Indonesia's Radio Revolution
Author: Kalinga Senevirantne | Source: Inter Press Service | Date: 18-07-03
JAKARTA - The hundreds of community-owned radio stations beaming local music and people's voices across the huge Indonesian archipelago today reflect a sea change from the Suharto years, when a handful of the former president's business cronies dominated the local media.
Today, five years after Suharto's ouster from power, people such as Ali Pangestu, coordinator of the Indonesian Community Radio Network, say that they are enjoying the dividends that democratic change is bringing to a media landscape where all newspapers were owned by Suharto associates and all radio and television were in government hands.
"It's a relief" to be able to run a radio station without the fear of it being closed down by the government since a new broadcasting law was passed last November, Ali Pangestu, coordinator of the Indonesian Community Radio Network, said in an interview.
The new broadcasting law, for the first time, contains provisions for the establishment of community-based broadcasting. By next month the government is expected to announced a multi-party national communications commission to begin the task of issuing community broadcasting licenses.
But dozens of impatient community radio enthusiasts are on the air already - some for as long as two years. Government authorities have been turning a blind eye to the broadcast proliferation as long as national security is not affected.
Among the active broadcast "pirates" are the radio station recently started for children of a scavenger community just outside Jakarta, one for a fishing community north of Jakarta, for riverbank communities in Jogjakarta, and for villagers on the slopes of Mount Merapi in Central Java.
Some, such as Radio Suara Persaudaraan Matraman (RSPM), have set themselves a challenging agenda. RSPM has been dubbed the "peace music station" for its innovative model of using local dangdut music - local renditions of popular Indian music - to bring peace to feuding communities in East Jakarta.
M Satiri, the radio technician who started the station, did so in an attempt to put an end to the conflict between two squatter neighborhoods in the Matraman district. "There has been conflict here since 1971," Satiri said in an interview. "Nothing has worked to bring peace. The governor then advised us to do positive things."
So Satiri decided to set up a studio at home, spent Rp15 million (about US$1,800) of his own money, drafted his wife and teenage daughter in as disc jockeys, and spent another Rp7 million to construct a relay tower on his roof.
That was three years ago and Satiri quickly saw his effort pay off - the youth of the two communities began visiting the radio station to request songs, mainly their favorite dangdut hits. Now his studio is a meeting place for people from both communities, who find they can mingle without rancor with their former enemies.
"To get the attention of people in the area, I distributed leaflets asking them to request songs on air," Satiri explained. Now he charges Rp1,000 (12 US cents) for each request he broadcasts. This helps keep his radio station afloat, and Satiri has trained 13 local youth to be volunteer disc jockeys.
RSPM has been given a restricted license under local government laws and Satiri says he gets some funds from local authorities to help keep the community peaceful. But the "peace music station" may not have stayed on air without broader intervention in 2001 and 2002 by activists.
At the time, the Indonesian government was considering dropping the community radio article on grounds of national security, and only sustained lobbying by civil-society groups, including the Tifa Foundation, prevented that.
Although pointing out that the new laws are vague on the definition of community radio - they are described as "owned, controlled by the community" - she said that "community radio will allow people in Indonesia to have their own voice".
Most local newspapers are owned by just two giant publishing companies: Kompas and Jawa Pos.
Since the fall of the Suharto government in 1998, commercial private broadcasting has expanded rapidly and saturated the frequencies, especially in the cities. Community radio operators instead select a frequency they find free and broadcast on it, using homemade low-powered transmitters and cheap broadcasting equipment, without applying for government permission.
Akuat Supriyanto, external relations coordinator of the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AIJ), believes that community radio activists should not accept any form of licensing regime from the government and must broadcast political problems at the local level. "In rural areas, there is no control of government agencies and community radio is a good medium to exercise these checks and balances," said Supriyanto.
Yet he sees an absence of strong political conviction. "The movement to build community radio is not based on political awareness to protest against regulation of broadcast media in Indonesia," he noted.
AIJ is helping refine the new communication space too. It recently organized a workshop at radio stations for local journalists on reporting on conflict resolution. Satiri was held up as an example - "not how to report conflict," said Supriyanto, "but as a brilliant idea of how to resolve conflict using radio".
"They used the radio as a forum for community leaders to explain the history of the conflict," he added. "Thus, our reporters got a perspective on what the conflict is, and how to mediate and stop it."
There is still a measure of official distrust about communities taking to the airwaves. Garin Nugroho, filmmaker and community media activist, explained: "Government is afraid that community media could become a tool for disunity. But if civil society develops in the periphery, Indonesia will be stronger.
"Local areas need their information and their entertainment, which gives them an identity," he added. "National media can give a window to local media and vice versa. This form of multicultural broadcasting is our vision of the future."
(Inter Press Service)