politics and media

• Indonesia is a big country with over 17,000 islands straddling three time zones at the equator. 

• It is kept together by an army In the 1970s and 80s, action against rebels and dissidents came to the attention of the world media but rarely and only after many months, sometimes never.

• Pictures and television footage were often not available. 
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• With the handheld camcorder and the satellite link-up, this has changed. A bloody crackdown in 1991 by the Indonesian army in East Timor was broadcast to the whole world, provoking a strong international reaction.