INDONESIA: POLITICS - Social media becomes one of the major battlegrounds for Indonesian presidential candidates as the country gets ready to choose a new leader on July 9

Record ID: 347177

  • Title: INDONESIA: POLITICS - Social media becomes one of the major battlegrounds for Indonesian presidential candidates as the country gets ready to choose a new leader on July 9
  • Date: 4th July 2014
  • Summary: DEPOK, WEST JAVA, INDONESIA (JULY 2, 2014) (REUTERS) PEOPLE USING COMPUTERS IN INTERNET CAFE
  • Embargoed: 19th July 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Indonesia
  • Country: Indonesia
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVABI4X3P1FHQ1Y1AZ8PYXVC5IN2
  • Story Text: Social media on the internet has become one of the main battlegrounds for the two Indonesian presidential candidates ahead of the July 9 election.
    In the office of presidential candidate and ex-general Prabowo Subianto, a dedicated team is working around the clock to make sure his Facebook and Twitter account are well-maintained.

    "Because we know that online media is extremely valuable and will become the major communication tool in future, therefore we share the same vision as Prabowo, that this is the medium that allows long term interaction between the party and the supporters as well as the public," said Noudhy Valdryno, the media strategist for Subianto's Gerindra Party.
    Compared to Subianto, who started his social network pages five years ago, his rival Joko Widodo, the front runner in this presidential election, is considered a 'newbie' in the cyberworld.
    His team said it is important to have a foothold in every media platform.

    "Every media is important because this is an open society that is able to access information anytime, anywhere, which is good for the development of democracy," said Johairi Miswari, the media officer of Widodo's online campaign team.
    Out of Indonesia's 71 million internet users, the country has 69 million active Facebook users, placing it fourth globally behind the United States, India and Brazil, a spokeswoman for the social network said.
    The country also ranks as the world's fifth-biggest Twitter population with 29.4 million users, a 2012 study by Paris-based social media research firm Semiocast showed.
    Jakarta, the capital of the world's fourth largest country, produced over two percent of daily half-a-million tweets, thanks to its rapidly growing middle class and relatively young population. Half of Indonesia's 250 million population is under 30 years old.

    "On the internet there are games, cartoon and movies of the candidates, it's better. We can understand them and how creativity their teams are," said Wipando, one resident at an internet cafe, who like many Indonesians go by one name.
    Politicawave dot (.) com, a company that collates opinion polls based on posts and tweets related to the presidential election on social networks said they believe the online campaign in this election will shape the future trend for Indonesia politics.

    "People are more beginning to have awareness and care and they realise now that they can bring change, they can stop corruption, they can stop government official doing the wrong things or they can say no to a policy that is not beneficial to the country and they can share this information in real time, in a massive way. And for the future I believe Indonesia, as a country, will benefit from social media," said the director of Politicawavedotcom, Sony Subrata.
    This election will only be Indonesia's third direct election since it tumbled into democracy 16 years ago amid social and economic chaos in the wake of the downfall of former dictator Suharto.
    The world's third-largest democracy is due to choose a new leader on July 9 in what recent polls show will be a tight race between Prabowo and Jakarta governor Widodo.
    The latest opinion poll showed that Widodo continues to lead the race followed by the ex-general, Subianto, who is narrowing the gap.
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