A vibrant media community contributes to growing stability in Indonesia, although localized conflicts regularly challenge local media practitioners

Although Indonesia has during the past years become increasingly stable in the post-Suharto era, a number of unresolved conflicts still simmer in specific parts of the country, fueled by complex context-specific undertones. Whilst some conflicts concern the relations between local groups and the central government, others relate to inter-communal differences in particular regions. Consequently, there is still a need for conflict resolution and de-escalating measures in some regions.

In this context, IMS activities have been directed at supporting the media's role in conflict resolution in the province of Aceh, West Kalimantan, Central Sulawesi and North Maluku.

Changes in the wake of the Tsunami

The earthquake and tsunami that struck northern Sumatra in Indonesia on 26 December 2004 wrought widespread destruction to the coastal areas in the province of Aceh.

In response the UNESCO Jakarta Office, IMS fielded a joint media assessment mission to Aceh in January 2005. The mission team travelled to the tsunami affected areas, specifically including Banda Aceh and Meulaboh, in order to collect first hand information and conduct a needs assessment on the situation of the media, with an emphasis on local radio.

The mission also provided basic training on humanitarian information for local broadcast media, as well as facilitated the provision of urgently required equipment. In addition as an outcome of the mission, IMS and UNESCO prepared a ‘Joint Media Assessment Mission to Aceh' report that was made publicly available. The mission also made a number of recommendations for activities including continuing support for radio stations, the development of a media and culture media centre, and further work on enhancing the provision of humanitarian information.

Following the signing of the peace agreement between the Government of Indonesia and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM)in August 2005, IMS supported a consultative process leading to a project in cooperation with the Women Revival on Peace Media (KBAB) in November 2006. The project included a joint forum of local media and civil society groups engaged in supporting the peace process through media training and education in balanced reporting on the process of building peace and democracy.

IMS also supported the production of a radio talk show aiming to mediate and disseminate information about the peace and democratization process.

Sharing the lessons learnt 

Based on the findings of the joint assessment of the role of media in supporting peace-building and reconciliation efforts in Central Sulawesi, Maluku and North Maluku undertaken together with the UNDP Crisis Prevention and Recovery Unit (CPRU) and the Institute for the Studies on Free Flow of Information (ISAI), IMS prepared a pilot phase project to act upon a number of the findings in North Maluku.

This project, which was implemented in 2005 together with Radio 68H, aimed at strengthening independent local broadcast media and addressing information vacuums through working with the 68H Radio Network to support two local radio stations in the main Christian and Muslim communities to enlarge their coverage and undertake cooperative productions and news broadcasts.

As part of the broader approach in Indonesia, IMS in 2004 brought together academics from the Indonesian Conflict Studies Network (ICSN) and radio stations from the Local Radio Network for Democracy (LRND) in the provinces of Maluku Aceh and Kalimantan. The joint radio/academic teams worked together on producing a number of programmes during 2004 that brought the conflict-resolution knowledge of the academic community to the attention of the broader audiences of the media.

This has improved the dissemination of information through local channels of communication regarding the peace process, as well as strengthened relations between academia and local media. It has also lead to strengthening the links between local civil society and the media, particularly in West Kalimantan where activities have continued to date with support from the Finnish Foreign Ministry.