Music by FASSounds. Free for use under the Pixabay Content License. Graphic by Billy Adison Aditijanto.
Welcome to The Perantau Podcast’s debut episode!
What Is Up, Indonesia? is a community-run grassroots media organisation, “spoonfeeding Indonesian sociopolitics one ugly post at a time.”
Editor-in-Chief Hirzi Putra Laksana talks about WIUI’s role in encouraging young Indonesians to engage more with politics, especially from abroad, and how digital media has paved the way for media democratisation.
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Transcript
BILLY: Hey everyone, welcome to the Perantau Podcast, hosted by me, Billy. To kick off our first episode, today we have Hirzi Putra Laksana, Editor-in-Chief of What Is Up Indonesia. Often called WIUI for short, they are a community run grassroots media organisation that, in their words, is spoon feeding Indonesian social politics one ugly post at a time.
BILLY: Having spent most of his life in the Australian and New Zealand shores, Hirzi is here to talk to us about how WIUI encourages young Indonesians to engage more with politics, especially from abroad, and how digital media has paved the way for media democratisation. Hirzi, thanks for coming on.
HIRZI: Thanks for inviting me.
BILLY: Right, so first of all, before we dive right in, talk us through what you do as WIUI’s Editor-in-Chief?
HIRZI: Yeah, so as Editor-in-Chief of What Is Up Indonesia, I guess, it’s quite an informal organisation, so anything and everything is the answer to that. But in terms of Formally, what the role entails, um, I manage the content side, which is a lot of what, what is up in Indonesia does, we usually abbreviate it to Wiwi.
HIRZI: So I’ll be using that abbreviation a lot. Um, so for example, um, if one of our writers, um, has published a post or is wanting to publish a post and I’ll go through the editorial process to that, a little bit of quality assurance and pushing it out. And then there goes the business, there’s also the business development stuff as well.
HIRZI: So in the background, you know, developing partnerships, writing proposals, helping out with sort of outreach activities and things like that. So, that’s a bit of a background about the Editor-in-Chief role.
BILLY: Yeah look, WIUI is operating on a pretty massive scale now, and I’m sure outgrowing even its wildest expectations in the last few years. So, do tell, how did WIUI start?
HIRZI: Yeah, so I guess the original, point of WIUI and why it was started was because we saw a gap in knowledge, particularly amongst privileged Indonesians, most of whom go to, international schools and therefore educated in English. It’s a bit hard for them to consume or to understand Indonesian politics because a lot of the news is in Indonesian. There are a lot of complex abbreviations.
HIRZI: So the original intent of WIUI was to fill in that gap of knowledge with Indonesians who have had sort of a globalised upbringing either through international school, or I guess that applies as well to sort of having an international education in their university days.
HIRZI: So I guess the role we play is it’s, one, it’s awareness raising. So we do translation of news, but we package it in our own style. I guess so there’s that aspect of awareness raising, making sure they’re aware of the issues that are going out or that are going on back home, but there’s also an element of advocacy in the sense that we want them to care and we advocate for their… Politics is seen as complex and it’s really intimidating. We want to strip that down for them. Politics is, we want to say to them, you know, politics is not that complex. It’s about your daily lives. It affects what happens in your daily lives. So we strip that back. We make it as simple as possible. We throw in some memes in there so that you can understand it and I think really that’s how we should just spoon feeding Indonesian social politics one ugly post at a time.
BILLY: Right exactly, and you know – coming from someone who’s had what you would call a globalised upbringing – there’s just a lot of layers to Indonesian politics and a lot of history too. But I think social media has really helped a lot in recent years in providing more digestible bits and pieces of information. Especially now being abroad, I can still keep up with things back home. So I think social media has played a big part in terms of news accessibility. Do you have any thoughts on that?
HIRZI: What do you think? Yeah, I think just generally and this isn’t only in Indonesia’s case. But I guess you could say this for Southeast Asia more broadly and even for the world more broadly is that, you know, social media has led to what I like to say is the democratisation of the media.
HIRZI: The way I like to look at the role of digital media and I guess, you know, educating youth in politics is, I think, it’s a force for good just because in Indonesia and sort of looking at the Southeast Asian region more broadly, there’s a lot of concentration of media. And there’s a lot of…, even though at least in Indonesia’s case, you can’t really call it government interference or formal censorship of the media – to an extent that it does exist – but what’s more problematic, between the relationship of media and politics in Indonesia is sort of that concentration of power at the hands of a few media conglomerates and what usually happens is they have connections with government, right?
HIRZI: So even though it’s not direct influence, there’s a bit of conflict of interest there in terms of a lot of media tycoons having, you know, political interests and, a lot of politicians have very close relationships with the people in charge of the media companies. So why I think digital activism is important is because within that context of, you know, a media sphere that can be so vulnerable to political influence, it’s perhaps important to have alternative opinions and alternative voices that are featured.
HIRZI: And I think the, you know, there’s no better way to do that than social media, which is highly accessible. You know, Indonesia has very high digital penetration rates, especially amongst its youth. And you know, a lot of Indonesian youth use social media, and therefore I think it just presents an alternative view to what’s presented in the mainstream media, which may be questionable in their accuracy or in their good faith just because of those connections to government.
BILLY: Exactly, I agree. Now, with that in mind, how does WIUI play a role in all of this?
HIRZI: Well, I guess it’s all about, um, broadly, you could say we play two roles. The first role being, we present that alternative story. So, we’re not a journalistic agency, so in a sense, you know, we don’t have, you know, a journalistic spin, or we don’t, you know, do our own analysis as such, you know, and we don’t claim to be a journalistic agency either.
HIRZI: So in all of our, in our bio and in all our posts, we say you need to double check information. Um, you need to verify your own sources, et cetera. But with that disclaimer in mind, we do sort of try to present the facts. And we compare different sides of the story. Right? So in that sense, maybe we do give an alternative narrative, I guess you could say, to what’s currently present in the mainstream media. So that’s one way we do it, sort of by presenting that alternative.
HIRZI: The second way we do it, perhaps, is by encouraging critical thinking. So, like I said in all our posts, we say, you know, verify your own sources. Think about it yourselves, and I think that’s really important in a media context that’s perhaps concentrated and that may spit out the same narrative. It’s really important to teach that critical thinking to your audience. A lot of our audience is young as well, sort of in the high school ages.
So we do have that lens as well in terms of encouraging our audience to analyse if it’s not, not only our media, but the rest of the media that they see out there, to think critically about the issues that they deal with to take a critical look at the policies of, you know, presented by the government, et cetera. So in a way, yes, we do present an alternative vision, but we also play an educative role in encouraging critical analytical skills so that, you know, we’re building digital literacy. Basically, we’re building media literacy. That’s, that’s part of our mission as well.
BILLY: Yeah, it’s interesting that you talk about building media literacy. As a quick tangent, in the Inclusive Internet Index by The Economist, Indonesia is ranked 46th of the 100 countries on the list and ranked 11th in Asia. Although The Economist ranks Indonesia highly in its efforts to support digital literacy, it’s still lacking in actually adapting to the rapid rise in technology. Now, I’m wondering if you’ve seen or read anything along those lines.
HIRZI: I think there’s a big concern about digital literacy. I was reading a research paper the other day, which shows that, in fact, a lot of Indonesian university students at the university level lack comparably to their international counterpart’s digital literacy. And I think that’s quite concerning because we’ve seen a rise in sort of technology, like you said, there’s been a rapid rise in technology, as well as, you know, digital technology, which relates to the media in terms of the amount of media outlets on social media, the ones on, you know, popular youth platforms like TikTok and like Instagram.
HIRZI: But with that rapid rise in you know, technological advancement, there hasn’t been a rise in digital literacy at the same pace. So basically, there’s a widening gap between what’s actually available and people’s ability to critically analyze that information. And I think that’s quite concerning, um, from a number Of standpoints, particularly can make people vulnerable to misinformation.
HIRZI: But also to perhaps, not hostile forces, but perhaps individuals with certain interests. They can use social media and manipulate social media to their liking for their political or economic or whatever interests and with low levels of digital literacy.
HIRZI: You know, the citizens, especially young people, are so much more susceptible to that. I think a good example, especially one that exists in Indonesia, is what’s called buzzers. So buzzers, it just influences a sort of like, um, Twitter or Instagram accounts or social media accounts that have large followings.
HIRZI: But basically, they’re mouse pieces of the government, sort of. They’re paid by the government to, um, you know, Sometimes in the, um, in, in, in really bad cases, docs, government critics, um, but other than that, they might just, you know, be promoting government policy on their platforms when they brand themselves as influencers and not necessarily political people, um, and a lot of youth fall for that, um.
HIRZI: And it’s, you know, significantly changed, um, the dynamics of international political discourse. So I think it is really important that that gap be filled between, you know, the rapid advancement of technology, um, but, you know, those low levels of digital literacy still exist, and, um, yeah, a lot of work needs to be done to fill that gap.
BILLY: Now, all that aside, I’m really interested to rack through your brain a bit, and Get a bit more personal. Having been born and raised abroad, you still hold Indonesia, especially its politics, close to heart, as we can clearly see right now. So how did you become interested in Indonesian politics?
HIRZI: Yeah, um, that’s an interesting one. I wasn’t always, well, I’ve always been interested in politics. Um, so, um, and that was. You know, from, from primary school, from attending primary school in Perth. Um, I can remember, um, really loving social sciences and really enjoying civics education. So I have always been interested in politics. What made me interested in Indonesian politics, and I guess, um, there was a big, a large period of my life where I didn’t understand it, sort of like the audience that we’re catering to. But I think a big turning point that was, um, in 2016, it would have been, there was a gubernatorial race in Jakarta, between a candidate of Arab Indonesian origin and one of Chinese Indonesian origin. Um, and at the time I was living in New Zealand and not a lot of People in New Zealand know about Indonesia.
HIRZI: So I used to be really proud of describing my country as a very tolerant place, a very diverse place that, you know, it’s a Muslim majority population, but, um, people of all cultures and ethnicities and religions live harmoniously. That’s sort of what I like to tell my friends. But then in 2016, suddenly the gubernatorial race became really dirty in terms of its politics. The campaign resorted to a lot of ethnic and sort of religious sort of vilification and it became really ugly. And for me, that was a big turning point. I’m like, this is not the Indonesia I know. You know, how could it get to this stage? What happened? So I think that really pushed me to start understanding more about, um, you know, what was happening in my, home country, my country of birth.
HIRZI: And I guess, um, yeah, I guess my, my. Original interest in politics really helped that, so I was naturally curious about, you know, what are the party dynamics like, what is the political system, you know, who are the key players within the political system currently, um, and what are the power structures that sort of define their relationship, um, and, you know, I got curious on those questions and I did my own research and eventually it led me down a rabbit hole and I became quite passionate about it. So I think, yeah, I guess my interest in Indonesian politics was catalysed by a big event that really, um, really concerned me. I guess you can say that it was out of a sense of concern that I started to get back into Indonesian politics.
BILLY: So, being abroad, how did you actually engage with it though? Did you read a lot of new publications coming in from Indonesia or was it that you read more and more about Indonesia in Australian publications? Or was it that you mainly relied on your own personal network of friends and family?
HIRZI: Yeah. So I guess, um, I guess subconsciously, now that I think about it, I’ve sort of been groomed to care or to understand Indonesian politics. So my parents are very involved in the Indonesian community, both in Perth and then afterwards in Auckland and now Melbourne. And I’d I usually, when there aren’t kids around, I’m forced to sit with the adults and, you know, those political conversations would take place. And even though I may not have been in a position to understand that back when I was, you know, 13. 14, quite young. Um, I think it gave me some context subconsciously about, you know, the general, you know, what was going on, um, in terms of how I approached that, once I gained that interest.
HIRZI: I think I read a lot of Wikipedia, um, you know, as a starting point, because I think that that’s just like, you know, for someone starting out, it’s actually good to get an understanding, all right, this, here are the major parties in Indonesia. This is the political history, um, all the way from the 19 hundreds, et cetera.
HIRZI: So I read a lot of Wikipedia in high school. But then as I entered uni, I was very fortunate to go to a university that had an Indonesian politics, um, and an Asian politics sort of, um, department. And, um, I took a lot of classes and that allowed me to study Indonesia in a elastic, in an academic sense, doing research and writing essays on Indonesia, um, which gave me, I guess, a deeper perspective and theoretical frameworks, um, that I could use to analyse the situation back in Indonesia.
HIRZI: But other than that, also, I did, I guess, consume some Indonesian media. So the news is a bit inaccessible to me. My Indonesian language ability is not the best. But there used to be a show called Mata Najwa, which features a very famous journalist that my parents used to watch a lot. So I ended up watching that as well, which I thought was a really good way of engaging with the news back home. So, yeah, just little things like that, that I guess when compounded, um, I guess solidified my understanding and consolidated my understanding of Indonesian politics.
BILLY: Oh, wow. Well, yeah, that’s really. That’s really cool story to hear and that’s kind of got me thinking. Do you have any thoughts on the Indonesian diaspora? You know yourself being a part of that Indonesian diaspora. Do you think these communities could do more to engage with politics back home?
HIRZI: Yeah, I think that’s interesting. So, um, the, the first way to answer that question is basically by asking who, who do you mean when you talk about diaspora, right? Because, um, I hear a lot of Indonesian politicians talking about the diaspora and often, um, they mean sort of people who grew up in Indonesia and perhaps received an education there and then went abroad and started. Working there, whereas there’s also a big group of Indonesian diaspora. I guess I should say a big group within the Indonesian diaspora that are like myself, who sort of grew up overseas, perhaps were born overseas and maybe do not have as many connections back home.
HIRZI: So, I guess I’ll talk about those two groups separately because I think they are very different groups. Um, I think in terms of the diaspora, like my parents generations who grew up a lot in Indonesia and moved abroad, I think a lot of them are actually engaging. So, um, Indonesians are very passionate about sort of, you know, it’s a collective, a society.
IHIRZI: t’s a lot of community involvement and I think when it comes to election time sort of the discussion does ramp up Um, and you know, there’s a lot there’s a lot of engagement from the Indonesian consulate So I think there is a lot of engagement on that side of the Indonesian diaspora I don’t think you can say the same about my side of the Indonesian diaspora and I think that goes for a lack of care.
HIRZI: The Indonesian government does not recognise dual citizenship. So often we don’t even have voting rights and that in itself. It’s like, why would you care about politics if you can’t even vote? And I guess you can’t blame the Indonesian sort of young diaspora who, you know, were born overseas and who grew up overseas for not caring, because they don’t have many connections back home.
HIRZI: It’s, you know, they’ve never lived there, perhaps they’ve never experienced living there, so, um, you know, perhaps you shouldn’t expect too much of them in terms of understanding Indonesian politics. However, I do think it is a shame that not many people understand what’s going on back home, because, you know, their families might still be there, etc.
HIRZI: And I think that’s ultimately. Related to a lack of sense of belonging or a lack of, um, a lack of Indonesian identity, which I think is a big problem within the Indonesian diaspora. I think there’s A big lack of effort from the side of the Indonesian government and perhaps Indonesian consulates in foreign countries to engage with sort of young Indonesian diaspora communities.
HIRZI: You know, from at least the foundational sets, a lot of my family, friends, children who are in the primary school years cannot speak Indonesian, because whereas there’s a lot of Chinese schools that are provided for free and there’s, um, you know, a strong movement to keep the language alive within that community.
HIRZI: There’s not much of that within the Indonesian community. So there’s a lack of language skills, there’s a lack of cultural understanding, let alone political understanding, right? So I think the first step is to be, the first step would be to build a sense of belonging and a sense of Indonesian ness within, um, you know, the, the, That subsection of the Indonesian diaspora community, which grew up overseas and, you know, perhaps born overseas, and then only after you build that sense of belonging, can you build a sense of political awareness or only then can you encourage them to become politically aware of the situation.
BILLY: What of the more, well, quote unquote, temporary group, like international students, for example? Because I feel like the general trend is towards the disinterested side instead of the more active, like well, I guess you and me. Yeah. So I’d love to hear your thoughts on these two before we wrap up for today.
HIRZI: Yeah, look, I agree. I think, um, perhaps, um, from the side of, you know, um, how I guess that’s WIUI’s core audience, right? Sort of the diaspora, university students who grew up in Indonesia, but sort of go abroad for their university studies. I think perhaps you’re accurate in describing a sense of, I guess, disengagement within that community.
HIRZI: Well, I think there’s two sides of that coin. So I think. Um, it’s, it’s really easy to say, Oh, you need to care more or, you know, it’s really affecting the lives of the people need to be more empathetic towards perhaps the Indonesians who aren’t as privileged as you. It’s really easy to say that. But I think there needs to be concerted effort as well to get people like that to care by, you know, the political forces that are at play in Indonesia.
HIRZI: So there needs to be a concerted effort by politicians to, and by government institutions and electoral institutions to engage their citizenry, whether that be within Indonesia or abroad, and say to them the elections are important. This is why it affects you. So there needs to be engagement on the government side as well.
HIRZI: But I do think, yes, it is correct. There needs to be a bit more care, um, from, from, um, the Indonesian diaspora, perhaps international students who are studying abroad. Um, and what I’d say to them perhaps is, Indonesia has a lot of potential as a country. You can contribute to that potential. You don’t have to, but you can. And one way of realising that potential is by making sure that the rule of law is guaranteed by making sure that politics is clean and that the system has integrity and that politicians are held to account. So I just encourage, you know, if you want your future to Um, and you can’t do that without a citizenry that’s alert and that’s aware about the going on of the day.
BILLY: Thanks for joining us on our first episode of the Perantau Podcast. Now just a quick note, since recording this episode, Hirzi has since left WIUI and other affiliations to take up new opportunities.
BILLY: So, Hirzi, I wish you the best in all your future endeavours, and hope to see you soon. Now, if you like what you hear, give the podcast a follow and check out the website at ThePerantau.com.
BILLY: The Perantau Podcast is always looking for new stories to tell and people to meet. So, if you have a story worth telling, don’t be shy.
BILLY: Reach out on Instagram, LinkedIn, email, or wherever else you may find The Perantau Past. Until then, thank you, and see you soon.
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