The return of Big Brother to Indonesia?

The Jakarta Post – Opinion, 30 March 2011
Yanuar Nugroho
Manchester, United Kingdom

Advances in Internet technology have changed the way people live. For many it has brought the appealing promises of global community, democracy and openness.

Many others fear technological threats such as alienated individuals, anarchy, surveillance and repression. The House of Representatives’ proposed intelligence bill is a clear example of the latter.

The bill, if enacted into law, would give the authorities a free pass to monitor conversations and exchanges on the Internet.

Even worse, the bill would give legal justification to the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) to detain anyone suspected of threatening public security based on exchanges on social networking sites such as Twitter or Facebook.

While the very same social media have given birth of a new type of civic engagement globally, in Indonesia, in the eyes of the bill’s drafters, technology is a threat.

The Ties that Bind: Law, Islamisation and Indonesia’s Prosperous Justice Party (PKS)

Australian Journal of Asian Law, (2008), Vol 10 (2): 233-267
Najwa Shihab, Yanuar Nugroho

Abstract

There are clear indications that Indonesia’s Prosperous Justice Party (Partai Keadilan Sejahtera or PKS) has shifted from being a hardline (garis keras) Islamist party, to take a more moderate stance, with significant changes to its platform. Prominent among these are decisions to step back from earlier demands for the enforcement of Islamic law and the creation of an Islamic state in Indonesia, as well as major modifications to doctrinal positions relating to the legal status of women as leaders, and formal relations with non-Muslims. This article investigates the factors that have contributed to this shift, and argues that it is a result of political processes in Indonesia that compel PKS to moderate its platform to expand its constituency. It is also argued that an ideological transformation has taken place within PKS, that the transformation is genuine, albeit contested internally, and that it is probably necessary for electoral success.

Authors

Najwa Shihab is an Indonesian journalist specialising in law, politics and social change. She has been working as an anchor and host of political talk shows on an Indonesian national television network. She is currently undertaking a Masters program in the Faculty of Law at the University of Melbourne.

Yanuar Nugroho is Research Associate with the Manchester Institute of Innovation Research at the University of Manchester. His research interests include new media innovation and social change, focusing on civic politics and democracy. He is also active in the Indonesian NGO movement and is associated with Business Watch Indonesia (BWI), Uni Sosial Demokrat and ELSPPAT.

This article is dated 2008, but was just out in September 2009 :-). Read the full article here, or here. Or if you cannot get the access, email me or Najwa and we perhaps can share the pre-publication proof for you – depending what it is for .. 🙂