Positive Non-interventionism: Our Philosophy on Building Communities in Indonesia

Just imagine, a Wikimedia affiliate serving a country that spans from the United Kingdom to Afghanistan, with more than 700 languages. At first, it seems hard to imagine due to the diverse culture and geographical barriers. In fact, several countries that have a smaller number of languages have different affiliates for each language.

Against all the odds, Wikimedia Indonesia maintains unity despite the diversity. We have supported 18 communities and have several more to support. These communities resemble mini-user groups. Each is based on the region, language, or projects to which they contribute the most. Managing all of the communities is not an easy task. So how can they thrive? The answer is positive non-interventionism.

About Positive Non-interventionism

Positive non-interventionism was first coined as an economic philosophy of Hong Kong under British rule. This philosophy posits that the economy will perform better without government intervention. However, it is vital to create good regulatory and physical infrastructure as a cornerstone of economic activity. This situation enables corporations and society to engage in economic activities without red tape. At the same time, the government creates public works (e.g., Mass Transit Railway), invests in healthcare, education, and social welfare spending as a support system for its economic activities. Despite the name “non-interventionism,” the government may consider intervention based on its potential effects, which can be used to give advantages or reduce harm. 

When positive non-interventionism was implemented until the handover of Hong Kong in 1997, Hong Kong’s GDP and GDP per capita grew significantly. It serves as an example of how minimal intervention can incentivize economic growth. This philosophy remains in use in the contemporary era, although some of its aspects have been modified.

How are the implementations in the Indonesian communities?

Wikimedia Indonesia’s approach to Indonesian communities has similarities with the positive non-interventionism philosophy, despite it not being about the economy.

First, Wikimedia Indonesia will not intervene in the community’s internal affairs. Community engagement is not a problem that can be solved with a one-size-fits-all approach. So, we believe that the community knows best about its culture, needs, and suitable programs. For example, we give the community autonomy to plan programs entirely, from selecting program themes to determining the main person to execute the program, as well as deciding when and where the programs will be implemented. Wikimedia Indonesia only gives suggestions on metrics and the budget plan. To ensure their programs work, however, Wikimedia Indonesia has several responsibilities. The foremost responsibility is to create guidelines on how the community can operate (which is similar to regulations in the government sense). On this page, you will find several guidelines, ranging from social media content to conflict management. These guidelines ensure that every problem in the communities can be solved by themselves without Wikimedia Indonesia’s intervention. 

Secondly, Wikimedia Indonesia has several supports for the communities. From a financial aspect, we fund monthly community meetings, training workshops, and Dana Wiki (mini-grant), which can be utilized to create specific programs. As I stated in another article about Dana Wiki, the community has the freedom to plan its activities, metrics, and budget. Wikimedia Indonesia may offer some advice on their program, but they are free to follow or disregard it. The results show that communities have various programs aimed at increasing the participation of newcomers in their respective regions, and content that may have been severely lacking before. The support we give is not only in funding, but also in capacity building. Each month, we organized Bincang Komunitas, or office hours, which covered various topics, including social media content planning and creation, how to apply for a Wikimedia project administrator position, Wikimedia tools manuals, and sharing sessions during Wikimania or other conferences.

Sometimes, the community wants to create a longer project that Dana Wiki can’t cover. The community may apply for the Rapid Fund by notifying Wikimedia Indonesia beforehand. The notification enables Wikimedia Indonesia to provide additional support, including administrative support (such as requesting a permit letter from institutions) and logistical support (cameras, recording devices), for their projects funded by the Rapid Fund. We may also provide advice on their proposals and budget plan upon request from the community.

Wikimedia Indonesia seldom intervenes in community affairs, but in exceptional cases, we may need to intervene if it can provide benefits or prevent conflict within the community. For example, we may intervene to request new Wikimedia projects in their language to the Language Committee if they actually passed the requirements, but they didn’t create a request.

Caveats

Although positive non-interventionism offers advantages for maintaining the unity and stability of affiliates with diverse backgrounds, this philosophy requires several preconditions to be implemented. In Indonesia, we have the Indonesian language (Bahasa Indonesia) as the language of unity, whose vocabulary has been influenced by various local languages in Indonesia and foreign languages. Because of this, there is no imposition or preference for one local language over others; therefore, tension between language-based communities can be minimized and even lead to collaboration. For example, on a smaller scale, the Banjar community collaborates with the Bandung and Bandar Lampung communities to create social media content highlighting word similarities between two languages, albeit with different meanings. On larger projects, WikiTutur collaborates with nearly all the communities in Indonesia to preserve their languages in Lingua Libre.

Another prerequisite for positive non-interventionism to be effective is that the affiliates must be impartial. That means, every support and funding for the communities must be equitably distributed. Wikimedia Indonesia sets a quota for the training workshops and meetups that each community can organize. We also encourage them to apply to Dana Wiki so they can create a program tailored to their needs. The impartiality also means that Wikimedia Indonesia will not endorse every Rapid Fund proposal. Every guideline change must be discussed with all communities to ensure that the guidelines are unbiased.

The funding and support of Wikimedia Indonesia will ensure that the communities have absolute support with less hassle in reporting. However, the limitation of the funding received in the General Support Fund becomes the main obstacle to maintaining positive non-interventionism. As new communities continue to emerge, we require additional funding to support them. At some point, it will become unsustainable. We will create a classification of the community based on their ability to organize regular programs and events. In the future, emerging communities will have limited funding support to organize training workshops and meetups until they are capable of creating larger programs. Emerging communities will also receive basic capacity-building support. When emerging communities become established, they may access more support. The classification of communities is necessary to recognize and support more communities.

Community, a place called home

We believe that the community is the backbone of every Wikimedia Indonesia program. So it becomes indispensable to make the community a place where every Wikimedian contributor has a sense of belonging. So who knows their home better? Of course, its residents. Wikimedia Indonesia gives them autonomy to decide what’s best for them and provides them with support behind the scenes.