Blogger Indonesia of the Week (22): Indonesia Anonymus
It’s been long overdue for this blog to be reviewed. It should come a way earlier, considering its very good content, a collaborative of good writers behind it and its blog-for- justice-and-the-poor kind of vision. A vision I share in a great deal and shared by global community as well who wants to see the better world with the spirit of justice, prosperity, freedom and fraternity in its true sense.
So, what takes me so long to review Indonesia Anonymus blog?
Some guys might think because it uses pseudonym or ghost-blogger. The answer is, of course, not. When I questioned the rationale on ghost bloggers, doesnt mean I dont like them or pseudonymous is worse, and the real-name blogger is better in terms of credibility. After all, we saw many liars bravely use their true faces and many names in the real world. What I mean here is the corrupt Indonesian officials–not bloggers– who always plead innocent and talk patriotically until they’re docked with many undisputable proven documents. Besides, I’ve reviewed once on a very good blog written by a pseudonymous blogger call her blog simply as Nad’s Note
So, what takes me so long to review Indonesia Anonymus’s blog is because of a very simple thing which is unthinkable and too trivial to some, not for me: non-availabilty of its comment box. The blog owners have switched off its comment box, so the only access to comment on its content is through its email. I dont know whether it’s intentional or just the blog owners’ illiteracy or ignorance to the simple yet important thing in blogger world perspective. Either case, it’s still unacceptable to me for one reason: it doesnt represent the true spirit of any blogger who should be accessible to every single of its readers–the same fellow writers or not. Now, I see the comment box has been switched on. Considering the owners friendly response to every comment in their blog, I’m sure now, that the turn-off thing was un-intentional. And for that, I should apologise for my negative thinking.
Many things we can learn from the blog as can be expected from any writers-turn-bloggers, including the fresh info on current affairs and, sometimes, some news and analysis which we hardly find in the print or audio-visual media. For any non-Indonesian who are interested to know more on Indonesia and for Indonesian expats like me who just know what’s going on in my country only based on any news fed by the online media, the blog is highly beneficial.
The best thing, however, is their visible commitment to see Indonesia better by highlighting any abuse of power, injustices, the government-anti-poor policies and the big impacts of oil price hike to the have-not people, etc. If only all Indonesian journalists and writers spend their 20-minutes a day to blog (of course, in English), with commitment as strong as Indonesia Anonymus, it’ll be surely making a very big impact to Indonesia as a country, to the majority people of Indonesia as a “victim” and –beneath the line– to Indonesia’s image to outside world: as a country with full freedom of expression; as a country with the spirit of fraternity of its intellectuals to stand side by side with their most disadvantagous fellow countrymen; and as the true voices and representatives of Indonesian people vis-a-vis –more often than not– biases and prejudices judgement on Indonesia and Indonesians written by many foreign voices who claim themselves as all-knowing about Indonesia.
Last but not the least, I know and even meet personally with many writers and journalists who still keep their ideals intact. They’re not able to speak up in their media simply because their bosses dont want them to do so. Blog, therefore, is the right place for you to express your ideals and concerned without any need to worry about losing your job or, in the case of writers, your op-ed piece being rejected by the editors.
For those ever-worry journalists, blogging with pseudonym is very much justifiable. Afterall, we still have many media bosses who very much connected with some VIP officials who still hold their feodalistic attitudes.