'Tempo' editorial spirit survives on censor-free Internet

JAKARTA (JP): Sacred writs of the Internet are that it is free and uncensored. There currently exists no effective means of suppressing information on the system.

Because of this the Internet has become a haven for many prohibited, unsanctioned or even banned material not generally available to the public.

The most famous and probably first case where the Internet has provided a new lease on life for unsanctioned material is the Tempo Interaktif (www.tempo.co.id) website.

Despite being banned by the government in June 1994, the newsweekly's editorial spirit lives on through a website maintained by several members of the editorial staff.

Unlike the magazine format, Tempo Interaktif requires no publishing license (SIUPP) from the government and is thus free from the immediate threat of censorship.

It may never reach the same readership as its predecessor, but the addition of an English language version allows Tempo Interaktif to tap into a new audience segment.

As the fear of repercussions is removed, political and social debate on Indonesian issues thrive uninhibited on the net. Several mailing lists and discussion forums exist where people openly vent frustration or throw around ideas they would be loathe to do in public here.

The most popular is the apakabar forum where dozens of opinions are expressed daily.

Indonesia Daily News Online (www.uni- stuttgart.de:81/indonesia/news/) is another homepage which provides a daily menu of reports and other alternative writings taken from the media, research institutions or other contributors.

The issues mostly cover the "hot" political topics of the moment.

They may be fun to read and sometimes informative but many of these articles should be read discerningly. The very fact the Internet is an open forum allows anyone to circulate articles without proper reference or validated sources.

Realizing that it would be extremely difficult to try to stem these discussion forums on the Internet, the government has so far done little to suppress them. Officials have said the government may take measures to regulate them yet it remains to be seen what can actually be done.

The inability of any institution to control what goes on the Internet has also made it a haven for unsanctioned political groups in Indonesia.

Supporters loyal to Megawati Soekarnoputri's faction of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) have set up several homepages to get their message out. Although the government has sidelined her faction and prohibited it from taking part in the formal political process, it can do little about these pro-Megawati pages.

PDI Perjuangan (www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/345) provides news articles and reports on various issues connected to the pro- Megawati PDI.

Pictures

The Internet may be a center of intense political debate but it also invites somewhat unflattering information about the country.

One of the questions often posed by a non-Internet user is: "Have you opened the Playboy page?"

The perception of the Internet as a medium for adult material is a prevailing stigma.

As the number of Indonesian Internet users and websites increase there is an attendant rise in the number of Indonesian adult sites available.

Homepages like Indo Nona are among the dozen or so free sites which distribute portraits of Indonesian women in the buff.

In the past month, new sites have croped up devoted to lists of the Indonesian adult material available on the net.

These adult sites have become very popular, evident by the number of "hits" they receive. Since January alone one of the homepages has received nearly 187,000 hits. The popularity is intensified by the fact that erotic pictures purportedly of several Indonesian celebrities are available.

Whether these pictures are real or products of computer manipulation is unknown.

Probably the most sleazy information about Indonesia which can be obtained on the Internet is a guide for marauding males looking for prostitutes.

A website maintained in the United States provides detailed accounts of how to pick up the women in cities around the world.

A highly descriptive account is also available for Jakarta, Surabaya and Bandung. It details prices and locations of various nightspots. (team)