the moderator of the session on 'tricks', has my respect for setting up the Indonesia Help blog in the immediate aftermath of the Aceh tsunami. I joined him in posting various links, and the site was resuscitated following the Yogya quake.

Apart from those few times, I have generally ruminated and cogitated for some time before posting. This one, for example, has been worked on since Monday, albeit in my head, and subsequently re-edited. That old adage about 'sleeping on it' works wonders. I keep folders of notes which I probably won't use, yet are available as resource material if a spark of literary creation is ignited. Good writing isn't easy, and making it easy to read is even harder.

I do think it is important to write that long sentences down here, as I often found myself confused between blogging and citizen reporting. Editors in OhmyNews International would like to have the report as current as it is, while I do not want to challenge my credibility (even as merely a housewife) to write something that I’ll regret. I have also seen that misunderstanding can easily came out of misperception in the way readers read our writing, so there are times I did have friends helping me out by making their comments on my article before I am able (and confident enough) to publish it.

When I read the challenge given by British Council to write online during the meeting, I was thinking of Seoul again…when we were asked to submit our articles on that International Forum of OMNI Citizen Reporters. I am not able to do it yet. I think the best way is either to do it later or to cooperate with another friend who will receive the whole story, editing it, and work on it while we are still engaging in getting direct information. There should be a way to improve cooperation in producing better news. Be creative…see you on Sunday!

British Council Blogger Day, a birthday celebration!

I believe God is working in His own way. I was really busy trying to focus my mind, trying to put first thing first, when a friend who was chatting with me suddenly mention about a blogger day presented by the British Council to celebrate the 60th anniversary of its presence in Indonesia.

People has their own way of celebrating birthday, as an example Kris Biantoro, an Indonesian famous entertainer celebrated his 70th birthday by calling out the nationalism from the Indonesian youth. You can watch his spectacular way of celebration through Kompas-tv.com

Titiek Puspa, another famous entertainer also presented "Titiek Puspa, a Legendary Diva", her biography as an artist facing her 70th birthday. The event was also reported by a contributor from wikimu, Ollie.

And now...I'm going to the British Council Blogger Day! I've said that God has His mysterious way of matching our schedules (at least my schedule...) because I was actually planned to visit the orphanage of defective children with my neighbours (from the Catholic church) that day. Due to one and other problems we delayed it until the next week. It was suppose to be our Easter activity, but the situation was forcing us to delay that. Good for me because my agenda is now open to go to the BC Blogger Day!

It is interesting for me to join this event as I hope there I will meet more bridge bloggers. In the National Blogger Party I was still searching my ground as a blogger, today I think I've got a better ground.

I was really close with the British Council Library when I was a university student. I found a lot of interesting books in that Library. At that time the local university libraries did not provide any multimedia materials, so we were searching that to the libraries belong to the international cultural centers, e.g. the British Council library. The Library was handed over to the Ministry of Education in 2004. I did visit the new library, I hope it will continue to enriched young Indonesian with interesting materials. The library also has a special library facilities for the visually impaired persons.

I think the British Council after 60 years in Indonesia still has the enthralling aspect of creativity that makes us keep viewing it with the same exciting expression...new challenge, new events, and new joining programs...I'm hoping to be able to catch the atmosphere and bring it back to my blog.

News

I’m going to Jakarta Tourism Summit 2007. As an architect I am interested in urban tourism and environmental issues (see more discussion issues from JTS website). As a housewife I am confused on providing my time to be there. As a citizen reporter I am urged to be there…

Now I knew the different between current issues and news. Some days ago my brother commented on wikimu; “wikimu is quite something as a media, it reported the British Council event before the news posted in British Council’s own website”.

Actually wikimuwas also the second in the internet reporting about an earthquake. Yet, we can post even a very short article to keep it really update. We don’t have to worry about the length of the article. Off course we do need to be linked to the internet. This is the only obstacle. A fellow citizen reporter from Papua finished his study in Yogyakarta and came back to Papua without internet access. We miss his reports. Communication comes through articles. If voices could not be voice out then frustration can be the output. We need to speak and to listen to each other to gain a better cooperation in building this country (the most important thing is still the ACTION!).

Current Issue

What is a current issue? The daily Jakarta Post is the earliest (I knew) reported the National Bloggers’ Day. The daily Kontan published the event’s report yesterday. The daily Kompas wrote a page about blogging and the party today. Yet, my article (today, November 2) was turned down by the senior editor of Ohmy News as something “too old”.

I’ve read a T-shirt’s design wore in the bloggers’ party “No one cares about your blog”. I do think that people do care as long as it is something that they think is important.

Nobody wrote about the Indonesian bloggers meeting in OMNI so I do think it is still a current issue. Perhaps, my way of presenting it was wrong. I do not master how to write a feature. One of my articles that I sent to a mainstream media here was never published, and I overheard that the editor was confused where it would fit, Feature or Opinion.

It is so hard to work as a citizen reporter without the proper facilities. I’m glad that my writing about fighting the poverty can get published in Ohmy News. Then, I was already struggling with the problem of my new modem. I just bought it about three months ago through Telkom, so I could still ask for its replacement. As there were Lebaran holidays it was a long wait until I got back my modem. Before I had the chance to get it connected (glad that I did not connect it), the computer broke down. The electricity wire got struck by the thunder storm (one of the 480 thunderstorms on that afternoon, as stated by the BMG). So I’ve got to go to the Blogger Party without having a proper research. I printed out my invitation in my brother’s house just after I left my children in my parents’ house to go for the party.

My article reporting the National Bloggers’ Party for wikimu was commented by a reader as a very modest report. Although it is about my way of using the word Bapak (Mr) or Bapak Menteri, but I knew that it was also too plain….I wrote it in a restaurant borrowing a friend’s notebook.

After the Lebaran, my domestic assistant did not come back. So the proportion of handling the house chores are abundant. Without my personal computer I am paralyzed. While I usually can cut my sleeping hours to write, now I can do nothing…

Do I become addicted to the internet? Addicted to blogging? I hope not! I’ll always remember the articles about blogging that I read in OMNI, one from Claire George, and the other one from Nicolas van der Leek. I hope I can prepare myself to have a more balancing life in my relation with the internet.

I’m going to ease down…

The important thing is to deliver the content. And I do need to remember to make check and recheck before delivering it. I won’t change it to have instant sensational news.

I like the term citizen journalism as it gives me the feeling of being a citizen in the global world as well. It also gave me a chance to do things that I won’t have as a housewife. I won’t have the chance to visit Seoul on an invitation if it was not for the article I wrote about wikimu.com.

The term grassroots journalism is not really appealing for me. Why? Don’t know…, it is just that the word “citizen” gave a better direction as for “right and obligation”.

In the Bloggers’ party there were seats reserved for the press, but as it is a party without the presence of the president we were free to take pictures. Journalists or non journalists were all free to go to the front and take pictures.

I know now that I should put my blog under the term of bridge blogging. Let my current issues be something currently thought in my mind.

Hopefully my computer can be fixed soon, and I’ll be able to concentrate on writing my current thoughts in my blog. (He..he..he..this post is still written using another borrowed note book).

New Voices of Indonesia Speak Through the Internet.

Pesta Blogger Nasional Celebrating the First National Bloggers’ Day in Indonesia.

Indonesian government acknowledges the value of Indonesian grassroots’ voices that speak through the internet. Voices from the mailing lists, Readers’ Forum, to the voices of bloggers in the internet are now considered the new voices of Indonesia (Suara Baru Indonesia).

The Minister of Communication and Information, Muhammad Nuh, opened the First Indonesian Bloggers’ Party (Pesta Blogger) that served about 500 bloggers on the 27th October 2007 in Jakarta.



Indonesian bloggers came from Sumatera, Sulawesi, Java, Kuala Lumpur, and Singapore joined the party. It was also a celebration of the first National Bloggers’ Day. The government gave its support and will guarantee the freedom of speech in the internet. Yet, bloggers do need to remember their responsibility in presenting their country through the cyber space, and to help building Indonesia through their views and developing critics.



As an archipelago with more than 17,000 islands the internet will surely be the best tool to make a faster and easier connection to unify the citizens. The Indonesian bloggers are now approximately 130,000 people, which is far beyond the huge population of Indonesia. While developing the ICT to serve Indonesian people, it is also important to raise people’s awareness of their position as bloggers in presenting Indonesia to the global world.

This bloggers’ day celebration took place a day before the celebration of the Youth Pledge Day. It was hoped that the spirit that unified the youth in 1928 will be renewed and unified the Indonesian through the power of these new voices.

The internet is more familiar to the young people in Indonesia. There are plenty of teenlits published by youngsters after their blogs. But as shown in this first Indonesian bloggers’ party, a blog is not exclusively maintained by youngsters. I met the oldest blogger in the party, a seventy six-year-old, Prof. Dr. Iwan Darmansjah. His blog is mostly about health and medicine, and he said that he already kept it for ten years.

As in an Indonesian wedding party, where people can meet a lot of friends and be introduced to new acquaintances, the party was served to all range of age. There were also some seventh grader students and ninth grader students who maintained their blogs for about one or two years.

Family and school seemed to have a good influence in introducing blogging to youngsters. I’ve met a family whose members are all keeping their own blogs. First, it was to cater a long distance relation between parents as the father had to work far from the family. Then it became a habit that was followed by the children. The eldest son, who did not really keen on writing, started his first blog about Play Station Games. Now he is also posting to another blog as a part of his school assignment. The younger son started his blog last year when he was a sixth grader student. While his father’s blog is called ndobos (Javanese word for nonsense), he named his blog anakndobos (the child of ndobos). He wrote about his daily routine. He was frankly said in his post about the bloggers’ party that he kept playing Game Boy as he did not understand what the minister was talking about. Yet, as he revealed to me, he never wrote any complaint about his parents in his blog.

I think this is the different between blog and diary. When I was his age I wrote a lot of things in my diary, including my complaints for my parents or teachers. It was wonderful to look back at the diary and learnt how I grew up and to keep reminding myself on things that I might now act as a parent. While diary can be keep personal, blog is meant to be a public share.

Blog is a way to communicate to each other, relate to new acquaintance, or even fight for defending arguments. It will do good deeds as long as we keep it in the cyber world noted Ong Hock Chuan. He is a Malaysian blogger, a former journalist who is now a technical advisor for Maverick (the Public Relation Company that also helped worked out this event). In his blog he posted an article about the dispute between Malaysia and Indonesia on a traditional song known to Indonesian as a song from Maluku, East of Indonesia. He received 249 comments from Indonesia and Malaysia. While the discussion was heated in the cyber space, hopefully a better understanding of the different views could ease down the anger in the real world.

This big event was organized by some senior bloggers with Enda Nasution as the chairperson of the steering committee. The committee was consisted of some popular names like
Budi Putra, Nukman Luthfie, Wimar Witoelar, Shinta Danuwardoyo, Wicaksono, etc. Bloggers’ communities came using their own T-shirts’ design. Some were advertising their community, and there was also an activity from the Bundaran Hotel Indonesia community (Jakarta) to raise education fund for children from Bangsari, a village near Yogyakarta.


In the first session which was moderated by Wimar Witoelar, stories of bloggers came out. From those who can have their books published, to those who found the spouse through blogging activities. Another blogger lost her job in a TV station after a story she posted in her blog provoked anger from the Malaysian Minister of Tourism. She revealed her gratitude to other bloggers who kept supported and encouraged her during her ordeal. In this session Adrianto as the CEO of wikimu.com was also giving his words. He said that wikimu.com as a citizen journalism website is the participatory form of citizen in revealing their opinions. I have noted that more people are now attracted to write for citizen- journalism websites, and only some of these writers have their own blogs.

The second session divided the participants into several topics. The topics were personal blog, celebrity blog, current issues, bridge blogging, women’s issues, on-line marketing and sales, and technology blog.

I registered myself in current issues as I’d like to know more about how to handle current issues in my limited time for writing. I think it is important to know how to make an objective view if I want to cover current issues for my blog. My blog Buah Pena was constructed after I knew citizen journalism website. I consider it as my diary as a citizen reporter. I like the term citizen journalism because it reminded me of my duty as a citizen of my country and also as a citizen of the world. The moderator for this group were Wicaksono (a senior journalist), and Rudiyanto (an NGO worker).

This second session was very informal so I did placed myself between two groups, Current Issues and Bridge Blogging, to be able to hear both discussions. While the participants for Current Issues were plenty, the participants for Bridge Blogging were only about ten persons. Moderated by Ong Hock Chuan, the topics Bridge Blogging was mainly concern about the function of a blog as a bridge to give information about Indonesia to the world.

Actually the conversation in the group of Bridge Blogging was more interesting for me, but my interest in grassroots’ objectives on current issues kept me longer in the bigger crowd. As an excerpt from Bridge Blogging, I got that language is still the main obstacle for bridge blogging but there are plenty of friends who will be happy to help out. Then, community of mailing list, forum, or citizen journalism website can become an additional resource of knowledge and help. The voices from bridge blogs are important to give more opinions on Indonesia outside the voice of the mainstream media to the world.



There are two important things that I dig out in this session. First, as a blogger I do not have to worry about current issues. Just be ourselves. That way we can produce a better view on any current issues that took our interests. Then, for being a bridge between Indonesia to the world it is important to be very objective. Networking communities can be a big help to gain more knowledge and to build a better blog performance.

Between the two session people made their vote for their chosen blogs. This vote brought some prizes such as Nokia Hand Phone. A lap top was a spontaneous gift from the minister for the most voted blog. It was such a party, but it was also a start for a bigger job. To be the real new voices!

Indonesia Citizen Journalism on the Rise

With low online penetration, country holds potential for explosive growth

Maria Margaretta Vivijanti (retty67)

Email Article Print Article
Published 2007-03-30 13:11 (KST)

The Asia Pacific Regional Internet Conference on Operational Technologies (APRICOT) was held at the end of February in Bali. It produced a commitment to make the Internet and ICT (Information Communication Technology) more accessible and affordable to the public. This is an important commitment since we are facing a more global world, a world without borders. With the Internet easily connected, there is no border of time, no border of space. The limitation is only in language and interest. This will make a significant impact to the development of mass media.

According to datafrom the Associations of ISP in Indonesia (APJII), in Indonesia in 2005 there were 16 millions Internet users. Internet World Statistics of January 2007 shows that the number of Internet users in Indonesia were 2 million in the year 2000 and increased to 18 million recently, a 900 percent growth. Yet Indonesia still has only 8 percent of its population connected to the e-world, so the potential market in the future remains enormous. Compared to Singapore (66.3 percent) and Malaysia (38.9 percent), or to South Korea (66.1 percent), Indonesia contains huge growth potential. Of course, realizing such growth is dependent on the political will to educate the Indonesian people and a commitment to provide more affordable Internet access.

Online media and citizen journalism

The growing population of Internet users will undoubtedly affect the policy of the mainstream media. The existence of the online media, together with the rise of citizen journalism will force the mainstream media to build and preserve their own community. Some printed media have already adjusted by creating online versions, while citizen journalist sites continue to grow.

Indonesian citizen journalism cannot compare with South Korea's OhmyNews, which in seven years has gained worldwide recognition. Yet it does have the talent to grow up. One OhmyNews netizen is an Indonesian who has built her local website “Panyingkul," which means intersection in the local dialect of South Sulawesi. In this way, Lily Yulianti tried to engage its netizens to dig into the rich culture of Indonesia, especially from her hometown Makassar.

In my view, it is a wise action to show her compassion to her country while physically she resides in Japan. It's really showing that the e-world is also the world without border. While her reports for OhmyNews are written in English (for worldwide readers), the reporters in Panyingkul are written in the Indonesian language (with readers that sometimes commented in local dialect).

It is stated in Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia online, that the rise of citizen journalism is mostly due to the fact that there are some popular topics ignored by the conventional newspapers. Wikipedia also noted the contribution of OhmyNews towards the transformation of the South Korean's conservative political environment. This hints at the need for a place to voice some perspectives held by the public that are not taken account of by the media.

Competitor or complement?

With the fast growing and changing world of media, how will the conventional printed newspapers survive? Are these online media their competitors, or could they become their complements? The answer surely depends on how well the conventional media foresees the needs of its readers, and how good they are at providing their readers a voice.

Online media has the advantage of providing readers with easy access to various kinds of information by searching through thousands of sources instantly. With the rise of citizen journalism, readers can be actively involved as journalists as well. Lacking a journalistic background, the netizen can learn from interaction with other readers and writers. Some professional journalists who join in the group could be their great mentors.

If the conventional media perceives the growth of citizen journalism as a competitor then someone will not survive the competition. Only if they value it as a complement will they grow up together and strengthen each other.

There are some human factors that won't wipe out the conventional media. First, looking through the computer for excessive hours can produce eye strain. So often readers will print stories out for comfort. Reading the news in your leisure time in your own relaxing environment is another factor that also keeps the print media strong. As some big players of the mainstream media have shown, they do receive a great deal of information from eyewitnesses. But they also check the information, as Internet users can always use fake identity, or give false information. So the issue of trustworthiness comes into play.

According to a 10-country survey conducted by GlobeScan (2006) for BBC, Reuters, and the Media Center, Indonesian media is more trusted than the government. Indonesian media is only exceeded by that of Nigeria in winning their public's trust. In the U.S. and U.K., the governments are more trusted than the media. The most trusted news source is national television, followed by the national/regional newspaper, then followed by local newspapers, public radio and international satellite TV. The Internet blogs are still the least trusted news source. Yet, the most important news sources are the television (56 percent), newspapers (21 percent), Internet (9 percent), and radio (9 percent). There is a special note about how the Internet is gaining ground among young people.

While waiting for the increase in Internet usage, conventional media should help the government in educating people about the changes. They can educate people by providing them the news they need, and at the same time give them a place to speak out. In doing this, they will also build loyal readers.

The rise of citizen journalism in Indonesia could really complement the media, as the journalist can seek out public views and get more news direct from the source. Hopefully, journalists can also indirectly teach the public how to present their opinions in writing.

Until today, Indonesian public opinion is still shaped by the mainstream media. The rise of citizen journalism could make a great change as people will have access to a wider spectrum of viewpoints. As an example, a Japanese netizen thanked OhmyNews for publishing her article which she believes made the local newspapers and government focus their eyes on an issue that had been neglected. The issue had already been presented to the local press with no avail, and suddenly after her article was published in OhmyNews the press started digging into the case.

Citizen journalism in Indonesia

The most popular form of citizen journalism in Indonesia is still radio, as most citizens are more attached to radio than to the Internet. It began from the need to avoid traffic jams. Audience members called into the radio to report the traffic situation to help other members of the audience. The worsened traffic in the middle of big cities made people turn to their radios for traffic information, and meanwhile other topics were raised while waiting for the latest traffic update. From this starting point it grew bigger and bigger with a variety of news, from local news to the national news like the tsunami or the earthquake.

I was first introduced to the term citizen journalism when I browsed around and found a blog created by Moch. Nunung Kurniawan (Iwan). A student seeking a journalism masters degree in the Philippines, he mentioned that his thesis was on citizen journalism, comparing the successful implication of citizen journalism in the radio (Elshinta) to the success of OhmyNews. At that moment I did not bother to look into his thesis, but I did comment that the success of the radio was merely based on mutual benefit taken by its audience.

Then, a friend of mine introduced me to a citizen journalism Web site. I found out that having your article published takes just a moment, compared to the long wait without response from the mainstream media, and having the opportunity to get comments from other readers triggered my motivation to write. I also learned that good and educational news (to my eyes) are not always the most popular articles. The most viewed article is not automatically the one labeled as most useful by readers. Commenting on an incident of an Indonesian singer who threw a remote control to her husband, I wrote an article about managing anger to our benefit. It was really a simple article for me, but it turned out to be the most useful article (viewed by the readers) among all my articles. Another discovery is that a good article might also gain no comment at all!

All of a sudden I understand what Iwan was mentioning in his blog -- the real meaning of citizen journalism. Therefore I browsed English OhmyNews, where I found aout about www.Panyingkul.com. Then afterwards I also found www.kabarindonesia.com and www.halamansatu.net. Reading through all these citizen journalism websites in Indonesian language, I realized that the citizen journalism through the web in Indonesia is just begun. I am not sure about www.halamansatu.net., but the other three websites have not yet reached their first anniversary.

I came back to Iwan's blog and read his thesis, I learned about the different categories of citizen journalism identified by Steve Outing. Wikimu.com in this point of view could be considered as a wiki, where readers are also the editors. Luckily, there are also some professional journalists who join in as contributors so as a contributor who lacked journalistic background, I could learn a lot from their writings and comments. The professional journalist for their part could learn the interests of the citizen through number of visits, points made by readers, and the readers' comments.

I have no time to regularly visit the other Web sites, but it seems to me that all Web sites already have their own loyal readers and contributors, and the readers will soon multiply as it works like multi-level marketing. One reader or contributor will bring other friends along. It is up to the content of the articles that will determine the readers loyalty to this community of press. And of course its continuation will also depend on financial support, but that is something that is still beyond my knowledge.

Youngsters in Indonesia do have a better relation to the Internet. Some elementary school students who don't own a computer go to the "warnet" (internet kiosk) to play interactive games through the Internet. Preschoolers in big cities have already been introduced to using a computer. So soon this rising phenomena will become a real growing fact that should be taken into account by any mainstream media outlets in Indonesia.
2007-03-30 13:11 (KST)

©2007 OhmyNews