The groundwork for Radio 68H was laid in 1996, but the stations took off after Suharto's sudden fall last year. In Jakarta, a BBC journalist gave in-house training to reporters on the oral language of radio. Just before the launch last spring, Pantic, then Internet coordinator at Radio B92, and another technician were sent from Belgrade to set up the software and run three-week training sessions for Indonesian technicians and journalists. Ours, after all, are parallel worlds, with racial and religious divides and military strongmen. This has been particularly important in Indonesia, where all media were under strict control of the government until the end of Suharto's reign in spring 1998.
Speed is another asset.
The archipelago is so large, and some regions so remote, that in many places newspapers arrive a week late, if at all. And many people cannot read. Radio news distributed by the Internet can be almost immediate. Perhaps the most important feature of 68H is that local stations produce their own shows and send them, via the Web, to Jakarta, where they are edited and distributed, via the Web, to other member stations. Among the best and most enthusiastic producers are the three stations in Aceh, where military atrocities against civilians have spawned a large refugee population and an active separatist movement.