RIP: Astaga! and Kafegaul Closed for Unspecified Time

I still remember in the early 2000's, I visited often the forum Kafegaul more often than Kaskus. The reason is simple. The community there was more exciting to talk about the things that interest me, for example Warung Bola (WarBol) and Film discussions. Exciting here is more into a more serious and contained discussion and communication. There were many anonymous experts (of course because at the forum we all were using nicknames) who would gladly share information. This is different from the crowd on Kaskus (especially outside of FJB), which for me tend to be "younger".

It’s been a long time (more than five years) I have not visit the forum again and recently Indonesia's Internet universe shocked by Kafegaul and Astaga! (which is its sister company) sites which are not accessible. The same thing happened with its parent company site, PT Indonesia Media Technology (IMT). We wondered what was happened because suddenly both sites were terminated. Finally we got an explanation from Aan Afdi (with the nickname Invain) as the admin of Kafegaul and Astaga.

Although it is not an official management statement, Aan Afdi explained that the closure of the two sites is the impact of internal turmoil at the parent company (IMT). Both sites were closed with unspecified time limit. Unspecified could mean forever or temporarily, depending on how the management of IMT settle it.

It is a pity that one of the sites that was born at the beginning of the dotcom bubble in Indonesia was unable to survive when the competition of online community grew louder. The inability of those sites to compete (and earn revenue) is the reason for the breaking down in the Astaga! and Kafegaul operating company.

Astaga! was originally formed by M-Web from South Africa. Kafegaul itself was reportedly acquired by M-Web in 1999. M-Web is an Internet-based company as part of MIH Limited. After the company was reorganized globally, M-Web pulled out from Indonesia in 2003. Both sites were managed by ex-employees of PT. M-Web Indonesia with the establishment of the IMT which was led by David Burke, who was previously the CEO of PT. M-Web Indonesia. David Burke himself had not been on the board of IMT directors and currently becomes the Executive Vice President of PT Telkom.

From a small search results, it seems that the missing of Kafegaul forum is the most regretted. In its heyday, the Kafegaul forum, as listed in its Facebook Group account, claimed as the leading forum brand for young people aged 15-24 with more than 15,000 unique visits and 200,000 page views per day. Quite ironic when Kaskus reached its peak and obtain fresh funds from the partnership with GDP Venture, Kafegaul forum which in fact is more senior did not seem to be able to survive.

Those two contradictive examples earlier hopefully could be a lesson for Internet businesses and startups in Indonesia. Just like Friendster vs. Facebook, the first one is not always the best. It is the one with full of innovation and able to embrace the market and consumers which will survive.

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Translated by Nita Sellya.