Asia Times: After euphoria, the press is under attack


	June 3, 2000	atimes.com

Southeast Asia

After euphoria, the press is under attack
By Sheila Coronel

JAKARTA - There are few more dramatic indicators of how things have changed in Indonesia in the last two years than events in the local media.

During the Suharto dictatorship, the Indonesian media had few brave voices, which inevitably were silenced forcibly by the government. These days, though, there is not only a wide choice of feisty newspapers, but also a cacophony of voices blaring from radio and television.

Suharto stepped down two years ago, in May 1998. Since then, more than 1,000 new press licenses - four times more than that issued by the Suharto government - have been given out under relaxed licensing rules.

Private radio stations are now allowed to broadcast their own news programs, a great leap from the past when they could only air news from state-owned Radio Republik Indonesia (RRI).

Indeed, censorship of television news was abolished, and last year, even the Information Ministry itself was dismantled and thrown into the dustbin.

As in the Philippines after the fall of Marcos in 1986, the new freedom is a heady brew. But as in the Philippines, cynicism of, and disillusionment about, the media are now setting in, replacing the euphoria with which both journalists and the general public embraced press freedom. This disaffection is most evident in the unruly crowds that have massed up in broadcast stations and newspaper offices, demanding immediate redress for what they perceived as affronts.

Since January, the protesters that have vented their ire on news organizations range from Islamic militants to pro-independence groups, to even a group of irate bus drivers who staged a demonstration over a Bandung newspaper's report that alleged they did not have public transport licenses.

This free-for-all can be explained partly as outbursts of excess energies let loose by the wave of democracy that has swept this diverse archipelago of more than 200 million people. There are those who think that the exuberance will pass once the novelty of an unfettered press wears off. ''When press freedom came into the open, many things that had been kept shut were also opened,'' said Masdar F Mas'udi, a leader of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), a moderate Islamic organization once chaired by Abdurrahman Wahid, who was elected president last year. But he also predicted: ''The overreaction from the public would not last long. There will soon be a balance between public reaction and press reporting.''

As if on cue, just four days after Mas'udi made this remark on May 2, members of the NU's civilian guard occupied the office of the Jawa Pos in Surubaya, East Java, to protest articles accusing top leaders of their organization of corruption. To end the occupation - in which the NU ''guardians'' switched off computers and disconnected phone lines - the newspaper agreed to publish a retraction and apology and to donate hundreds of thousands of dollars for the construction of a mosque.

Press groups in Indonesia are worried that unless law enforcement agencies are able to protect the media, other groups will be encouraged to take the same vigilante approach. As it is, the press has been especially hurt not only by assaults by Islamic groups but also by separatist movements fighting for independence from Jakarta.

On January 28, for instance, the pro-independence militia group Satuan Tugas attacked the office of state-owned RRI in Fakfak, West Papua when it was not allowed to issue a statement on air. The militiamen destroyed buildings and equipment, paralyzing the radio station for four days, said the Jakarta office of the Southeast Asian Press Alliance (Seapa). Three weeks later, several hundred militiamen armed with knives, bows and swords destroyed the RRI building in the West Papuan town of Merauke. The militiamen perceived the radio station as biased in favor of the district government, which opposes independence. Seapa-Jakarta says the attack so devastated the station that until now, it has been unable to resume broadcasts.

The irony is that these attacks are taking place when there is a government that supports press freedom, and after the passage of a new press law that provides far greater protection for journalists than there ever was in the past. Less than a year old, this law removed the strict licensing and other rules imposed by the Suharto regime and provided for the creation of an independent Press Council that would shield the press from outside forces and provide mechanisms to settle public grievances against the media.

The president, like many other officials, appreciates the importance of a free press, even if he himself has been the subject of critical reporting. ''Press freedom is important in Indonesia where we are undergoing profound changes and achieving real democracy for the first time,'' Wahid told journalists in a celebration of World Press Freedom Day here in May. ''In its early development, the Indonesian press needs protection as well as professionalism,'' he said. ''We have to guarantee freedom of the press against the many forces that think freedom is not necessary.''

The problem is that while officials acknowledge the need to protect the media, a weak state and feeble institutions - such as corrupt courts and ineffective law enforcement agencies - are unable to ensure that journalists are protected.

Journalists themselves admit the local press has sometimes abused its freedom. They even say some of the anger against the press is justified. Observes senior journalist Aristides Katoppo: ''Many in the press do not distinguish between fact and fiction, between news and opinion, or between rumor or gossip and news.''

In truth, while Indonesia boasts of high-quality publications, the liberalization of the press has resulted in the proliferation of third-rate publications that compete in a crowded market by offering sleaze and sensation. As in the Philippines, reporters in Indonesia sometimes play fast and loose with facts. But incidents of irresponsible reporting have only damaged the credibility of a press that had won acclaim for its role in defying the strictures of dictatorship to report about the abuses of the Suharto regime and the gains made by the democracy movement.

For the protesters, thus, the street actions simply achieve the desired results. As Al Habib Muhammad Rizieq Syihab, leader of a group that calls itself the Islamic Defenders Front said in a press forum: ''If we go through the normal way of seeking redress, it will be a long process, and we do not get more than a few lines in the corner of a newspaper.''

''Press reports provoke public outrage,'' he also said. ''And the press itself is arrogant and know-it-all.''

To be sure, the concern of some senior journalists is not so much angry citizens but the threat to the freedom - and viability - of the press from within its own ranks. ''This sense of indifference, of routine, of mediocre work, this is the enemy internally,'' says Jakob Oetama, chief executive of Kompas, Indonesia's biggest newspaper. ''Self criticism is important, so is professional competence.''

Such self-reflection is taking place in many newsrooms across the country. Two years may be a long time to sustain euphoria, but it is enough time to realize that freedom does not automatically bring about a professional and responsible press.

(Inter Press Service)

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