Although the selfie stick - a very popular gadget accessory - is rumoured to have been invented in Indonesia, this appears to be untrue.
The selfie stick is popularly referred to in Indonesian as a ‘tongsis’ (tongkat narsis, or narcissistic stick). It consists of an extendable pole with a handle at one end, and a clamp at the other to which a smartphone or camera can be attached. It can be used to take selfies (self-portrait photographs) or wefies (group photographs that include the photographer). Improvements on these basic features include the introduction of bluetooth to facilitate remote shutter. It was voted best invention in 2014 by TIME magazine.
Anindito Respati Giyardani, an Indonesian citizen, claims to be the inventor of the selfie stick, and has apparently applied for registration of a patent in the US, in 2012. However, he acknowledges that there are two US patent applications for selfie-stick inventions that pre-date his (see here). One of these may be Wayne Fromm’s application filed in 2006, and it appears that the selfie-stick was written about in 1995 in a book called Useless Japanese Inventions (see here).
So, it appears that the rumour is untrue. Although it would be no surprise to learn that Indonesia is one of the most popular markets for the tongsis.
