Searching for Indonesia on the Web

By Jules Bell

JAKARTA (JP): What is Indonesia's presence on the Internet? Can you shop for batik, stroll through the nation's galleries or search for an Indonesian site in the sea of online data? Of course you can, you just need to know where to look.

The two greatest problems with the world wide wonder, the Internet, are that often you end up with a world wide wait, or a world wide wallow. The sheer quantity of information is both the Internet's best attraction, and the Web's most difficult hurdle.

The solution is a search engine, that allows you to enter key words or phrases and returns the most probable pages for you to browse. That is fine if you want international sites, but what do you do if you are looking for country specific sites or topics, like a recipe for sate sauce for example?

A good place to start is searchindonesia.com, an excellent and fast Indonesian specific search engine and navigation directory. Clearly styled and simple to use, this site offers features such as a top 10 site listing, a "search for Indonesian people" function and an Indonesian Internet directory.

The directory is in the form of numerous categories such as entertainment, recreation or education. These are well organized and comprehensive, so the chances of finding what you are looking for here are pretty good.

Two other useful search engines and directories are indoseek.co.id and indocenter.co.id. Another option is the Indonesian Yellowpages site, yellowpages.co.id/hotsites, which has no general search engine, but contains an impressive directory. Clicking on the health hyperlink, for example, takes you to a page listing 47 Indonesian health sites; from an allergy related page to Zanadu Executive Health Spa in Jakarta, where you can experience the "delicate art of relaxation". How does that sound?

Another strategy when looking for a site is to try the topic or company's name with co.id or .com attached, as in example.co.id, or the Pertamina's site Pertamina.co.id. A search engine will find your site, but taking an educated guess is worth a try for larger companies and popular topics.

It is also interesting to check whether your business or personal name is a web site yet -- such as dharma.com or dharma.co.id -- and either be jealous or think about buying yourself some personal e-real estate.

For an Indonesian address or .id domain name, among other companies, id Domreg at rs.or.id will register you an address. Another way is through an Internet service provider (ISP) such as cbn.net or indo.net.id. These companies specialize in connecting you to the Net, but also offer personal and corporate web page hosting services.

Alternatively, if you want an American-based address with a .com domain extension then there is no shortage of companies happy to do this for you, at a price. An example of this type of site is register.com. Not a bad idea for a birthday present for the person with everything.

The number of sites is growing rapidly, but there are already more specific-content Indonesian sites than you could shake a mouse at. Browsing the search engines and directories is the best way to start exploring and to get an overall picture of Indonesia's presence on the Web, and ultimately find what you are looking for. Happy surfing.