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Activists gain political force online as social media grows
The proliferation of social media such as Facebook, Twitter and blogs, is facilitating Internet activism capable of influencing political decision-making in the country
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he proliferation of social media such as Facebook, Twitter and blogs, is facilitating Internet activism capable of influencing political decision-making in the country.
“We cannot overlook or ignore the role of social media in galvanizing political support for suppressed groups,” noted blogger Enda Nasution said at a discussion held by the Alliance of Independent Journalists in Jakarta on Wednesday.
She said the online social and political movement had been on the rise in the country even before 2009.
Indonesia’s Facebook users numbered 14 million in 2009, placing the country fourth after the US, the UK and Turkey, for the largest number of Facebook users.
Enda cited an online campaign against the development of a shopping mall and high-rise apartments in Babakan Siliwangi city park in Bandung, West Java, in 2008, as an embryonic example of online activism in the country.
As a consequence, the plan to convert the city park into a commercial center has been stalled, as many online activists have signed petitions and demanded the Bandung municipal administration cancel the project on the basis of environmental considerations.
“Since then, such movements have garnered positive responses from society at large. In the same year, Coin a Chance!, a Jakarta-based online drive to help low-income children get back to school, was created,” Enda said.
Coin a Chance! asks cyber users to donate their spare change to children in need. The organization, which now has a number of branches spread out as far as Europe, has so far collected more than Rp 26 million (US$3,000) in donations.
According to Enda, the Internet has become fertile ground for activists to push forward their political agendas, as the country is seeing a rapid rise in the number of Internet users, from 27 million in 2008 to 31 million in 2009.
By 2012, the country is expected to welcome 60 million more users from desktop and mobile platforms.
Enda continued that online activists needed to gain the right momentum, as well as recognize their limits when it came to starting activism online. For instance, the growing popularity of Facebook and Twitter in past years was leveraged by online social and political movements, such as Coins for Prita, a group that formed in December 2009 to raise money for Prita Mulyasari.
Prita was imprisoned and fined Rp 204 million by a civil court for allegedly defaming an international hospital following her complaint of poor medical services through email.
Cherian George, a professor of journalism at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, said journalists working for mainstream media, such as newspapers and television, were responsible for educating citizens about such online movements.
“As journalists, they have to inform citizens about such mass [online] movements, including the people behind them,” he said.
He added that ultimately, political players would have to act in the offline world to have any impact, especially if the government began to curtail or censor online political activities.
“Increasingly, those pushing for more liberty online must contend with competing values, especially order and morality.” (tsy)
