Interview: ‘Watch Indonesia’ – An inside look
GERMANews, Edition No. 61, October 2007
published by PT.German Centre Indonesia
www.germancentre.co.idInterview with Alex Flor, one of the four main figures at ‘Watch Indonesia’ about shedding some light at their work
by Jochen Sautter, 24 Oct 2007
Sautter: ‘Watch Indonesia!’ might be very well-known to a lot of our readers. However, would you please describe the purpose and background of Watch Indonesia?
Flor: Partnerships between countries are often reduced to official relations of their respective government institutions, and in some cases their economy associations. However, these bodies do not necessarily channel the aspirations and interests of the majority of their people. This is in particular critical in the case of an authoritarian regime or dictatorship like the former Suharto regime. Watch Indonesia! tries to bridge that gap. We understand ourselves as a hub for people-to-people contacts between Germany, Indonesia, East Timor, and other countries relevant. By different means like, amongst others, information work, public education, lobby work, and direct cooperation with partners we are trying to give a voice to the civil societies of our three countries. Watch Indonesia! was founded by German and Indonesian citizens living in Germany in 1991 as a reaction on the massacre in Santa Cruz, Dili, East Timor. Human rights and the fight against impunity have always been a particular issue of our activities. However, under changed circumstances since the downfall of Suharto our focus slightly shifted to support good governance, state building (East Timor), the supremacy of law, conflict resolution, dealing with the burdened pasts, and environmental protection to name just a few.
Sautter: Who are the readers of your newsletter? How many recipients do you have on your list?
Flor: Maybe our best-known publication is the e-newsletter in German, which is regularly sent to about 1.500 subscribers. Some information is also sent in English and Indonesian to lists of about the same size. We also serve specific information to the media (German, Indonesian, and international), politicians or special interest groups like environmental organizations, people concerned on West Papua etc. So altogether we reach more than 4.000 readers. Besides that we publish a print magazine in German language with a circulation of about 300. Subscribers are manifold. A lot of them work or have worked as experts in government bodies, civil society organizations, universities, banks, and companies. Many individual subscribers have some sort of special relationship to Indonesia or East Timor, for instance having lived, worked or studied there. It’s quite interesting to see, that a lot of our subscribers are actually Germans living in Indonesia or East Timor. They belong to the most hungry on our information, since they’re eager to know what issues are discussed in the German media and public.
Sautter: Does ‘Watch Indonesia!’ receive any public funding?
Flor: No, we don’t have any regular public funding. We need donations and voluntary subscription fees by our readers. Unfortunately this support amounts only to a relative small part of our budget. The biggest part is provided thru funding by some German development and charity organizations.
Sautter: How big is the team working for ‘Watch Indonesia!’? What is their background?
Flor: At present we have a paid staff of four people at our office. Two of them are political scientists or historians, respectively. One is a chemist and one is an engineer. All of them have their own personal background and motivation: Monika for instance wrote her PhD thesis on the colonial history of East Timor and looks back on more than 20 years of intense contacts and friendships with East Timorese partners. Marianne, our environmental desk officer, lived for almost two decades in Jakarta running her own business as a producer of chemicals. Nevertheless, I need to admit that we would not be able to cope with our work load without the active support of our organization members, volunteers, and interns. Big thanks to all of them.
Sautter: How is your work perceived by Indonesian stakeholders?
Flor: Very different, of course. Giving critical comments and even doing campaigns on this or that, you will not always be everybody’s darling. But that’s normal all over the world. The fundamental question is, whether your „sparring partners“ are able and willing to acknowledge you as a competent contributor and legitimate speaker. No doubt, during the Suharto years Indonesian officials tended to see Watch Indonesia! as a non-legitimate „state enemy”. Although some of this New Order behavior will exist for a very long time, nowadays there are significant signs of change: in cooperation with the Indonesian Embassy we organized a conference on such a delicate issue as West Papua, we received a vice cabinet minister and his delegation at our office, and we’re welcome to give input to state departments and parliament on new law regulations. To us it’s maybe even more interesting to see a similar change in relation to German government officials. It was hard to get their ear, when former German chancellor Helmut Kohl cultivated his relationship with then President Suharto. Of course not without conflict on different views, but today we are a well-accepted contributor to all relevant institutions in Germany.
Sautter: Thank you for this interview.
Flor: You are welcome.
Watch Indonesia!’s office team: Alex Flor, Dr. Monika Schlicher, Marianne Klute, and Fabian Junge
