Now retired, holding normal jobs or raising children, former pro-democracy activists in Southeast Asia must feel a mix of astonishment, admiration and envy at the critical role of social media in the dramatic uprisings in the Middle East this year.
A report by the Dubai School of Government found that the number of Facebook users in Arab nations increased by 30 per cent in the first quarter of this year, and 94.3 per cent of Egyptians surveyed said they received news and information on events during the uprising against deposed president Hosni Mubarak from social media networks - more than any other medium.
If only student protesters and other activists in Indonesia and the Philippines could have been riding the technological wave a decade ago or longer, bringing down corrupt leaders might have been easier.
In 2001, successful street protests against president Joseph Estrada were organised by cell phone text messages. In 1998 in Jakarta, protesters who forced Indonesian dictator Suharto from office organised only by word of mouth and e-mail lists because few could even afford cell phones at that time.
That's not to say these Southeast Asian countries are not tech savvy. Far from it. Indonesia now has the second most Facebook users in the world, with 38.5 million, while the Philippines is seventh. Indonesia also has the highest penetration rate of Twitter in the world.
'Social media in its most primitive sense, we used it to overthrow Suharto,' said Andreas Harsono, an Indonesian who is a representative of the United States-based Human Rights Watch. 'And today, according to Google, there are 225 million cell phones in Indonesia - 80 per cent of them have internet connections. Most of these Facebook and Twitter users don't use a laptop or PC. They are using a mobile phone.'
Indeed, while opposition groups in the Arab world are using social media to plot the removal of authoritarian regimes and usher in change, Indonesians 13 years on from Suharto's downfall are using Facebook and Twitter to monitor official abuse of power, fight social injustice and venture daily criticisms about the government, economy, and society.