Indonesians are some of the most dynamic Internet users in the world.
That was the message from Dr. Freddy H. Tulong, Director-General for Information and Public Communication of the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, speaking at the opening session of AMIC’s 22nd international conference in Yogyakarta.
Of Indonesia’s population of 250 million people, some 63 million are using the Internet, with 95% of them having social media accounts, such as Facebook and Twitter.
Dr. Tulung told the audience that Indonesians are the fourth largest group of Facebook users in the world, after the USA, Brazil and India. More than 29 million Indonesians also have Twitter accounts, making them the fifth biggest global Twitter community, after the USA, Brazil, Japan and the UK. There are now more than 280 million cell phones in use in Indonesia, of which 63% are ‘smart phones’.
Dr. Tulung was speaking on behalf of the Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Mr. Tifatul Sembiring.
The second keynote was given by Mr. Roy Suryo Notodiprodjo, Minister of Youth and Sports. The Minister outlined the way in which Indonesia’s huge population of young people was actively involved in new technologies and how these tools were changing society.
An opening address of welcome at the inaugural session was given by the Rector of Universitas Gadjah Mada, Dr. Pratikno. UGM is the host organisation for AMIC’s annual conference. The Chair of AMIC’s Board, Professor Ang Peng Hwa, and Secretary-General, Associate Professor Martin Hadlow also spoke.
The conference, which has attracted paper presenters from 24 countries, runs from 4th-7th July.