Patricia Sharpe
Inside Indonesia, Australia's best-known quarterly magazine on Indonesian society and politics, celebrates 10 years of publishing this month. Written in English it is a glossy journal of 30-odd pages presenting views and analysis of issues affecting modern Indonesia and its people.
Launched in 1983 to combat stereotypes about Indonesia and to raise international awareness of Indonesian society, Inside Indonesia is now read worldwide by academics, government officials, students and the general reader.
Many of the magazine's stories are sourced from inside Indonesia, which gives the reader an in-depth view of Indonesian society not readily available elsewhere.
Editor Pat Walsh says the main aim of Inside Indonesia is to provide an alternative source of news and information to that provided by the Western, mainstream media. "We are able to show through articles and stories from within Indonesia that this is a modern society grappling with contemporary issues. One of the important strengths of the journal is that it allows various Indonesian human rights, environmental and political groups a forum for views they cannot publish within Indonesia itself."
In addition to consistent coverage of human rights and workers' and students' struggles, the magazine provides book reviews, poetry and other stories which reflect the intellectual and cultural mosaic of Indonesian society.
The 10th anniversary issue typically covers current issues within Indonesian government and society, including the apparent shift in attitude to the outlawed Petition of 50 group, which commentators feel heralds a new political era in the country. Another story given prominence is the resolution of problems within the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute, an important lobby for human rights and democratisation, which was going through a period of internal re-examination and change.
Neither of these stories has really made it into the media in Australia, says Walsh, but both should have because of the significant changes they signal within Indonesian politics.
Foreign affairs and human rights commentator James Dunn also feels that the importance of Inside Indonesia is that it provides a bridge between two positions on Indonesia which have developed in Australia in recent years. "In the early 1980s there were those who totally supported Indonesia on economic or political grounds and at the other extreme there were those who became anti-Indonesian, almost in a racist sense, because of issues like East Timor and Irian Jaya."
Dunn says that Inside Indonesia not only mediates these two positions but provides a vehicle for outsiders to look critically and understandingly at Indonesian society. He agrees with Walsh that the magazine also has an important role in enabling voices inside Indonesia, other than that of the regime, to be heard.
"Inside Indonesia looks more penetratingly at issues about Indonesia and is rather less superficial than the other media. At the same time it's not just Australians or outsiders looking critically at Indonesia; it has Indonesians themselves writing very important articles on the region."
Ten years on, Dunn believes Inside Indonesia achieves what it set out to do in reporting Indonesian issues which go beyond the easy stories about corrupt politicians or massacres in East Timor. His only criticism is that he would prefer it to be published monthly rather than quarterly.
The magazine looks good, with glossy pages and easy to read print, interspersed with black and white photographs, though the anniversary issue has a series of colour photographs which are also for sale. The other useful component is the news briefs throughout, which are clipped from overseas journals or news services, and contain information about Indonesia not usually printed in the Australian media.
The success of the journal can be measured by its very strong following, with more than 2000 copies sold per quarter worldwide, mainly through subscription. Inside Indonesia is sold in the UK, Europe, the US and, more importantly, inside Indonesia, where it is subscribed to by many government departments and universities. Pat Walsh says his office gets frequent requests for replacement copies from Indonesia, as originals are constantly damaged through extensive photocopying, a popular method of circulating hard to come by Western books and journals.
In Australia the easiest way to obtain a copy is through subscription ($18 for four issues for individuals from PO Box 190, Northcote Vic 3070) or at most bookshops or newsagents, where it costs $4.00. Inside Indonesia is strongly recommended for readers who want to get beyond the stereotypes about Indonesia and find out what is really happening in the exciting, challenging and changing society that is Indonesia today.