INDONESIA: Information Technology Activities.

Onno W. Purbo (onno@itb.ac.id) ,  Bagyo Y. Moeliodihardjo (bym@cs.ui.ac.id) & Bobby Nazief (nazief@cs.ui.ac.id)

Institute of Technology Bandung (http://www.itb.ac.id)
University of Indonesia (http://www.ui.ac.id)

Presented in
UNESCO – Australian Broadcasting Authority
ASIA – PACIFIC REGIONAL FORUM “Online Services in Asia-Pacific”
25 – 27 MARCH 1999

OVERVIEW
Indonesia, with the world's fourth largest population (200 million), consists of some 13,667 islands, six major religions, and more than 300 ethnic groups. Extending telecommunications to all 27 provinces and each of the main islands is a daunting task but one which Indonesia has embraced, particularly as a means of creating national cohesion. The need to provide communications for development and modernisation was recognised more than 20 years ago, with the launch of Indonesia's domestic satellite, Palapa, in 1976. Many developments have occurred in the intervening years, however, the current economic crisis has added a level of uncertainty to many business and government initiatives. Indonesia's national information infrastructure (NII) is being developed under a program known as Nusantara 21 (http://n21.ac-id.net) , which calls for all major islands and cities to be linked either by submarine and terrestrial cable or by satellite by the year 2001. Whether this occurs or not will depend largely on how quickly the country's economy is restored. In particular, the devaluing of the rupiah means that most capital purchases will be delayed. Already a major plank of the country's telecommunications development, the joint operation schemes (JOS), known in Indonesia as Kerja Sama Operasi (KSO), have been renegotiated. The joint ventures between Indonesia's Telkom and foreign telecommunications operators were being used to increase telecommunications capacity in five regions However, an MoU between Telkom and the investors in the scheme in June 1998 was signed that cuts back on the minimum number of lines that need to be installed in an effort to retain its longer term viability. Telecommunications growth in the public network of more than 25 per cent was recorded in the last five years and services are provided by a mix of land-based and radio/satellite-based services. The sector has been liberalised in recent years, although is still dominated by three companies: Telkom, which is the major domestic carrier; Satelindo, which runs the Palapa satellite network as well as other domestic and international services; and Indosat, the country's main international carrier. IT subjects are widely taught in schools and universities and an association of more than 100 computer colleges has been found. Unfortunately, skills in Internet and networking technologies are lagging. There are numerous local computer vendors and some equipment is made or assembled in Indonesia. Prices before the   economic crisis were on par with countries such as Singapore, but inflation and the devalued rupiah mean that equipment is now much more expensive.

REGULATORY ENVIRONMENT
Internet regulation is the responsibility of the Directorate General of Posts and Telecommunications (postel1@rad.net.id), although as yet a firm policy has not been finalised. The directorate is looking at overseas experiences to find a model for regulating the Internet and a number of organisations within the country are currently drafting policies.

YLTI (http://www.ylti.or.id) , or the Foundation for Telecommunication and Informatic Research (ylti@telkom.co.id) is also working towards the building of National Information Infrastructure framework. They sponsored the writing of Nusantara-21 concept & can be downloaded from http://n21.ac-id.net/

The Indonesian Telecommunication Society MASTEL (http://www.mastel.or.id) a non-profit organization is currently working on the framework on various telecommunication issues & advice the government on level playing field regulation in telecommunication. One of major issu is in Electronic Commerce which is discussed at e-commerce@itb.ac.id. One should ask to become a member of MASTEL (mastel@mastel.or.id) to join their activties.

A bottom-up community based workgroup is also formed to address the Internet regulation in Indonesia. The Indonesian internet community shares their knowledge & expertise over mailing list regulasi-internet@itb.ac.id trying to setup the framework for internet regulation in Indonesia to support the transformation of Indonesian society toswards knowledge based society.

The government has opened up the ISP sector in recent years, with 50+ companies now licensed to offer Internet access. Potential ISPs must first put forward a business plan to the DGPT. Once accepted, the ISPs are required to forward regular reports of their operations to the DGPT. The government also takes one per cent of revenue generated. There are no laws prohibiting voice over Internet services and some ISPs are currently looking at this option. Electronic commerce comes under the control of the Ministry of Trade.

The country top-level domain was administered by the University of Indonesia at www.idnic.net.id. However, at the moment, IANA (http://www.iana.org) and then later to ICANN (http://www.icann.org) is taking back full responsibility of the country top-level domain. The primary DNS server for Indonesia is currently being moved from Australia to Indosat's network operations centre in Jakarta.

INTERNET CONNECTIVITY
Moves to setup Internet infrastructure have come from the commercial, education, and government sectors, although sometimes the initiatives are overlapping. Perhaps the most change has been seen in the commercial sector as a response to the economic crisis. While ISPs had for many years resisted attempts to connect their operations through a common Internet exchange, the value of the rupiah has meant that it is no longer feasible for each ISP to have a separate leased line. As a result, most of the ISPs now share three common lines that connect TelkomNet Internet Exchange (IX), IndosatNet IX as well as the  newly formed Indonesian Internet Exchange (IIX) to the Internet backbone in the US. As well as being more economical for ISPs, the primary goal of the Internet exchange is to keep intra-Indonesian traffic within the country, rather than have it routed via the US or other countries. The IIX, which was implemented by the Indonesian Internet Service Provider Association (APJII) http://www.apjii.or.id, interconnects the sites of the three main telecommunications providers: Telkom, Satelindo, and Indosat. It is connected internationally via a 2Mb line that connects Indosat to MCI and Global-One in the US as well as to SingNet. The IIX was designed for a 34Mbps connection and will be upgraded gradually. In addition APJII is currently looking at peering options with other backbone operators in the Asia Pacific region, most likely in the US and Australia to begin with. Of the 50+ licensed ISPs, only 25 are active, but most of these are now connected to the IXs. Prior to the economic crisis, many of these ISPs had their own leased lines and it can be expected that in future many will re-establish their own direct connection in addition to the connection via the IIX. In terms of coverage and subscribers, the largest ISPs are RADnet, Indo.net, and CBNnet, which were among the first to obtain licences from the DGPT. These three also still run their own leased lines in addition to being connected to the IIX.Telkomnet (run by Telkom's multimedia division) and Centrin Internet also have significant operations. TelkomNet IX is currently serving 13 ISP. Wasantara Net is a nationwide network of access points operated by the country's postal service, PT. Pos Indonesia. Using a VSAT satellite network, Wasantara Net has a large number of public access points in post offices throughout the country. Another major player is PT Aplikanusa Lintasarta (Lintasarta), which was originally formed to support IT services for the banking industry. The company also offers public X.25 services in 11 major cities, a wide range of data networking and VSATservices. More recently it has started to offer Internet access under the brand name of Idola. Indosat, the main international telecommunications carrier in Indonesia, also has an Internet service under the name Indosatnet. 

There are 7+ licensed for wireless data network operators granted by the government at least 3+ operators are in operation. A wireless option is the cellular digital packet data (CDPD) network operated by Ratelindo. It allows mobile devices to connect to a dedicated data network, overlayed across Ratelindo's existing cellular voice network, at speeds up to 19.2kbps. The service is only available in Jakarta.

The education sector in Indonesia is very active and has suffered less from the economic fallout. It should also be noted that the education and commercial sectors are sometimes at odds regarding Internet issues. Two of the most prominent organisations are the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB www.itb.ac.id) and the University of Indonesia (UI www.ui.ac.id) in Jakarta, both of which have a pool of Internet-skilled staff.

The Institute of Technology in Bandung (ITB) also operates an Internet exchange for the education sector, which is connected via a 1.5Mb link to the Asia Pacific AIII backbone (http://www.ai3.net) connected to WIDE Project (http://www.wide.ad.jp) in Japan. ITB also has a 2Mb link directly to TelkomNet Internet Exchange (IX) where 13 of Indonesian commercial ISP are located. More than half of the country's (around 27) universities are connected to the exchange, while the others go through a commercial ISP for connectivity. 

The AIII Indonesia is the name of the Indonesian education network which are using ITB (http://ai3.itb.ac.id ) as their main gateway to Internet. Started from 1200bps AX.25 network in 1993, it is currently the largest educational network in Indonesia & currently serving 25+ educational institutions connected via various media such as WaveLAN 2Mbps, Telkom Fiber Optics 128-512kbps, Elektrindo Nusantara VSAT 19.2-128Kbps. Expansion of AIII Indonesia network is currently underway in several areas, such as,
•	Universities in Sumatra Island in collaboration with UNILA (www.unila.ac.id) , Telkom DIVNet, Telkm DIVRe 1 and JICA funded HEDS Project.
•	Bali Island in collaboration with YWCN (www.ywcn.or.id)
•	Several univesities (in Sumatra, Jawa & Lombok) under DUE Project funded by World Bank.
•	We do expect the help from CIDA funded EIUDP for integrating the eastern Indonesian universities into Internet.

Because of poor quality local phone lines and limited budget, the universities have created their own wireless network that by-passes the local lines (Metropolitan Area Network). It uses WaveLAN technology to connect ten universities at speeds up to 2Mbps. To extend the scope of the network beyond the ten universities, an innovative network will be built utilising Indonsian-made radio modems that will allow other universities to connect at 64-256kbps. The circuit boards for the modems are being designed and manufactured at the Institute of Technology and can be made for around $100 each. The network will use Citizen Band (CB) and ham radio frequencies in the VHF 140MHz band at 64Kbps

In the government sector, the most significant network is Iptek-Net (http://www.iptek.net.id) , the original gateway to the Internet in Indonesia which was originally conceived as a science and technology networking initiative. It serves many government departments, although it is no longer the country's sole Internet gateway. Iptek-Net has been developed by the Indonesia National Research Council at the Ministry of Science and Technology and provides services to government departments, research organisations, and educational institutions.

The Canadian National Research Council (NRC) is currently supporting the establishment of Canada Indonesia Technology Network (CITN) at http://orca.fastfwd.com/futureworks/ It will be linked to the Canada Technology Network (CTN). It is a collaboration effort between NRC & BPPT (Ministry of Science & Technology). The aim is to help SMEs via Information Technology by linking the information resources in educational sectors, NGOs and Goverment R&D for the SMEs.

CONTENT INITIATIVES 
There are a number of sites which attempt to aggregate the main Indonesian web content. On a general level, one of the most comprehensive is Indocenter, which was developed by Radnet. It lists sites by category and also has some good media resources which includes some mainstream magazines and newspapers. Similar sites that list Indonesian links by category are Indonesia Interactive (www.i-2.co.id), CBNnet (www.cbn.net.id), and Idola (www.idola.net.id). A good source of news is the interactive version of Tempo, a magazine that had previously been banned in print form in Indonesia but allowed to continue on the web. It has news in both English and Indonesian, although not all Indonesian stories are translated into English.

For development related links, the UNDP Indonesia site has a comprehensive list of sites that are divided into useful categories. It also has links to other UN-related sites in Indonesia. For issues on sustainable development, the Sustainable Development Networking Programmme (SDNP-Indonesia) is a good source of both local and international information. SDNP is no longer receiving any funding from UNDP.

The Environmental Impact Management Agency (Bapedal www.bapedal.go.id) is a government agency with the task of managing environmental impacts through the control of pollution and environmental damage, as well as issues relating to environmental rehabilitation. Its web site, which is in both Indonesian and English, has many resources related to environmental issues, with links to news, research, services, and other relevant Internet resources.

The Urban and Regional Development Institute (URDI) http://www.urdi.org is an independent institute aiming to cooperate with government, community groups, and the private sector in the field of urban and regional development in Indonesia. It undertakes research and policy analysis and provides a number of data services including a database of relevant expertise as well as lists of publications. Its web site also allows you to search the URDI library, which contains more than 500 books and study reports.

In the educational sector, we have several major activities going on most of them are initiated by AI3 Indonesia led by ITB. Some examples are:
•	Effort to link CDS/ISIS library databases currently done using WAIS-CDS/ISIS Web on http://www.lib.itb.ac.id/isis/ and linking 12 Libraries with over 50+ CDS/ISIS library database including one in Italy. Work is currently underways to link teh databases of many Indonesian major libraries.
•	Knowledge management to support distance education activities are being developed by Computer Network Research Group (CNRG) ITB. at cnrg@itb.ac.id . It is partly supported by IBM.
•	Link exchange of Indonesia Peer Academic Network & Education Link (Indonesia-panel@itb.ac.id ) located at  http://www2.unpar.ac.id/sql/n21/index.html  It aims to enable resource sharing among educational institutions over Internet.
•	ITB's majordomo@itb.ac.id  is currently hosting 150+ Indonesian Internet mailing lists serving 15.000+ subscribers It is one of the largest Indonesian mailing list service in Internet. Some of the mailing lists are archived and serving national policy framework, such as, n21@itb.ac.id  & n21-sc@itb.ac.id . 
•	The AIII Indonesia is also supporting the Nusantara-21 on various level including the web http://n21.ac-id.net/  and mailing list at n21@itb.ac.id  & n21-sc@itb.ac.id 

RELATED PROJECTS
Most of Indonesian Internet & Information Technology activities are driven by private and educational sector. it doesn't mean that there is no government initiatives in this area. Although, current economic crisis seems to slow down the government efforts.

Back in 1995, researchers at Telkom R&D division (RisTI) proposed a concept for National Information Infrastructure (NII) called Nusantara-21. Their original concept is focused on Gigabit fiber optics infrastructure for the country.

Despite, less emphasis on the application of the gigabit infrastructure, their concept has drawn the attention of many parties, including the Secretrary General of MPPT, World Bank, ADB, IBM etc. On April 1996, the Indonesian MPPT organized large workshop on Indonesia Nusantara-21. After the workshop several groups than lead the initiative into several different paths, i.e.,

•	The originator of Nusantara-21 concept is still working to on it & putting their concept on the Web at http://www.nusantara21.co.id/  Their main emphasis still remains on Gigabit infrastructure not much in the application layer.

•	BAPPENAS finances by World Bank is trying to put US$34.5 million (loan) for Information Infrastructure Development Program (IIDP). It is mainly focused on regulatory framework, network securty & training. One of the activity is Teaching Assistance & Training Program (TATP) lead by Ministry of Industry & Trade. We are not sure if the program will still continue under current Indonesian economic crisis.

•	In 1997, Coordinating Ministry for  Production & Industry Ir. Hartarto received the mandate from President Soeharto to lead Telematika Indonesia. Today, Mr. Ichyar Musa is trying to initiate the Telematika Activities. Their concept is mainly focused on building government network infrastructure and more project oriented.

•	Mr. J. Parapak sekjen@dppt.wasantara.net.id (now the secretary general for ministry of tourism) is leading the Yayasan Litbang Telekomunikasi & Informatika (YLTI) the foundation of telecommunication & informatics research. Under his leadership, YLTI has working on re-writting the Nusantara-21 concept to produce the concept for several key areas, such as, Teleducation, Telemedicine, Teleworking, Postal Services etc. It can be downloaded at http://n21.ac-id.net/ 
.
The YLTI Nusantara-21 conceptual framework is written by a small team, i.e., Dr. Onno W. Purbo (team leader) onno@itb.ac.id , Dr. Gadang Ramantoko gadang@indosat.net.id , Dr. Bobby Nazief nazief@cs.ui.ac.id , and Dr. Krishna Pribadi kpribadi@indo.net.id . Totally different from other Indonesian NII activities, in the N21 conceptual framework  a clear vision towards the transformation of Knowledged based Indonesian Society is written. The basic strategy is quite simple, i.e., encourage private sectors & investors to take the major role in building the knowledge based Indonesian socity. Government role will be focused as catalist & regulating the processes through various incentives. Feedback mechanisms as well as information delivery system to support a self finance & grass root activities are currently being built at http://n21.ac-id.net/  and n21@itb.ac.id as well as through the participation of N21 Voluntary Board n21-sc@itb.ac.id . Interfacing into the regulator is currently being performed through n21-sc@itb.ac.id by Mr. J. Parapak.

A real example for a self-finance & sustainable Nusantara-21 concept is actually the AIII Indonesia which connecting 25+ educational institutions over Internet. The AIII Indonesia activities have been attracting many commercial vendors as well as multinational funding agencies, such as JICA, World Bank etc. due to its large market potentials.

Thus, a simple scheme, to penetrate the Indonesian IT market can be easily performed by piggy-backing through education activities over the AIII Indonesian educational network while negotiating any adjustment in the regulatory framework to adopt the technology through the N21 Voluntary Board n21-sc@itb.ac.id. We are sure that early investment in the Indonesian educational sector would benefit both the foreign investors as well as the Indonesian people years to come after Indonesia manage to survive its economics crisis.

SITE AND CONTACT LIST

APJII (Indonesia ISP Association)
Gedung Telkom
Jl. Gatot Subroto No. 52
Lantai M
Jakarta
T: 526 8777
F: 526 8789
www.apjii.or.id 

ASEAN Web
Main web site for the ASEAN regional grouping
www.asean.or.id 

Asian and Pacific Coconut Community
3rd Floor, Lina Building KAV-B7
Jl. HR Rasuna Said, Kuningan
Jakarta 12920
T: 522 1712
F: 522 1714
Email: apcc@indo.net.id 
www.apcc.org.id 

Asia Internet Interconnection Initiatives (AI3) Indonesia: Indonesia Education Network
Inter University Center Building 4th Floor
Institute of Technology Bandung
Bandung 40132
T/F: +62 22 251-2982
E-mail ai3@itb.ac.id 
http://ai3.itb.ac.id 

Bapedal
Environmental resources from the environmental impact management agency
www.bapedal.go.id 

Canada Indonesia Technology Network (CITN)
Citnjkt@ibm.net
http://orca.fastfwd.com/futureworks/

CBNnet (ISP)
Gedung Manggala Wanabakti IV
Suite 618B
Jl Gatot Subroto
Jakarta 10270
T: 574 2488
F: 574 2481
Email: sales@cbn.net.id 
www.cbn.net.id 

Centrin Internet (ISP)
Jl. Pecenongan 72
Kompleks Ruko Atap Merah 
Block C3A
Jakarta
T: 352 2323
F: 3483 0510
Email: info@centrin.net.id 
www.centrin.net.id 

Coarse Grains, Pulses, Roots and Tubers (CGPRT) Centre
Jl. Merdeka 145
Bogor 16111
T: (251) 343 277
F: (251) 336 290
Email: cgprt@indo.net.id 
www.cgprt.org.sg 

Indonesia Interactive
Good collection of Indonesian links
www.i-2.co.id 

Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI)
Institute for providing policy and R&D for scientific endeavours
www.lipi.go.id 

Nusantara 21 
Sekretariat
Gegerkalong Hilir 47,
Bandung 40152
T: 022 214551
http://www.nusantara21.co.id
http://n21.ac-id.net 

Yayasan Litbang Telkomunikasi Informatika (YLTI)
The Foundation Which Financially Supports the Nusantara-21 Policy Framework & Research Projects
F: +62 21 381-0900
E-mail ylti@telkom.co.id 
http://n21.ac-id.net 

P4Knet
Information on scheme to alleviate poverty in rural areas
www.p4k.org 

PT Satelit Palapa Indonesia (Satelindo)
Jl Daan Mogot KM 11
Jakarta Barat 11710
T: 545 1745
F: 545 1746
www.satelindo.co.id 

PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom)
Jl. Japati 1
Bandung 40133
T: (022) 452 1510
F: (022) 440 313
www.telkom.co.id 

RadNet (ISP)
Plaza 89, Suite 601
Jl. HR Rasuna Said
Kav. X-7 No. 6
Jakarta 12950
T: 252 6363
F: 252 4777
Email: service@rad.net.id 
www.rad.net.id 

SDNP-Indonesia
Resources on sustainable development programs in Indonesia
www.sdn.or.id 

Tempo
Independent source of Indonesian news
www.tempo.co.id 

Tukang Internet
Indonesian search engine
Harvest.access.net.id

Urban and Regional Development Institute (URDI)
Resources and a searchable library related to urban and regional development
www.urdi.org