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Online Journal of Space Communication

Regional Development: Indonesia (Fall 2005)

General Editor Introduction

Indonesia was an early user of satellite communication. As a young SE Asian island nation whose territories stretched over great distances, the satellite infrastructure was important for national integration, including the adoption of a single national language, the building of a national identity, and to carry out the purposes of government, education and business.

Our Guest Editor is Sukarno Abdulrachman, former Indonesian Director General of Post and Telecommunications and Ambassador to Turkey. Remaining active in public affairs, Pak Sukarno is currently the Chairman of the Board of Professions and Associations of the Indonesian Infocom/ICT Society (MASTEL), after serving as its President for 6 years, and Commissioner with satellite provider PT Asia Cellular Satellite and PT Pasifik Satelit Nusantara. To prepare this Issue of the Journal, Pak Sukarno assembled an editorial team consisting of Indonesian professionals and scholars. A supporting editorial team was also established at Ohio University consisting of three Indonesian Ph.D. students under the direction of the Journal's General Editor Prof. Dr. Don Flournoy.

Issue No.8 is our first completely bi-lingual issue, published in both English and in the Indonesian language. This project has been challenging not only because of the distances involved, the opposite time zones and struggles with each other's language, the uniqueness of the subject matter required a lot of digging into archives, interviewing of historic players and thinking about how to best tell this story to a global audience online.

We are pleased with the result. For the first time, persons from any country can learn about the origins of space communication over Indonesia. Online viewers can see the role that satellites have played, and continue to play, in Indonesian national development.

Here is an example of what online publishing does best because 1) our Journal makes information publicly available that is rarely accessible in electronic form and 2) translates often technically intimidating information into a more user-friendly form. In this case, neither language or ocean distances or national boundaries need serve as barriers to the sharing of knowledge.

As our reader, please note that this is not a static publication; content can be added to the Journal and the existing content can be updated as needed. If you have a piece of research or a critical perspective you wish to share that relates to the topic, please communicate with us by sending an email to the Guest Editor.

Contact:

Ir. Sukarno Abdulrachman
Masyarakat Telematika Indonesia (MASTEL)
Jl. Terusan Hang Lekir I / No. 25
Jakarta 12220
Indonesia
Tel: +62 21 7221016, +62 21 72801319
Fax: +62 21 7267931
Email: s_abdulr@jakarta.wasantara.net.id or s_abdulr@psn.co.id
Web: http://www.mastel.or.id
Or send your communication directly to the Editor:

Don M. Flournoy, Professor of Telecommunications
General Editor, Online Journal of Space Communication
School of Media Arts and Studies
Scripps College of Communication
Ohio University, Athens, Ohio 45701
Tel: +1 740 593 4866
Fax: +1 740 593 9184
Email: don.flournoy@ohio.edu