Indonesian Blogs that I Frequently Visit

Aug 23, 2006
Despite the fact that the Indonesian blogsphere is not as diverse as its culture and traditions, you’ll find that the country’s bloggers have tried to passionately deliver their voice in various topics and approaches.

Written in two languages, English and Bahasa (to which its neighboring Southeast Asian visitors such as Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei which can speak Malay can catch up with), Indonesian bloggers have presented their own style and character in their blogs.

Since many Indonesian bloggers have posted the breaking news-based writing, as a blogger, I am always blogwalking to get to know what is currently going on in the Indonesian blogosphere before posting a new post.

It reflects that legions of Indonesian blogs have delivered up-to-date posts, especially about technology and politics, rather than such personal diaries which draw a tiny audience only.

My personal choice of blogs to trawl may not be the best choice for other blogwalkers, but these are the Indonesian blogs I’ve been visiting frequently.

My starting point to enter the Indonesian blogosphere is typically Planet Terasi, a famous Indonesian blog aggregator. Its focus is mainly on technology issues. This aggregator can be a primary channel for the latest IT news and stories in my homeland and, of course, in the world.

There are at least three personal tech blogs that I also frequently look up: William Computer Blog, Priyadi’s Place and Direktif.

William Computer Blog, a Sydney-based blogger’s blog, is like a daily tech blog which posts typical breaking news and analysis on technology. One more thing, its Technorati rank is 15, where it has 8,778 links from 8.448 blogs!

Priyadi’s Place and Direktif’s blogs are well-known technology blogs in the country’s blogosphere, which focus mainly on open-source issues like Linux, Ubuntu and Wiki as well as current dispatches from the world of the Internet.

Another favorite blog of mine is A. Fatih Syuhud’s blog, a New Delhi-based Indonesian blogger. Fatih posts numerous topics on how to promote Indonesia and the Indonesian blogosphere to the world. One of his famous features is the Indonesian blogger of the week.

In order to enrich my perspective on the economy, Sarapan Ekonomi is my primary economic breakfast. Written by an economist, Rasyad A. Parinduri, this English blog discusses the latest issues on Indonesian economy and government policies.

If I want to know the update of Indonesian music, movie and entertainment, Benny Chandra Blog is my first place of stopover. Sometimes he writes movie reviews, and I think he writes quite well.

If I need a refreshing break, Blogombal–previously well-known as an anonymous blog–would be my priority. An Indonesian version of Boing-boing, this blog written by Paman Tyo has a unique approach, giving us the other side of daily routines that sometimes make us laugh in wonder.

Benny Chandra’s blog Blogombal

Yes, the Indonesian blogosphere has done great things so far, but it still needs wide support from, say, the Government and/or mainstream media in promoting it to the public domain.

As a good example, moral support was shown by, for example, the Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong when he mentioned Singapore blogs in his official National Day Rally speech on Sunday night, which is very encouraging. PM Lee has dramatically drawn blogs into the public and national awareness and concern.

I personally hope that someday President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will talk about blogs and the way they may contribute to Indonesia’s development. It would be good news about the blogosphere, rather than news about a blogger who has made a visual parody of the President in his blog, taken in and interrogated by police some time ago.

Courtesy: Asia CNET
Written by Budi Putra
Link: asia.cnet.com/blogs/toekangit/post.htm?id=39393434

Tags: cnet

This entry was posted on August 23, 2006 at August 23, 2006 and is filed under Blogger Indonesia. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.