BY AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Facebook
has broken technological and social barriers to connect 40 million users in the
sprawling Indonesian archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, some without even
landline connections.
Its
remarkable ascent has for many users rendered the rest of the internet
obsolete, as well as attracted allegations that it is responsible for encouraging
pornography, premarital sex and adultery.
Banking
on its global popularity, which has also seen India amass the second-biggest
number of users after the United States, Facebook has filed for a stock market
debut expected to become one of the biggest of all time.
With
even cheap cell phones in Indonesia sold already bundled with Facebook
applications, for many, “Fesbuk” – as it is written in the national Bahasa
language – simply is the internet.
“Since
access to Facebook is made so easy by pressing one button on a mobile phone,
many people who are not familiar with the internet do not realise that Facebook
is part of the internet,” said Danny Oei Wirianto, co-founder of homegrown
social networking site MindTalk.
Many
don’t bother to do anything else on the internet and are barely aware that they
can use the browser button on their phone to go online, he explains.
Internet
penetration via computers is low in Indonesia at less than 10 per cent, but
many have leapfrogged that technology by using wildly popular smart-phones
which have seen mobile internet penetration reach 57 per cent.
Their
low cost and ease of access has enabled almost 17 per cent of the population to
use Facebook, making it a cheap past time in a country where the majority live
on less than $2 a day.
The
internet “is the cheapest form of entertainment here,” said Daniel Tumiwa,
country manager of Multiply, Facebook’s runner-up in Indonesia which in the
face of the juggernaut has reinvented itself as an e-commerce network.
Facebook
games are a major draw-card for users, with a survey showing that 65 per cent
of traffic is directed to them, Wirianto said.
In
recognition, Rovio – the company behind the smash-hit Angry Birds – has chosen
the Indonesian capital Jakarta for the game’s much-anticipated worldwide launch
on Facebook this Valentine’s Day.
“It’s
the Facebook capital of the world,” Peter Vesterbecka, Rovio’s Asia-Pacific
manager, said recently in the capital Jakarta, which has more Facebook users
than any other city in the world.
But
in the world’s most populous Muslim nation, known for its strong religious and
cultural beliefs, Facebook is not all fun and games.
Indonesians
are learning everything from English to the Koran through Facebook groups, and
perhaps more than any other internet tool the site is helping Indonesians
interact and express views that were once taboo.
Facebook
group “Gay Indonesia Only!” with more than 8,000 members is a forum for
homosexuals to meet and interact online.
“It’s
easier for us to educate people about homosexuality through Facebook than
face-to-face,” said Sri Agustine, head of Ardhanary Institute, an advocacy
group for lesbian, bisexual and transgender rights.
“We
even have Muslim extremists among our Facebook friends,” she said.
Facebook’s
ability to smash through social norms has raised the ire of Islamic clerics,
who have called for a ban, arguing it allows improper mingling between the
sexes and encourages pornography and illicit sex.
“If
Facebook is used for positive activities, like sharing useful knowledge and
announcing job opportunities, then it’s good,” said Muhammad Al-Khaththath,
head of an Islam umbrella group representing mostly extremist groups.
“But
accounts that promote negative lifestyles, pornography and atheism should be
banned.”
“I use it to share information about Islam and also
organise protests,” he said of his own Facebook page, which boasts the maximum
5,000 friends.[]
Welcome to Indonesia, the 'Fesbuk' Country
Reviewed by theacehglobe
on
February 03, 2012
Rating:
Reviewed by theacehglobe
on
February 03, 2012
Rating:
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