Jakarta — That morning, 7:51 am on July 17, 2009, my Blackberry buzzed with a new incoming Twitter (via UberTwitter) from my friend Daniel Tumiwa. It says “Bomb Marriot and Ritz-Carlton Kuningan Jakarta.” After a while, another one: “2 boms go off inside Ritz Carlton and Marriott coffee shops! Not kidding. Am here.”. Then another one: “Left location.Shocked. Lots of blood. Breakfast meetings at coffee shops while bombs went off.”
I rarely watch TV (nothing much, really, except some Breaking News from Metro TV, TV One, BBC, or the likes) or listen to the radio (only when I am driving), and in my new pod I have yet to subscribe to any newspaper. Immediately afterwards, numerous tweets came in droves about the bomb blast events. I am amused by how fast news spreads — much more in the social network than anywhere else. I wrote once on the redefinition of the media (and the death of TV). But this is at least one order of magnitude larger in scope.
Today's #indonesiaunite tweets
In no time other Twitteratis jump the bandwagon and report, analyze, or opinionize on what happened. This phenomenon of digital activism is, of course, not new and is greatly expected. But to experience it myself here in Indonesia is still quite something. The droves of incoming twitters have something in common eventually, a “hashtag” of #indonesiaunite (“hashtag” is a tag to identify a twitter entry with similar ones so that they all can be identified together as a group). At some point, I forgot when, #indonesiaunite became the number one “trending topic.” in twitter (this means that twitter entries with #indonesiaunite hashtag had the highest number of twitter entries in the world). Even higher than Paula Abdul! What a great achievement considering the relatively small number of Twitter users in Indonesia.
Aku Tidak Takut. We Are Not Afraid
Meet Pandji Pragiwaksono (www.pandji.com, twitter handle: @pandji). He is a radio announcer and a rapper. At least on my UberTwitter, Pandji is among, if not the, most active Twitterati. One of his rap number, “Kami Tidak Takut,” (We Are Not Afraid) had immediately become elevated into the most referred to in the Indonesian Twitter universe. The Youtube video of this number had probably become the most downloaded, and so might its mashup (btw, I had my face showed up a bit in it). “Kami tidak takut” immediately became the unifying theme for the emotional representation for the #indonesiaunite “movement” against terrorism.
Pandji Pragiwaksono, picture taken from http://id.wiki.detik.com/mediawiki/images/5/5c/Pandji_hardrockfm_com.jpg
Indeed, the Stock Market Index dipped insignificantly on the day of the bomb, but immediately rebound upwards, showing market’s continuous entusiasm on Indonesia’s buoyant economy amidst the recent economic crisis. Some analysts theorize that people may have been desensitized given the frequency of the terrorist attack in Indonesia. Regardless, #indonesiaunite, with its “kami tidak takut” tenet has become the defiant force against the intimidation of terrorism.
And the effect of this euphoria, so to speak, has been quite strong. Metro TV, a notable TV news channel in Indonesia, aired a special program in which #indonesiaunite and “kami tidak takut” were the unifying theme. I was tucked amongst the audience in the studio and could feel the euphoria fired up by music played by Slank and, of course, the “kami tidak takut” rap song by Pandji. Among the audience are the members of the so-called Jakarta Twitter Community, who, like me, came to the studio through open invitations by Metro TV presenters who are also avid Twitterati, among others are Kania Sutisnawinata and Najwa Shihab.
Manchester United, the popular football club from the Great Britain, was to play against the Indonesia All Star. The members of the club were supposed to stay at one of the hotels, and in the wake of the blast, decided to cancel the entire match, leaving their supporters greatly disappointed and the promoter and organizer in great loss. The movement went on to pick up the pieces by transforming the MU t-shirts into a “kami tidak takut” t-shirt. These t-shirts went out like hot cakes!
When the Breaking News about the raid over the alleged Noordin M. Top’s hiding place and the raid over alleged terrorist headquarters in Bekasi appeared on TV, again Twitter has become the most actively used medium for exchanging comments on them. Those that stayed awake throughout the course of the Temanggung raid operation exchanged views and information throughout the night.
Eventually, this internet-based social interaction has gone physical when Hardrock FM, the radio station where Pandji is, sponsored a “Twitter Party” yesterday in IndoChine, a cafe Jakarta. Finally people can put faces to twitter handles and hashtags. New friends are made, old friends are reunited. News are spread. #indonesiaunite becomes a movement beyond the social network.
The Power of the Social Network Media
In one of my older blog (as a Note on my Facebook profile), I wrote about change.org, a website that is so popular among political activist. In that article, I theorize about what I would call the “environmentalism 2.0,” while today I would coin as “digital activism.” Already, Indonesia has housed the fastest-growing Facebook usage in the world. The continuous spread of the popularity of social network media such as Facebook, Twitter, and the blogging community has given rise to a new playground for activism. And this is of no surprise as that is what community is for.
What’s next? I think the use of social network media to foster political activism has shown its power as shown by the #indonesiaunite movement. Already, #indonesiaunite has a home in the internet universe at www.indonesiaunite.com. And there is a Manifesto being wiki-drafted by a collosal number of online contributors, at IndonesiaUnite Wiki. There are many other “causes” that will make use of the new medium. And with the internet universe being flat, the social network media will also become the democratizing means for Indonesia, and for the world. The tenet “one person one vote” will be closer to your heart, and your Blackberry.
