Snapshots of Current Communication Research in Indonesia

Editorial
Before you lies a regional special issue on hot media topics nowadays in Indonesian society,
partly as an outcome of the biannual international communication conference held at
Universitas Indonesia in December 2012. The research included in this issue shows the
double function − scientific value and societal relevance − as a central characteristic of a lot
of the research in the humanities and social sciences carried out at Indonesian universities. In
a young democracy with a weakly developed rational legal authority and with a tradition of
clientelism, where actual power usually prevails over institutionalized authority, this
combination of action, activism and making a contribution to change in the media policy-
making and media regulatory framework and, by extension the daily lives of people, is what is
so attractive in this kind of research. Unfortunately we lost this combination quite a bit in the
western part of the world, where our focus is mostly on academic output and rankings, which
leaves us little room for determining the agenda of decision-makers in our field.
The research by Hendriyani, Hollander, d’Haenens & Beentjes − part of the PhD
research of the first author − is the result of empirical research that has put the research on
children and media on the map. Due to the rapid and tremendous changes in the media
landscape of Indonesia, especially in the field of commercial television, as well as in the
overall media experience patterns of users, with more and more middle class families in the
urban centres, Indonesia has become a vibrant media market characterized by hugely
competitive media companies striving for the favour of the public. Regulation, particularly in
the area of programs aimed at children, is running behind. This study found that children
spend hours using various media every day. Parents should discuss the potential media effects
with their children, including the consequences of excessive use. And they should involve
their children in making media rules at home, such as when and how long they can watch
television or play electronic games. Adequately addressing these concerns could also include
measures such as adoption of V-chip technology, intended to block TV content considered
harmful for children. For the same purpose, parents could use blocking software on computers
—a woefully ineffective solution on mobile platforms Teachers’ concerns were comparable
with those of the parents, but the teachers were more media-literate. Most of the teachers in
this study were at ease with computers. Therefore, teachers could become valuable media
literacy education facilitators: they speak the same ‘language’ as the parents but are generally
more knowledgeable about newer media, so that parents and children could seek their advice.
Moreover, in Indonesia, schools are still considered as a highly reliable source of information
by both parents and children. Current curriculum descriptions in Indonesia encourage teachers
to use digital media for educational purposes, for instance by showing video tutorials or using
computer software for presentations. However, teachers should increase their skills, not only
with respect to media use, but also in analyzing, evaluating and producing content. Teachers
should co-operate with parents, discussing their concerns, including children’s media use, so
that children benefit from consistent media use rules at home and at school. This study also
found that only few children had a home internet connection. This means that most children
go on the Internet from outside locations, for instance from an Internet café. Schools need to
provide equal opportunities for children to learn about computers and the Internet. This is
especially important for children who do not have access to these media platforms from home,
as it will significantly reduce digital inequalities and make it possible for children to build
online skills. The data were collected in 2009 when online platforms and devices such as
smartphones were not as popular as today.

ANNISA BETA: Urban modern Indonesian Muslim women are in search of moral certainty,
spirituality, and piety favoring Islamic commodification as a way to articulate their identities.
‘New’ Muslims enjoy a more personal Islam that they consider rational and pluralistic. These
personalized reinterpretations of religious values are further enunciated by the popularity and
availability of the cyber-Islamic environment, which adapts to Muslim societies as well as to
issues faced by Muslims in their daily lives. One of the most prominent types of urban
Muslims in Indonesia is the ‘Hijabers’—veiled young women expressing ‘fun’ and a
‘colorful’ take on Islam. These women are active users of social network sites such as
Facebook, Twitter and Instagram as well as fashion blogs, which all have been considered as
references for sartorial choices and, arguably, for identity constructions among youngsters.
This article aims to understand the dissemination of the ‘Hijaber’ concept—specifically in
social networking sites—and to further analyze what it represents and how it relates to
contemporary urban, post-Suharto Indonesia. The Hijaber trend itself is rather new. This
article seeks to understand how Hijabers relate to piety expressions and aspirations of young
Muslim Indonesians, and how they influence the discourse of ‘Islamic’ cultural industries and
popular piety cultures (Subijanto, 2012) in the urban Indonesian landscape, particularly in its
megacities. the Western media mostly (mis-)represents Muslim women, who are often
regarded as a domesticated and silenced part of a hostile, patriarchal society (Richardson,
2004). Another interesting fact is that mainstream Western media depict Muslim women as
living in pan-Arabic countries even though the greatest numbers of Muslims are to be found
in Asian countries. In addition, as noted by Miriam Cooke (2007), Muslim women are often
seen first in terms of their religious identity, with everything else (ethnicity, nationality, age,
job) coming second: introducing ‘the Muslimwoman’. Founded in 2010 in the heart of
Jakarta, Indonesia’s capital city, the Hijabers Community (HC) centers around young
designers of Indonesian ‘Islamic’ fashion—Dian Pelangi, Ria Miranda, Jenahara, and Ghaida
Tsuraya—and also extends to a number of fashion bloggers and fashion enthusiasts, who all
wear the veil. The founders of the Hijabers Community actively create their own semantics of
the Hijaber style and its significance. Among their main instruments, as mentioned above, are
their blogs. It can be argued that Dian Pelangi is the ‘face’ of the Hijabers Community in
Indonesia, with her name its rallying cry
NURHAYA The role of religious leaders in countries with very large Muslim populations
such as Indonesia continues to attract world attention. However, mainstream media often
focus on fundamentalist Muslim clerics. What seems to be missing from these narratives is
efforts by moderate Muslim leaders to thwart fundamentalism by improving their
communication style and their use of media and technology in order to reach young people as
well as the wider community. This article explores just that. Islamic leaders continue to
expand their use of media in an effort to both educate and mentor their followers. As a tool for
distributing information, gathering information and enhancing the presentation of information,
leaders appear to recognize the power of media to communicate their message to followers
young and old. This is not only about the inevitability of change as it relates to technology,
but also about the need Islamic leaders feel to more effectively control the messages reaching
and emanating from their communities.
And while our respondents see themselves as role models within their communities in
relation to technological use and expertise, this is mostly associated with the prudent,
effective use of new media with a view to connecting with their followers. As might be
expected, the Internet takes pride of place in this. This includes using social networking sites
such as Twitter and Facebook. In addition, the Internet is a repository of preaching materials
and a platform for focusing attention on issues relevant to Muslims but neglected by the
mainstream media. While it is unclear how widely and intensively old and new media are
being utilized by Islamic leaders, our respondents point to a steady increase in both awareness
and use of these tools to present and enhance their message. According to them, the primary
challenge is to use old and new media alike in a prudent manner. The question does not
appear to be whether such media can be used effectively as part of their dakwah: the concern
is mostly one of content—beyond the tools of choice, is the message consistent with Islamic
tenets?

RAKHMANI: Through an overview of Islamic sinetron in Indonesia, the impact of media

industrialization on mediated religious expression all over the world has been substantial, and
this study tries to understand the Indonesian case by looking at the intersections between
commerce and Islamic expression. Focusing on Indonesian Islamic sinetron (soap operas), we
shall see that contrasting ideological motivations among producers have resulted in particular
narratives within their content. Despite these peculiarities, all narratives use Islamic teachings
to address societal issues experienced by middle class Indonesian Muslims. This, in turn,
projects an image of Indonesian Islam that blurs existing political division s in Indonesian
society. This article argues that the sinetron plots are inherently a commercialization of da’wah
(proselytizing of Islam). This article delves into the ‘electronic materiality of spiritually
transmitted habits’ by looking at how Islam is being mainstreamed in and by Indonesia’s
commercial television system. The positioning of the audience as market determines which
issues are too sensitive, too confrontative to be represented in Islamic sinetron. These The
producers’ view of the audience as market guides the production of each sinetron in different
ways. This article studied the connections between the commerce of Islam and its expression
in order to understand how religion, morality, authority, values, and ideology are recoding
themselves in a system that involves market values and media infrastructure. The main
findings draw a complex picture that challenges uncritical assumptions as to how the
television industry may have commodified religious symbols in Indonesia. By looking at
sinetron production processes and representations of Islam, we can argue on two levels that
what is actually occurring is a commercialization of da’wah.

Firstly, in their early stages Islamic sinetron were meant to emulate the commercial success of
other films or television series. Ustads were brought in to avoid commercial risks by ensuring
that representations adhered to dominant Indonesian Islamic practices. As a result, the Islamic
practices, symbols, and rituals portrayed are identified with previously monitored audience
class-types, thus constructing an Islamic identity that speaks to middle class Muslims as
stereotyped—and validly so, based on ratings—by the television industry. Such ‘safe’
portrayals were thought to ‘cheapen’ Islam, thus prompting the agency of Muslim producers.
By consulting with Islamic scholars to check conformity with the Quran and hadiths, they
brought their sinetron into the realm of Islamic propagation, or da’wah. The irony is that such
da’wah agents unwittingly commercialized their calling by ‘setting a fee for their sermons’.

On a second level, various ideological motivations resulted in particular narratives within

Islamic sinetron. In supernatural dramas divine intervention saves oppressed lower-middle
class Muslims from the failures of social institutions, while Islamic melodramas coddle
upwardly mobile, middle class Muslims weary of half-baked Islamic rituals with
representations of an imaginary, ‘pure and peaceful’ Islam fraught with ‘Middle Eastern’
values. The sinetron produced by da’wah agents criticize the fragmentation of the ummah and
appeal for unity. Despite these different dominant narratives, all three sinetron offered up a
version of Islamic teachings in response to the perceived social concerns of their middle class,
Muslim target audiences. Based on these findings one may argue that what is currently
occurring is a commercialization of da’wah through the televised delivery of ‘sermons’ to a
Muslim audience. In Indonesia today, television has become a space for preaching: sinetron as
sermon, audiences as congregation. And commercialization—or the creation of a relationship
between advertising and audience—is the ‘new system’ within which da’wah works. This
raises the question: what kind of ‘Islam’ is it that we have on Indonesian television today? We
would argue that owing to risk avoidance and audience targeting, the social divisions between
Muslim groups in Indonesia (e.g. traditionalists, liberals, conservatives) become blurred in
Islamic sinetron. Validated by both ratings and advertising, such portrayals take on a life of
their own. In other words, such televised images of Islam are not an accurate reflection of
religiosity in Indonesia today. What they are is a construct—an artificial, ‘Indonesian’ Islam
born of the intersection of market capitalism and Islamic propagation.