ASEAN Examples of Community Engagement and Results via Facebook in Indonesia

Indonesia has become a global leader in the application and power of social networking. There are a several well known examples. First is the Coin for Prita case. Prita Mulyasari1 is a housewife whose illness was misdiagnosed at Omni International Hospital. Her complaints about her treatment which started as a private email were made public and she was jailed for a civil defamation suit initiated by the hospital. Prita was also fined 204 million rupiah (US$ 24,000). Her case attracted widespread public sympathy. Individuals organized themselves through blogs, Twitter and started a Facebook group Coin for Prita campaign2. People throughout Indonesia raised the money to pay for what was seen as an unjust fine. In the end, total money collected reached around 800 million rupiah. The second example is the Bibit-Chandra case3. The two deputy chairmen of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) Bibit Samad Riyanto and Chandra Hamzah were arrested in late October 2009 on suspicion of the abuse of power. However, the public saw this as a direct attack from authorities to undermine the KPK Commission. In addition to street protests, social media was also used. More than 1.4 million people signed A Million Facebookers in support of Bibit-Chandra, and mass rallies were organized across the country to call on the release of the officials from custody, and a thorough investigation of the police top detective. Finally, Bibit & Chandra were released and continue their duty at KPK, while the chief detective lost his position. There are many other well documented examples like this that can be found throughout the ASEAN community and around the world. These examples demonstrate that the emerging world is one where the blurred boundaries between physical, digital, and the virtual create new types of interactions new challenges, demands and opportunities to redefine relationships and social, political, and economic structures from the personal to local, regional, and global. We are witnessing the emergence of the global communications platform as a new mechanism that is creating greater levels of human rights, economic prosperity, security, and social stability.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prita_Mulyasari http://www.inwent-iij-lab.org/projects/2010/wordpress/2010/netizens-a-double-edged-power-in-indonesia/ 3 http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/KK07Ae02.html