Pesta Blogger 2009

For the last 2 years, the Indonesian blogosphere has been growing very rapidly, which can be seen from the increase in the number of people who attended the annual bloggers gathering called Pesta Blogger, from around 500 in 2007 to around 1,000 in 2008.

According to one of its sponsors: Maverick, Pesta Blogger 2007 was held on 27 November at Grand Indonesia mall, Jakarta. The organizing committee was led by top blogger Enda Nasution & team, sponsored by Maverick & Bubu.com, and supported by the Minister of State for Communications and Information who declared 27 October Indonesian Bloggers Day.

Further, according to Maverick’s Unspun, Pesta Blogger 2008 was held on 22 November, at the BPPT Building, Jakarta. The organizing committee was led by Tempo’s Wicaksono, sponsored by Maverick, Bubu.com, the U.S Embassy, Oxfam and the British Council, and supported by the Minister of Research & Technology, and the Minister of Cultural & Tourism. One of the achievements was the granting of the Bloggership Award to a blogger. Five foreign bloggers attended the event i.e. Malaysia's Jeff Ooi, Singapore’s Mr Brown, Australia’s Anthony Blanco, U.S’ Mark Lafoya, and Philippine’s Mike Aquino.

According to Pesta Blogger, this year's event will be led by Filmmaker/director, Sea Diver, Photographer & Blogger i.e. Iman Brotoseno, who was also active in the organizing committees of previous Pesta Blogger. Although Iman has still not form a team, however after discussion with his predecessors and sponsor, he is convinced that Pesta Blogger 2009 should be better than before.

In conclusion, I felt that bloggers in Indonesia are very lucky to have fellow bloggers, the government and private companies who have been willing to contribute for the development of blogosphere in Indonesia. I sincerely hope that under the leadership of Iman Brotoseno, this year’s Pesta Blogger would bring more progress for Indonesian bloggers, and help promote our country’s tourism industry.