Kuta Beach in Bali, Indonesia

Indonesia
CountryReportonMediaLandscapeandIssues

DEVC80-V2
Canivel,Andrea
Flores,AilaMonica
Palomo,FranchescaMa.Mikaela
Rufino,NaomiAnn

18May2017
Background

Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia

(Bahasa Indonesia: Republik Indonesia), is a vast nation
consisting of more than 18,000 islands in the Southeast
Asian Archipelago, and is the world's largest archipelagic
nation. The archipelago has a total landmass of 1.91 million
square kilometers. The islands can be grouped into two, the
Greater Sunda islands composed of Sumatra, Java,
southern Borneo, and Celebes. The other group is called
the Lesser Sunda islands and is composed of Bali, the Moluccas and New Guinea.

Population-wise, it is the fourth most populous worldwide with 263 million people as of
May 2017. Of the 263 million, 53% are residing in urban areas while 47% live in rural areas.
Indonesias population is also relatively young with 25.8% being under the age of 15 and
another 24.9% aged 15-29 followed by 23.1% aged 30-44 years old.

The country is also the most populous Muslim-majority. While 87.2% of Indonesians
practice Islam, other religions such as Roman Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and
Confucianism are still present albeit in much smaller concentrations. The ethnicities within
Indonesia, like its religions, are also diverse, consisting of mostly Malay but also including
Javanese, Madurese, Chinese, and Indian.

The nations capital is Jakarta located in northwestern Java. Its currency is the rupiah
(Rp) and the national language is called Bahasa Indonesia. The current president of their
multi-party republic, composed of two legislative bodies: the Regional Representative Council
and the House of Representatives, is Joko Widodo.

Historically, Indonesia was colonized by the Dutch from whom they declared
independence from after a brief Japanese occupation during World War II. Independence was
declared in 1945 but recognized in 1949. It was during this time that the country went from
being called the Dutch East Indies to Indonesia. In recent history, the archipelago was placed
under the military dictatorship of Suharto until the Indonesian Revolution of 1998 when they
regained democracy.

At present, the country benefits from a competitive economy, acknowledged as

Southeast Asias biggest economy (BBC, 2016) but is plagued by poverty, low literacy rate,
and aftereffects of the Suharto dictatorship such as political instability and regionalism.

MediaLandscape

Like any other countries, Indonesia has an active and progressive mass media. Its slow
yet notable development is observed after the Sukarno dictatorship era. Thus, the
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independence of the country. At present there are 172 existing daily newspapers all around
Indonesia which has a total circulation of 4,782,000. Aside from the daily newspapers,
Indonesia also publishes non-daily newspapers which are greater in number. There are 425
recorded non-daily newspapers circulating in about 7,758,000 people.

On the broadcasting side of Indonesias media landscape, radio and television also grew
in number. There are a total of 803 existing radio stations at present and 41 television stations
in the country. However, Television is still considered the most dominant media platform in
Indonesia. Televisi Republik Indonesia (TVRI) is the leading station which is public.

Indonesias telecommunications aspect has become progressive as well.

There are 22.386 million total telephone subscriptions in fixed lines. Interestingly, there are
existing telephone kiosks located in remote areas of Indonesia which are over 200 thousand
already. Moreover, the countrys mobile cellular subscriptions are also growing rapidly, ten times
greater than the telephone subscription, counting about 338.426 million since July 2015.

In line with the development of mobile-cellular users, Internet has been considered the
second largest platform next to TV. Indonesia has a total of 71 million users which is 22% of
their current population. Facebook is the countrys most popular web destination. Also,
according to a survey, Indonesians are the worlds most active Twitter users (BBC, 2014).

Media-relatedIssuesinIndonesia

Censorship
The constitution declares that everyone has the "right to freedom of opinion and
expression." Journalistic activities of foreigners, however, are limited in accordance with the
policy that "freedom of expression" does not permit interference in domestic affairs or
dissemination of "foreign ideologies" detrimental to the Indonesian system of government. The
government censors foreign films and publications, and Indonesian newspapers have been
temporarily closed down for violating news guidelines. In 1982, a new press law established a
Press Council of government officials, journalists, and scholars empowered to decide what
news may be printed. The government began to issue and revoke "publishing licenses" in 1984
to control the media. In 1994 the licenses of three well-known news magazines were revoked.

Media Access Ban

Indonesia has restricted the media access of its Papua and West Papua provinces for 50
years. This phenomenon resulted to lack of media coverage of the armed conflict between the
military and the Free Papua Movement which greatly affected the individuals residing in the
area.

Envelope Journalism
Corruption in media in the form of payoffs or envelope journalism is also an issue in the
country. It is described a longstanding and age-old practice where payment was given to
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journalists by politicians and other high profile individuals for not disclosing damaging
information or for writing a story putting them in a good light. ABC journalist Helen Brown wrote
in 2013 about an experience in Indonesia wherein her journalist friend received a call
commissioning him to write an article in favor of the then president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
regarding an international award he had received.

Lack of laws supporting free press and FOI

While the last two administrations after the fall of Suharto in 1998, the Habibie and
Wahid administrations have expressed that improving the media and press freedom are part of
the national agenda, they have made only small steps towards this. Before the end of Habibies
term in September of 1999, a liberal press law was signed to remove oppressive policies
against media and establish protections for print media specifically.

Biased election coverage

The 2014 elections coverage was dominated by two major TV stations each in favor of
one candidate. These biases were obvious in the press coverage done by the respective
channels. Surya Paloh and Aburizal Bakrie, who owned tvOne and ANTV supported Prabowo
Subianto while Suryah Paloh, a rival media megnate and owner of Metro TV and the newspaper
Media Indonesia, supported Widodo.

Scandalisation
In a research paper by Elisabeth Kramer entitled When news becomes entertainment:
Representations of corruption in Indonesias media and the implication of scandal, it was stated
that the media often scandalises corruption in order to increase audience numbers and profit. In
an effort to capture the publics attention, corruption cases often focus on the personalities
involved instead of the factors that led to them.

LessonsLearned
Influence of historic events on modern mediascape
Back when Indonesia was under a dictatorship, it would make sense that there would be
censorship in the press despite its numerous outlets. The media was not generally allowed to
disclose certain matters to the public such as armed conflict and foreign ideologies. Any
attempts to promote freedom of speech would be hampered.

But now that the country has become democratic, the Indonesian media landscape has
changed. Laws concerning press freedom are being raised in the government. Many citizens
have access to social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter wherein they can express
their thoughts.

This transition goes to show that a countrys type of government is indicative of press
freedom and vice versa.

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Laws and institutions in support to free press and FOI
There is a slow yet notable progress in Indonesias call for a free press and their
Freedom of Information. After the dictatorship that happened in the country, presidents consider
free press and FOI as part of their agenda.

These concerns should be more amplified in the government Indonesia because mass
media has a huge role in shaping its society. Laws and institutions should provide more support
in medias call for free press and FOI.

Call for accountability from government

The media of Indonesia is not government-controlled, but rather government regulated
which means that they are still adhering to the laws and policies of the government. However,
the media still should express its demand for accountability from the government concerning the
issues they are involved in like the envelope journalism occurring in the system.
Mass media is the watchdog and guardians of transparency of the government but then,
the government should as well do its part on embodying integrity being the leaders of the
country.

References

British Broadcasting Company (2016, January 2014). Indonesia Profile - overview.

Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-14921239
Central Intelligence Agency (n.d.). The World Factbook - Indonesia. Retrived from
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/id.html
Committee to Protect Journalists. (March, 2015). Media restrictions in Papua underscore
Indonesias wider problems. Retrieved from https://cpj.org/blog/2015
/03/media-restrictions-in-papua-underscore-indonesias-.php
Expat Website Association (2016, July 11). Overview of Indonesia. Retrieved from
http://www.expat.or.id/info/overview.html
Nations Encyclopedia (2017). Indonesia - Media. Retrieved from http://www.
nationsencyclopedia.com/Asia-and-Oceania/Indonesia-MEDIA.html#ixzz4hCxiqlmW
New World Encyclopedia (2017, April 30). Indonesia. Retrived from
http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Indonesia
Press Reference (2017) Indonesia. Retrieved from http://www.pressreference.
com/Gu-Ku/Indonesia.html
Worldometers (2017, May). Indonesia Population (LIVE). Retrieved from
http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/indonesia-population/
Brown, H. (2013, June). Bribery and corruption rife in Indonesias media. Retrieved from
http://www.abc.net.au/correspondents/content/2013/s3782567.htm
Kramer, E. When news becomes entertainment: Representations of corruption in
Indonesias media and the implication of scandal. Retrieved from

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 https://ses.library.usyd.edu.au/bitstream/2123/9550/2/When%20news%20becomes%20
entertainment-corruption%20and%20scandal%20in%20Indonesia.pdf