ABSTRACT
Since 14 August 2006, the Indonesian commercial television channel Metro
TV has broadcast a weekly show called Newsdotcom. The name refers to a news agency of a fictional country called Republik Mimpi (Republic of
Dreams, the programme’s theme song calls it Dreaming Country), which
provides the setting for critical but humorous discussions on Indonesian
politics and the media. The show is a recent sequel to a television trend that
started in late 2005, featuring mimetic representations of Indonesian politi-
cians and other high-ranked social figures. This trend can be seen as the
product of the enhanced freedom of speech in Indonesia since the fall of the
authoritarian New Order regime of President Suharto in 1998, and the start of the subsequent process of social, political, and economic reform known
as Reformasi. The introduction and continuation of the trend have not been
without controversy.
