Government sticks to its guns on licensing reporters<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The government's offer to subsidize newsprint
\nfor cash-strapped newspapers and magazines apparently comes with
\na catch: the presence of a professional body which controls
\njournalists by accreditation.<\/p>\n
While newspaper editors and publishers have hardly batted an
\neyelid, mass communications experts said yesterday that the move
\nwas an attempt by President B.J. Habibie to curb press freedom.<\/p>\n
Ashadi Siregar of Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta said
\nthe gesture \"signaled the return of a fascist spirit in the
\ngovernment.\"<\/p>\n
\"It is clearly aimed at restricting the freedom of the press,\"
\nAshadi, who heads the Institute of Research, Education and
\nPublication, told The Jakarta Post by phone.<\/p>\n
He said he was puzzled that the government had devised such a
\nscheme during this era of reformation.<\/p>\n
\"Whether a journalist is professional or not should be decided
\nby their own media institutions,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Habibie first proposed the use of a licensing system for
\njournalists as a means to promote and ensure professionalism
\nduring a meeting with newspaper publishers last week.<\/p>\n
The secretary-general of the Association of Indonesian
\nJournalists (PWI), Parni Hadi, who related Habibie's plan after
\nthe meeting, said the President had likened journalism to the
\nmedical profession, where a doctor must have a license to
\npractice.<\/p>\n
On Monday, Minister of Trade and Industry Rahardi Ramelan took
\nHabibie's plan one step further by tying it to the government's
\noffer to waive the 15 percent value added tax on newsprint to
\nassist newspapers and magazines, Kompas reported yesterday.<\/p>\n
The price of locally produced newsprint is set in dollars
\nbecause it uses imported recycled newspaper as a raw material.
\nIts price has tripled in rupiah terms in tandem with the falling
\nvalue of the Indonesian currency over the past year.<\/p>\n
With advertising revenues also plunging, most publishers have
\nmade drastic cuts to try to survive the economic crisis.<\/p>\n
Goenawan Mohamad, the director of the Institute for Studies on
\nthe Free Flow of Information, called the government's proposal to
\nlicense journalists \"pathetic\" and \"a major set back\".<\/p>\n
\"Journalists don't run private practices like doctors. They
\nwork for a newspaper, a radio station or television. Editors are
\nresponsible for the quality of journalists,\" Goenawan said.<\/p>\n
\"Journalism is an open profession, and people with different
\neducational backgrounds can become journalists. It is not like
\ndoctors who must go to a medical school to qualify,\" he added.<\/p>\n
Goenawan was editor of Tempo news magazine which lost its
\npublishing license in 1994 after reporting on a row between
\nHabibie, then state minister of research and technology, and
\nformer minister of finance Mar'ie Muhammad over the escalating
\ncost of purchasing secondhand warships from Germany.<\/p>\n
Tempo has now been given a new license by Habibie's government
\nand is scheduled to reappear in the next few months.<\/p>\n
M. Budyatna, a mass communications expert from University of
\nIndonesia, warned that the licensing mechanism was open to
\ngovernment manipulation.<\/p>\n
The agency entrusted with the accreditation could be very
\nsubjective, he said. \"The government should leave market forces
\nto determine the professionalism of journalists,\" he added. (byg)<\/p>",
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