The Internet in Indonesia's New Democracy

This text provides a detailed study of the legal, economic, political and cultural practices surrounding the provision and consumption of the internet in Indonesia at the turn of the twenty-first century. Hill and Sen detail the emergence of the Internet into Indonesia in the mid-1990s, and cover its growth through the dramatic economic and political crises of 1997 and the subsequent transition to democracy. Conceptually the Internet is seen as a global phenomenon, with global implications, however this book develops a way of thinking about the Internet within the limits of geo-political categories of nations and provinces. The political turmoil in Indonesia provides a unique context in which to understand the specific local and national consequences of a global, universal technology. This is the first book of its kind to fully focus on the implications of the internet on an Asian national political context and will appeal to anyone wishing to question the connection between media, technologyand democracy.

Krishna Sen is Professor of Asian Media and Director of the Media Asia Research Group at Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Western Australia.