JAKARTA - Thousands of Indonesians have taken to the streets in the past week
to protest the arrests of two anti-corruption commissioners and demand that
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono take a stand against graft in a nation with
a long history of bribery and political shenanigans.
The demonstrations are a stark reminder of those that occurred more than 10
years ago, when Indonesians rallied to demand the ouster of dictator Suharto.
This time, the weight of remonstration is digital, in the form of a Facebook
group.
The popular social networking site claims a small but rapidly growing market in
Indonesia, the world's seventh-largest Facebook community with 8.52 million
users, according to data compiled by Google Trends. The growth rate is fast -
8.23 million
joined in the past 12 months alone.
After two members of the Corruption Eradication Commission, better known as
KPK, were arrested last Thursday, more than 350,000 people joined a Facebook
page in support of the deputies. Thousands more signed up throughout the day
and new comments have been posted to the wall almost every second. Public
demonstrations have since been held, but they've drawn nowhere near the support
seen on Facebook.
By Friday morning, a week after the site launched, it was well on its way to
reaching one million members, with more than 925,000 people having signed up by
9am. Wall posts have ranged from outrage toward the police - "Confess now, then
ask forgiveness later", wrote Agus Sutragus - to pleas for the president to
"defend the people's struggle" and to root out corruption for the good of the
country.
The site's main goal, according to creator Usman Yasin, is to push for law
enforcement reform in Indonesia. The corruption scandal continues to swirl,
raising daily intrigue and conspiracy theories. But what many analysts here are
now discussing is how people have democratically responded to an event that has
created mass public dissatisfaction and could, they say, significantly
undermine the social and political stability that recently re-elected Yudhoyono
struggled to rebuild during his first five years in power.
"Now we have a new model on how to control our government," said Teten Masduki,
the secretary general of Transparency International in Indonesia and
a part of the team summoned by the president on Sunday to advise him on an
appropriate response to the uproar. "With new technology it's easy to share our
dissatisfaction with the president: just update your status."
Teten also highlighted the importance of a change in election laws that saw
politicians directly elected by voters for the first time in the 11 years since
democracy has taken hold in Indonesia. He remains sanguine about the potential
for Facebook and other on-line social networking sites to mobilize public
opinion.
"People want to say we support the KPK and we believe justice will win.
Facebook has become a political indicator of that," said the anti-corruption
activist, who worked with a popular Indonesian band to release a ringtone
Wednesday in support of the KPK. In the first few hours after its release, more
than 40,000 people had used the jingle.
After decades of authoritarian rule under Suharto, which included a
stranglehold on independent media, Indonesia now enjoys greater freedom of
speech and more open political debate in the news arena.
The Internet increasingly plays a critical role as a platform for independent
debate, "so much so that mainstream media are left with no choice but to start
reporting issues that are causing waves in cyberspace," Jakarta Globe columnist
Karim Raslan wrote on Thursday. He believes that the pushback from civil
society shows people are not as complacent as they seem, and this could prove a
challenge that will keep Yudhoyono on his toes throughout his second term.
Many politicians also have recognized the importance of the Internet, and
several took their campaigns online during the July presidential elections as a
way to win over young voters. New information minister, Tifatul Sembiring, says
he sends out daily tweets on Twitter, a site that allows people to post short
thoughts or questions.
'Game-changing' agent
Some see Facebook users as a strategic segment of society and believe a
presence on the site increases their access to Indonesian youth as well as
high-level bureaucrats and businesspeople who can influence public information.
Other analysts say the latest Facebook showing is more proof of digital media's
power, not only among Indonesian youth, but also among those who lost faith in
the independence of mainstream media during the Suharto years and now prefer
the Web for independent news and analysis.
"The Internet is a 'game-changing' agent even in a polity such as Indonesia
where the media is relatively free," wrote Karim.
But whether online activism translates to political action remains to be seen.
Some suggest it may be just a passing fad, pointing out that the majority of
Facebook users in Indonesia are already well-educated, well-informed members of
the middle class. That automatically makes them more likely to take an interest
in politics and seek to influence politicians through outlets outside of
Facebook.
Others say the swelling support seen on Facebook pushed Yudhoyono to assemble a
fact-finding team into the allegations on Monday. But it was ultimately the
public dissemination through court hearings of wiretapped conversation
indicating that senior police and attorney general's office officials may have
been complicit in a plot to undermine the KPK that led to the two
commissioners' release on Tuesday.
This is not the first time Facebook has played a role in public protest in
Indonesia. In July, thousands signed up to support Prita, a mother of two who
was accused of criminally defaming an international hospital in an e-mail that
criticized the facility's treatment. Whether or not the Facebook support made a
difference, it did draw attention to Prita's case, with nearly 60,000
supporters signing up to the Facebook group calling for her freedom. When she
was eventually released from jail, many social activists credited the campaign
sparked by Facebook.
Other on-line protest groups include an anti-polygamy coalition started after a
controversial global polygamy club launched a branch in Indonesia in
mid-October. Indonesia Unite, which launched a page as a way for Indonesians to
take a stand against terrorism following the Marriott and Ritz Carlton hotel
bombings in July, has since participated in a blogging conference and launched
its own T-shirts, pins and stickers in an effort to gain a presence outside the
Web.
While Facebook has become a prime way of coordinating people and promoting
public awareness campaigns, the Internet still only reaches around 10% of
Indonesia's 240 million people. Mobile connectivity is greater, with nearly 60%
of Indonesians owning a cell phone, and the explosion of portable Web devices
such as BlackBerrys have given more people access to Facebook and Twitter,
allowing them to update their status on the go.
The low cost of such devices also opens Facebook to a wider swath of society,
giving more citizens access to tools that help them shape not only the news but
also the way the government responds to their demands. Public arguments on the
social networking site have also raised debate about how the country's
draconian electronic information law can best be applied in the new digital
age.
After one week of solid support for the KPK deputies, in democratic fashion,
one Facebook user posted a comment that backed the other side: "Go Indonesian
police, swallow those geckos alive," wrote the user, referring to a derogatory
term used to describe the KPK. Hundreds of angry comments followed the post,
while others reminded members to the group that Indonesia is now a country that
embraces free speech.
But the corruption scandal and the online response has revealed a rift in
society that Transparency International's Teten said is becoming more
polarized. "You can see the president is behind the police and the attorney
general while the people are behind the KPK." It's an expression of popular
dissent that wouldn't have been possible under the authoritarianism of Suharto,
or before the advent of Facebook.
Sara Schonhardt is a freelance writer based in Jakarta, Indonesia. She
has lived and worked in Southeast Asia for six years and has a master's degree
in international affairs from Columbia University.
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