Syahrani's Weblog

Ok, I'm doing a research for my last project at uni. I'll explain a bit more about it here.

The topic that I'm doing is "Indonesia's Democracy through the Internet after Suharto's Regime: a report on online media and blogs".

From the title, we can get several points: democracy (in regards with free speech etc.), Indonesia, the Internet, post-Suharto, media and blogs. I've started the theoretical background on it and now I'm working on the practical side. So, I need help now from Indonesian bloggers.

I'm running a survey. I've sent some of them already to blogs that I usually read and most importantly the blog should fit in to the topic. If you would like to participate (which I highly recommend), please leave your comment and URL so that I can review your blog and (if it fits the topic of the research) I'll send the survey (thanks a lot!).

Now, I will give some hypotheses that I have so far:

• The mushroom of the media in Indonesia does not simply mean that democracy is developing. Many interests drive Media institutions and these interests may not be the same with people (citizen) interest. Many media institutions exist during the authoritarian government, but always used for the government’s interest. In fact, democracy itself is when people rule, demos and kratos.
• The existence of the Internet as an autonomous tool and public sphere enhances democracy. However, this should be followed by the easiness of access towards the Internet by citizens and regulations that enhance the democracy itself. (I don't quite see this in Indonesia. Access to the Internet is limited, expensive and difficult)
• Public opinion constructed in the public sphere has the ability to influence to the government and decision-makers. Therefore, each idea of individual contributes to the public opinion

I have not made any conclusion or arguments about bloggers since I'm still running the survey. The deadline is on the 1st of October since I need to analyze my findings.

Please do participate :)

If you would like to participate, please leave your comment and URL so that I can review your blog and send the survey (thanks a lot!)