Secular modernisers in the Indonesian media: A biography of Mochtar Lubis (1922 - 2004). Democracy in post-Suharto Indonesia is being challenged by radical religious and communal interests. Precisely what form of polity will emerge remains unclear but, as Indonesia responds to such threats, Australia has a direct stake in the outcomes and needs new ways of understanding this dynamic. Media play a vital role in this. One of the most strained aspects of Australian-Indonesian relations has been the ....Secular modernisers in the Indonesian media: A biography of Mochtar Lubis (1922 - 2004). Democracy in post-Suharto Indonesia is being challenged by radical religious and communal interests. Precisely what form of polity will emerge remains unclear but, as Indonesia responds to such threats, Australia has a direct stake in the outcomes and needs new ways of understanding this dynamic. Media play a vital role in this. One of the most strained aspects of Australian-Indonesian relations has been the vastly differing assumptions on both sides about the relationship, exacerbated by a poor understanding of how the other's media operate. This research, and the biography of Mochtar Lubis, will provide a greater understanding of Indonesia's media, and of the unresolved struggle within it between secular democracy and sectarianism.Read moreRead less
Media in a Post-Authoritarian State: Crisis and Democratisation in Indonesia. The Indonesian experience since mid-1998 provides the opportunity to contribute to current theoretical debates internationally about the role of the media in the development and maintenance of democratic societies. This project will analyse the articulation of print and broadcast media into post-authoritarian politics in Indonesia since 1998, to address two related questions: (1) how the media is being transformed, bot ....Media in a Post-Authoritarian State: Crisis and Democratisation in Indonesia. The Indonesian experience since mid-1998 provides the opportunity to contribute to current theoretical debates internationally about the role of the media in the development and maintenance of democratic societies. This project will analyse the articulation of print and broadcast media into post-authoritarian politics in Indonesia since 1998, to address two related questions: (1) how the media is being transformed, both in terms of its structure and its texts, by the changed political economy of post-New Order Indonesia; (2) the potential of this media in enabling or hampering the development of a pluralist democracy in Indonesia.Read moreRead less