It has been argued that the most important factor in creating participation for people at
grassroots level is accessibility to the media, both as receivers and producers of content
(see Rodriguez, 2000; Fraser & Estrada, 2001, 2002; Tabing, 2002; and Dagron, 2001,
2004). In recent years, community radio stations have been mushrooming in Indonesia as
a consequence of the democratisation of the media system in post-Soeharto Indonesia. In
Indonesia community radio is used by the civil society at grassroots level to empower
people who have little opportunity to voice their interests. The characteristics of
community radio - size, proximity and openness to participation - provide both forms of
access. By providing a forum for capacity building, community radio enhances people’s
participation in the decision making process and in the preservation of local cultures in
their villages. In fact, at village level the empowerment of people is central to the role of
community radio; thus, people in Timbulharjo, Minomartani and Wiladeg have had the
opportunity to express their interests. Community radio stations encourage diversity,
challenging the tendency of commercial radio to erase cultural differences through their
conceptualising of audiences as markets. In this way, community radio accommodates
the interests of marginal social groups and draws them into the public sphere.
This thesis is about the way in which the Indonesian people’s movement creates
grassroots democracy by using community radio as a tool for participating in social
communication processes at village level, in particular in Yogyakarta Special Region.
The main question is ‘how do people at grassroots level use community radio in the
democratic transition in Indonesia?’ Multiple case studies were used in order to build a
comprehensive picture of the use of community radio in Indonesia as a tool for promoting
participation in local contexts. To discuss its findings this thesis uses participatory
communication and public sphere theories. This thesis also considers the civic role of
community radio in its responses to earthquake disaster in several regions in Indonesia,
where people used the medium of radio to create solidarity to help affected people.