[clug] Fwd: FOSS gaining momentum in Indonesia

Tue Mar 1 17:00:33 MST 2011

Some on this list might be interested in how a disaster relief agency in
Indonesia is now also educating Indonesian government agencies on the
benefits of using FOSS.

If you know of anyone not on this list who may be interested in what is
going on in the FOSS community in Indonesia, please pass on the details
and invite them to contact Idris.

Thanks to Idris for the translation (at end of this mail) of this
interesting web page.

I wonder when governments in Australia are going to get with the
program?

Cheers,

Bob Edwards.

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: FOSS gaining momentum in Indonesia
Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2011 14:52:23 +1100
From: Idris Sulaiman <idris.sulaiman at anu.edu.au>
To: bob at cs.anu.edu.au, tom.worthington at tomw.net.au
CC: roim at airputih.or.id, indra.wahyudi at gmail.com, indra at airputih.or.id, 
linapurbo at airputih.or.id

Hi Bob,

Below is an article that I translated from the Make-IT-FOSSible website
run by the AIR PUTIH Foundation - a disaster relief group which has now
become an IT/FOSS educator and NGO service provider as well based in 
Jakarta, Indonesia.

Perhaps you might know which LINUX group in Canberra and/or Australia
might be interested in having such article in their websites/mailing
lists. And also please let me know if there are any groups/individuals
that are keen to have contact with AIR PUTIH or other similar FOSS
groups in Indonesia.

Many thanks and regards,
Idris

Dr Idris F. Sulaiman
M: +61 429 091 131 T:  +61 2 6125 5694 F:  +61  2 6125 0010
E:  idris.sulaiman at anu.edu.au

Visiting Fellow
School of Computer Science
College of Engineering and Computer Science
The Australian National University Canberra ACT 0200
http://cs.anu.edu.au

Education and Research Adviser
Foundation for IT Sustainability
- formerly "Computers Off Australia" Campaign
LPO Box 8233 ANU Canberra ACT 0200
Head Office: Suite 3B, 175 Varsity Pde, Robina QLD 4229
www.FFITS.org

===================================================================

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gaining momentum and bringing significant savings in Indonesia

   Friday, 18/02/2011, 11:07 pm (Copyleft) By: Imron Fauzi, Director of 
Foundation AirPutih (www.airputih.or.id) and Principal Coordinator of 
Make-IT-FOSSible (makeitfossible.web.id)

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Translated by Idris Sulaiman, Australian National University, Canberra from:

http://makeitfossible.web.id/migrasi-open-source/tahun/2011/bulan/02/tanggal/18/1665/foss-penghematan-devisa-di-yogya-dan-aceh-tengah.html

   Free and Open Source Software is gradually transforming regional 
administrations in Indonesia and, at the same time, bringing significant 
cost savings to local governments and reducing the risk of paying fines 
relating to the use of pirated software.

   The AIR PUTIH Foundation has assisted two regional city 
administrations, the Social Services department of the Yogyakarta City 
Government and the Central Aceh District Government in implementing the 
open source administration software in response to a circular from the 
Indonesian Ministry of State Apparatus Empowerment. The project was in 
collaboration with the Ministry of Research and Technology, the Center 
for Empowerment of Open Source Software (POSS) Network at the Gajah Mada 
University, Indonesia Linux User Groups (LTSP) in Yogyakarta, Linux 
Users of Central Aceh (Pelita) and the Combine Resource Institute. The 
Dutch HIVOS Foundation provided funding for the project.

   The FOSS project ran from January to June 2009 and installed legal 
open source software (operating system, office applications and anti 
virus) in 82 computers in Aceh and 110 computers in Yogyakarta 
respectively. It is estimated that by using open source software the 
Yogyakarta City Government and Central Aceh District Government were 
able to save foreign exchange up to Rp. 407 million (A$51,680) and Rp. 
303 million (A$38,525) respectively.

   Although the implementation of FOSS within Indonesian government 
agencies have covered only about 5 per cent of the existing computers 
used, through such projects government agencies can avoid fines 
amounting to Rp 5 billion (over A$635,000) if the use of pirated 
software is detected under the Indonesian Law on Copyright (Law Number 
19, Year 2002).

   There is no doubt that the development of using open source software 
in Indonesia has been boosted by a recent decree from the Ministry of 
State Apparatus Empowerment. It should be noted however that Indonesia 
has been included in the list of countries with high software piracy 
rates according to the Software Piracy Study (2007) by Business Software 
Alliance (BSA) and IDC.

   While FOSS is gaining momentum in Indonesia, there are on-going 
challenges such as the complex system of government procurement and what 
appears to be a low level of awareness on IP rights and the available 
FOSS technology among the heads of most government agencies and their IT 
staff.