Political public relations in Indonesia: A history of propaganda and democracy

As an independent state once under Dutch and Japanese occupation, the forms of government communication in Indonesia range from using conventional and colonial propaganda to the professionalisation of political public relations. This paper offers a brief history of how Indonesian leaders used propaganda and public relations strategies in order to understand the social and political contexts underpinning the development of political public relations in Indonesia. It argues that the expansion of political public relations in Indonesia coincided with the country’s political reform, including liberalisation of the press, freedom of speech and expression, as well as advances in information and communication technologies. The findings reported in this paper confirm that the emergence of modern political public relations in Indonesia is closely linked to the broader democratisation of the country, including significant shifts in the electoral process. In its analysis, the paper offers new insights into the development of political public relations in Indonesia.