03.09.2010 at 5:00 pm | Have your say »

Netizens, new rising power with double edges

In yesteryear times, pen might be mightier than swords. Not these days in Indonesia when new empire is on the rise, the Internet.

In the past two years, the country is listed as one of the world’s fastest growing Facebook users, not to mention Twitter followers and growing community of bloggers.

The new community of Internet users, also known as the netizens, is the new power that begs to differ from traditional media, like long-time supremo television, old-timers radio and print publications.

Those netizens have opened the Pandora box to unleash the power of the Internet via Facebook, Twitter and blogs, not only to connect to childhood friends and families for a reunion or gathering, but also as social and political weaponry in fighting against corruption and injustice.

That virtual community has been ostensibly dictating the play in the country’s socio-political stage lately.

Generosity prevails: Prita Mulyasari receives donations from people at the concert. (The Jakarta Post)

Prita case

Last year, millions of netizens signed up to a solidarity cause on Facebook to support the release of Prita Mulyasari, 32, a mother of two, who was jailed for spreading an email complaining of poor services in her former hospital and therefore was separated from her children for three weeks.

Number speaks for itself. Big numbers are always newsy and attracting, too, especially during the pre-election campaign period.

Presidential candidates, Megawati Soekarnoputri and Jusuf Kalla, were among those who attempted to jump into the coattail of the Prita’s case by visiting the deprived mother and calling on her release, as a glaring ploy to bask in media exposure for their own campaign.

Thanks to the snowballing pressure starting from the Internet, the law enforcers eventually released Prita.

But, the release is not a happy ending for Prita.  Plot thickens as the hospital also lodged a civil lawsuit to demand Prita to compensate Rp 204 million (US$21,935) for defamation and the court favored the suit.

Fortunately, the virtual crowd of netizens is not a herd of ignorants. They organized themselves through blogs, Twitter and Facebook, this time was greater than ever. In a creative way to symbolize the poor people’s resistance and resilience in a David-Goliath scenario battle, they created a Coins for Prita movement, to call the greater mass of Indonesian to chip in their pennies to support Prita.

The rest is history.

Within less than a month, those netizens managed to collect Rp 800 million, more than enough to pay off the fine.

Coin power: Volunteers count thousands of coins collected by the Coins for Prita movement at a food court in Kramat Pela, South Jakarta. (The Jakarta Post)

Gecko vs Croc battle

Prita is not the only isolated case.

Indonesian netizens have also risen and shone in another national saga: cicak (gecko) versus buaya (crocodile), a rivalry between Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and National Police. The term was coined by controversial Comr. Gen. Susno Duadji, former top police detective, who floated the analogy in the media to protest an unconfirmed wiretapping on his cell phones at the behest of KPK’s officials. The general likens the commission to an overconfident “gecko” challenging a “crocodile” (the National Police).

The drama went on as police named suspects KPK deputy chairmen Bibit Samad Rianto and Chandra M. Hamzah in abuse of authority in the wiretapping case and put them into custody. The police’s arrogant statement and move have angered people who then expressed their long-kept dissatisfaction and discontent on the performance of police on the Internet.

Again, millions signed in “A Million Facebookers in support of Bibit-Chandra”  causes, some bloggers and netizens organized mass rallies across the country to call on the release of the officials from the custody and thorough investigation on the police top detective.

Within five days, police suspended their detention on Bibit and Chandra. National Police Chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri also apologized to the public for his top aide’s statement about gecko vs crocodile analogy and later replaced the top detective.

From virtual to real: Members of the Facebook social network join a rally in Jakarta to support suspended Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) deputies, Bibit Samad Rianto and Chandra M. Hamzah. (The Jakarta Post)

Negative sides

However, the world of Internet is no fairy tale with rosy pictures and a bed of roses.

Just recently, four students in Tanjungpinang, Riau Islands, were expelled from a senior high school for defaming their female teacher in their Facebook accounts.

A shocking story is the rampant kidnapping cases, involving victims who happened to know the culprits through Facebook.

A group of journalists recently pressed charges against actress Luna Maya after she wrote on her Twitter account that tabloid journalists were worse than prostitutes and murderers.

Recently this year, Depok District Court in West Java has handed down a suspended 75-day sentence to a teenager for insulting over the Internet a woman she suspected was having an affair with her boyfriend.

The above cases have signalled that the Indonesian netizens should learn that the new power elixir they get with the Internet, have double edges. The new power allows them to play bigger role in the social and political arena. But, without care and a modicum of knowledge about the world of Internet, the power may boomerang to the netizens.

Currently, only 10 percent of Indonesian population has Internet access. It is about 25 million people. Most of them are active members of Facebook.

Seeing what difference and influence have been made by such minority netizens to the society recently, the future course of the Indonesian netizens is very promising and people may expect greater things to happen there.

Only time will tell.

| Tagged Case Studies