xenophobes crawling out of the woodwork?Experts ask: Are we ready for the digital era?by Kairul Saleh and Endy M. Bayuni,
The Jakarta Post, Palembang
With the number of Internet users predicted to soon hit 100 million, media experts are asking whether the country is ready for a digital world, one that Indonesia may have very little control of.
Andy Sjarief from Digital Trac, said that of the top five websites visited by Indonesians, all were foreign entities: Facebook, Google, Google Indonesia, Yahoo and blogs.
This, he told the audience, mostly media executives, should be of concern to everyone.
"Just imagine, 100 million Internet users and the top websites they visit are non-Indonesian entities," Andy told the National Convention on Mass Media on Monday, held on the eve of National Press Day.
He said the reaction would likely be harsh if television networks were dominated by foreign companies.
Andy said the implications of the nation’s digitally wired society had not yet sunk in.
Although Internet users here total 30 million, Andy said the number would triple over the next three years following a 70 percent reduction in the local cost of Internet access and the flooding of cheap Internet-ready cell phones from China.
Currently, most Indonesians access the web from Internet stalls, but with the introduction of 3G technology, many now access the Internet from their mobile phones.
Andy's gloomy outlook contrasted sharply with a more upbeat view about the future of the press offered by Fajar Nursahid from the Institute of Social and Economic Affairs (LP3ES). Fajar said the print industry in Indonesia could still look forward to continued growth in readership and advertising revenue, which has traditionally been the main source of income, even with the advent of the digital era.
Agung Adiprasetyo, the CEO of the Gramedia/
Kompas publishing company, was more cautious, saying that while the circulation of newspapers in Asia was still growing, advertising revenue had been declining and transferring online.
Andy also said that Google, which enjoyed more than 2.7 billion hits from Indonesian net users last year, may have earned up to $12 million in advertising revenue from Indonesian-based companies last year.
Indonesia can take back control if it acts quickly and corroboratively, he said.
"The Internet is a threat only if you don't know how to deal with it," said the man who last year launched the bataviase.co.id website, aggregating the content of 23 Indonesian newspapers, as Indonesia's answer to Google.
He suggested the media pay attention to the "4 Cs"; content, context, convergence and collaboration, to stay ahead of the game.
Communications and Information Technology Minister Tifatul Sembiring highlighted the strong growth of Internet bandwidth as a signal of the increasing role of digital media in Indonesia.
He said media outlets should already be thinking of media convergence that combined text, broadcasting and the Internet.
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