It’s great that Indonesia declared 2009 to be the year to focus on the Indonesian creative economy, however I am disappointed in the information coverage.  A couple of weeks ago, I found lots of press related to the opening of the Jakarta Fair.  The President of Indonesia, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, declared that the future of Indonesia’s economy relies of the future development and success of creative industries.  Read one article here.  Yet, the information about Indonesia doesn’t delve much further.  I want to know more about the Jakarta Fair.  Maybe its the language barrier and the lack of attention paid in international and Western news media.  The only other interesting article I found detailing Indonesia’s creative economy was one that reflected the difficulties in financial support for entrepreneurs and artists.  Read it here. 

Anyway, just a couple of thoughts on receiving a lot of article links via Google Alerts without much substance.  Indonesia: we care about you and want to know more!

Addendum: Here is another article that gives a little more information on the Jakarta Fair and Indonesia’s creative industries in general.

Addendum number 2: Latifah Budi, a consultant with a company collaborating with the Ministry of Trade to develop a creative economy plan for Indonesia, generously provided a detailed write-up of Indonesia’s creative industry/economy plans since 2006.  Download it here.