Indonesian President Warms Up To Social Media, But Still Some Resistance

An the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting last Tuesday, president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono stated:

There is no government in the world that has all the answers to this new trend. ASEAN, too, must get into the act. We must be creative and open minded in harnessing the power of technology to promote people-to-people contact.”

As we have reported previously, the president previously criticized the social media due to terrorism threats and slanderous news. But it seems he now realizes that at a broader level, the use of social media and other communication tools are very helpful to bridge direct contact between the government and its people, and people between countries.

“This is because when millions of people engage across borders — as we have seen in bilateral contexts — there are bound to be issues and problems,” he said. But with the rapid spread of information there can be strong bonds developed between the people — even nations — and the problems that arise can be more easily resolved.

The president realizes that Indonesia is undeniably a big social media nation, notable for its love of both Twitter and Facebook.

Still Much Resistance

Meanwhile Tifatul Sembiring, the infamous Indonesian minister of telecommunication, appears eager to reign in all forms of social media — although ironically he has embraced social media himself to propagate this message.

He has criticized people’s behavior online asserting that they should be more productive, and he also attempted to impose a porn filter on the Blackberry handset.
Are these conflicting messages from the president and the minister? Perhaps. Though there’s bound to be some confusion as people adopt new technologies, especially in developing nations.

It’s important that these new technologies are implemented to establish better interaction between citizens. ASEAN countries, which are currently experiencing rapid IT development, can leverage the use of social media, email, blogs, and other communication media to ensure that they have a significant voice on the world stage.