Countries in South and South East Asia can draw inspiration from the progress of community radio (CR) in Indonesia and develop it on similar lines. In the long term, the effective development of CR has the potential to help address community specific issues of the region. 

CR in South and South East Asia is a decade old concept. The progress of CR in the region has been very slow as compared to its development in the same period in Indonesia. The broadcasting law enacted in 2002 by the Indonesian government played a pivotal role in the robust progress of CR in Indonesia. The law defines community broadcasting institute as �€œ�€�a broadcasting institution in the form of an Indonesian corporate body, which is established by a certain community, independent and non-commercial in nature, with low transmission power and limited broadcasting coverage to serve the interests of its community�€.Community Radio is therefore broadcasted on free frequency and is owned by the community. The equipment for broadcasting the radio programs are generally homemade. There is no government permission required to run CR. The high participation of local communities has also played an important role in the development of CR in Indonesia. This has led to the development of CR catering to specific communities. For instance, Radio Komunitas Suara Kota, Tanjungkarang, runs programs to campaign about the problems of street vendors. Radio Talmoba, Vatallolo focuses on the problems of fishermen due to changes in the climate. Radio Komunitas Kemayu, Indramayu is focused on wage, employment abuse and other job related problems of migrant workers. CR is the main mode of communication in villages. The desire of people to participate in the decision making process in the country has also contributed to the progress of CR in Indonesia. 

Indonesia has also been using CR as a tool for early alert and disaster management system. Majority of the countries in the region are prone to floods, cyclones and other natural disasters. At present CR as a medium of disaster alert and management in the South East Asian and South Asian region has been developing at a slow pace. In the 2005 earthquake in North West Frontier Province and Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK), CR proved to be very helpful in arranging food and clothes for the suffering population. The effectiveness of CR led to the establishment of 12 community radio stations by the Pakistan Press Foundation across Pakistan. Sri Lanka, in 2005, developed CR �€˜Sarvodaya�€™ as a tool of early warning and disaster management system. There is a potential to develop CR as a medium of early communication and disaster relief for the northern plains of India as they are prone to annual floods, which could help in reducing the loss of life and property. 

Indonesia has been using CR as a mode of communicating recent developments in agriculture to the rural population. Similarly, CR in South Asian and South East Asian region mostly run programs on agriculture and farming for rural areas. However, CR in these countries has not been able to reach the remote areas as seen in case of Indonesia. Radio Pikon Ane was started in September 2007 in sub-district of Anyelam located in the central highlands of Papua, Indonesia which is cut off from the rest of the country for almost half of the year and suffers from dearth of electricity. Radio Pikon was successful in improving the income of the farmers of the area by providing updated market information and connecting them to the actual buyers in the market, which helped them fetch better prices for their produce. In the coming years, the development of CR in Vietnam, Thailand, Bangladesh and other countries in the region, which have similar terrain and climate change problems, has the potential to economically benefit the poor residing in less accessible areas. 

CR is well developed and has proven to be effective in communicating healthcare issues in Indonesia. This has led various funding agencies to support specific community beneficiary programs. Heartline Bali FM (HLB), a commercial radio station was launched in Tulikup village of Bali province in early 2000s. HLB partnered with Department of Nutrition Polytechnic of Health Denpasar to launch a program named �€˜Desa Binaan�€™. The program imparts nutrition and health related knowledge through the radio. The program also involved training the community volunteers to educate the local families about health related issues. Again, the South Asian region suffers from similar healthcare problems and CR could be used as a mode of communication to address such issues. However, in the long run, the effectiveness of CR could play a pivotal role for various NGOs and funding agencies to use it as a mode of communication and develop programs on the lines of �€˜Desa Binaan�€™.

Looking at the present scenario, CR in most parts of the region is a relatively new concept. The successful reach of CR to a wide variety of audience and diversification of content in Indonesia could prove to be a guide for other countries to develop CR and make it an effective mode of communication. Apart from addressing some of the vital issues in the region, the development of community radio may also provide an opportunity for the less connected communities to integrate with the main stream.