Young people in Indonesia have come together in support of their country and to condemn the violence that has hit Indonesia in the past.   Indonesia Unite is an online campaign which has gathered great popularity with over 140,000 members on its Facebook group. 

Below is a transcript of the report by Radio Australia which discusses the concept and idea behind Indonesia Unite and how it has affected the young population.

[Presenter] Now to the youth movement against terrorism in Indonesia, and it's on the internet and it's gaining momentum in Indonesia. In less than two weeks the Facebook page for Indonesia Unite has gained more than 140,000 members, who see it as a key to fighting terrorism locally. But there are those who wonder whether social networking tools like Twitter and Facebook can really make a difference. Tito Ambyo reports.

[Rapper] The world is listening. People around the world, we know you've heard the Jakarta bombing, we know you're scared and we understand. But we are here to tell you that the people of Indonesia are not afraid.

[Presenter] That's the voice of an Indonesian rapper, Panji Pragiwaksono, who is sending his message about Indonesia Unite to the rest of the world on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxbGot26XiU&feature=related). The song is about young Indonesians fighting terrorism and the basic message is the title of the song – ‘We Are Not Afraid.’ Indonesia Unite is a movement which first started online as a reaction to the bombing in Jakarta this month, and it has been called by some to be the second ‘Sumpah Pemuda’, or Youth Pledge - the declaration in 1928 by young people across the archipelago who pledged their allegiance to the unity of Indonesia. Elisheva Wiriaatmadja is an Indonesian writer for the website indonesiatogo.com and she agrees that there is a similarity in spirit.

[Wiriaatmadja] They say that they are the reborn Sumpah Pemuda. Of course, I cannot compare because I wasn't there when Sumpah Pemuda happened. But there is a lot of the spirit of nationalism...you know, we are Indonesia, we are proud to be Indonesian and we're going to stand up for this country. That kind of spirit is very, very much the same.

[Presenter] But the 1928 congress took three years to reach their declaration, it only took two hours for Indonesia Unite to be the most popular topic on the microblogging site Twitter and only one week to reach more than 100,000 members on their Facebook page, with a growth rate of 15,000 people per day. One of the movement's supporters is Enda Nasution, who is often called the father of Indonesian blogging, and he says that even though the movement is growing at a very fast rate, for him this is only the beginning.

[Nasution] This was a spontaneous reaction to the bombing, and the online generation in Indonesia reacted by saying that we're not afraid, and this will keep on developing. There is already a T-shirt design and a song, so hopefully it can grow to become a movement that's more concrete and can be accessed by the wider population.

[Presenter] The wider population Enda Nasution speaks of is the 200 million - or around 90 per cent- of Indonesians who are not connected to the internet. But a more crucial obstacle is the danger their online activism could actually promote inactivity. He hopes that this is not the case with Indonesia Unite.

[Nasution] There are those who say that people who follow this movement might feel that they've done enough by adding a hash tag on their Twitter post, or adding a flag on their avatars. But these aren't enough, we need to follow these up with concrete actions. But this is a movement which is fluid and involving many people, so there are no clear organizational structures and actions. It could be that the actions are decided by different groups who create their own initiatives.

[Presenter] Another supporter of Indonesia Unite, Alex Abimanyu, points out that this movement is about making different things by different people.

[Abimanyu] All of the Indonesians could be involved in this movement, rather than we point it out to one spokesperson or two icons. We don't want any icons. There are going to be music concerts held and there's going to be an open discussion to discuss this Indonesia Unite with the public.

[Presenter] And according to Dr Jason Wilson, a lecturer in digital communications at the University of Wollongong, this is an example where young people are creating new spaces to create dialogues with the tools they are comfortable with.

[Wilson] That is one thing that is common throughout the region, I think. Whether it's Australia, whether it's Indonesia, whether it's Malaysia. Certainly it's young people who perhaps oftentimes are more comfortable with these tools and technologies who are using it to express their views, maybe their dissatisfaction with particular political situations or even with the way that the mainstream media report stuff. The Indonesians are particularly active in the blogosphere. There's a lot of Indonesian bloggers, and people use their blogs to discuss everyday things but they also use it to talk about political issues.

[Presenter] One of those bloggers, Enda Nasution, says that the most important thing is for these tools to be used to challenge violence.

[Nasution] Indonesia Unite is a way for us to say to the outside world that, ‘hey, look, this is Indonesia and we'! re OK and we are united. That even though there are these bombings, we can do something bigger on the Internet, something more modern. Bombing is so 2001. It's an ancient technology, a 15th century technology. We have new technologies now, so if you have a different opinion, let's deal with it democratically. You don't have to use bombs any more. That is just so ancient.’

Original Source: Radio Australia, Melbourne, in English 1005 gmt 28 Jul 09 (BBCM CT Reports 29/07)