Agents of Visibility in the Global South
This brief piece is a thought experiment on global visibility. Al Jazeera of Qatar and Gojek of Indonesia may seem as two unlikely cases of comparison. However, when conceptualised as forms of infrastructure, a wide number of stark similarities can be observed in their rather clear role as agents of global visibility for their respective contexts.
Media Infrastructure: Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera, founded in Qatar during late 1996, is a global media infrastructure with a proved ability to compete with legacy outlets such as BBC and CNN. Al Jazeera boasts the same the level of perceived quality in terms of media infrastructure (both functionality & aesthetics) — although with a clearly intentional Global South orientation in its approaches to issues and content prioritisation.
Al Jazeera is an elite-driven and savvy project that gives Qatar a key form of asymmetric power and international recognition. So much so that, David B. Roberts in his book: “Qatar: Securing the Global Ambitions of a City-State” (2017) demonstrates how Al Jazeera has a deterrent role against any swift takeover/downturn. Kuwait, he argues, did not have the necessary infrastructure to ‘make noise’ when it was suddenly attacked by Iraqi forces in the August of 1990 — help came, but too late, as many world leaders were not too concerned or aware of Kuwait in any way or form till then. Al Jazeera however, is an infrastructure that reminds people all around the world daily, that there is a country in the world beginning with the letter ‘Q’.
Al Jazeera essentially satisfies a latent Qatari concern of being heard and seen — elevates Qatar from relative obscurity and being ‘known for being unknown’. Al Jazeera is also an exposition of the deregulation of age-old notions, practices and tacitly agreed upon dogmas of conservatism (mental red-tape). It is a rather progressive (often even by Western standards), iconoclastic, flamboyant and ‘loud’, in a place that is more known to be ‘silent’. It is ‘left alone’ to operate with wide boundaries, in a place known for centralisation of power. Qatar became pre-eminent in the region in a particular role with the mainstream prevalence of Al Jazeera, arguably the first time that it leads the Gulf region in any sphere of infrastructure. Al Jazeera benefits from both being ‘indigenous’ (locally) & a ‘first-mover’ in the market (regionally) and symbolizes ‘a generation’, a ‘zeitgeist’ and essentially a coming of age, often antagonizing arch-rivals such as Saudi Arabia — for being too outspoken and prominent in the global arena.
Urban Infrastructure: Gojek
Gojek is a form of urban infrastructure than began as a call centre, which morphed into a mobile ‘super-app’, which proved its ability to compete with global rivals such as Uber and Grab. Gojek boasts the same level of percieved quality in terms of both software and operational infrastructure (both functionality & aesthetics) — but with a rather Global South orientation of communications. Indeed, Gojek often claims it is the one to bring the notion of ‘super-apps’ into urban infrastructure, as it is the digital translation of the wide-array of ‘jobs’ which drivers already have done in offline contexts in Indonesia.
Regulatory support to Gojek from the Indonesian government in order protect ‘local innovation’ is an elite-driven (or more specifically Jokowi-driven) policy and renders Gojek a key agent of asymmetric power for gaining international recognition for Indonesia. As exemplified in the ongoing COVID-19 triggered economic downturn in global investments, Gojek plays a deterrent role against any swift investment & liquidity squeeze. If Gojek survives, which so far seems to be the case, Indonesian technology scene will always be a lucrative option for foreign capital.
Gojek, among many other practical roles a form of urban infrastructure, satisfies a latent Indonesian concern of being heard and seen, as it elevates Indonesian technology scene from relative obscurity, moving Indonesia away from being a country that ‘known for being unknown’ for its infrastructural capabilities, despite its massive population, size and iconic islands such as Bali and Java.*
At a time Gojek was still at a very early, truly startup phase, Nadiem Makarim (founder) decided to hire an entire team of software engineers from Bangalore, India, when Gojek’s mobile application failed to scale due to an unexpected level of transactions — a big boost of a talent contingent for the young company. In a very close analogy of events, during late 1996, Al Jazeera hired an entire team of 120 BBC journalists when BBC Arabic failed to take off in Saudi Arabia — which was gave the channel a massive pool of global experience when it was still at its planning stage.
Through Gojek’s emergence as a trailblazer story from the Global South, Indonesia became pre-eminent in the region for the first time in conversations regarding science and technology (at least since a long while, as perhaps the IPTN project of the 1990s is an exception). Gojek’s rapid emergence in the late 2010s symbolizes a generation of Indonesians aspiring to work in software -based businesses and establish their own success stories, denoting a coming of age for the often overlooked nation (especially in the domain of ‘technology’).
*This is an issue that is often raised in conversations within Indonesian studies — why is Indonesia as a whole (not just Bali) so understudied, compared to India, China or even Vietnam? A leading expert in the field Dr Douglas Kammen raised this particular thought experiment in multiple occasions during our Indonesian Studies module in 2017.
