Indonesian press squeezed between two interests: Hill<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): A strong combination of political connections
\nand business interests defines the Indonesian press as it is
\ntoday, a media analyst says.<\/p>\n
\"Today's print and electronic media are 'squeezed' between the
\ngovernment on one side and the interests of shareholders on the
\nother,\" said David T. Hill, a professor of Southeast Asian
\nStudies at Murdoch University, Perth.<\/p>\n
Speaking at a discussion here on Saturday with journalists and
\nmedia observers, the author of The Press in 'New Order' Indonesia
\n(1994) questioned the increasing role of shareholders in the
\nmedia industry and the likelihood of them gaining more control
\nover the media's news reports.<\/p>\n
Hill, whose article The Press in a Squeeze: Operating Hazards
\nin the Indonesian Print Media was recently published in the
\nSoutheast Asian Journal of Social Sciences, cited the Gatra and
\nTiras weeklies as consequences of the dilemma which the
\nIndonesian press have to face.<\/p>\n
Both magazines were established after the government revoked
\nthe publishing licenses, or SIUPP, of Tempo, DeTik and Editor, in
\nJune 1994 for \"editorial\" and \"administrative\" reasons.<\/p>\n
Gatra, which now employs a number of former Tempo journalists,
\nacquired its SIUPP less than three months ago after timber tycoon
\nMuhammad \"Bob\" Hasan injected substantial funds into the weekly.<\/p>\n
Tiras, which replaced Editor, started business again last
\nmonth after Minister of Manpower Abdul Latief, through his
\ncompany ALatief Corporation, bought shares in the new weekly.<\/p>\n
\"I think it is very difficult now to distinguish between the
\ninvestors and the power-holders because many investors have
\nbecome rich by having political connections,\" Hill said in
\nflawless Bahasa Indonesia.<\/p>\n
He pointed out that any person closely tied to the government
\nwho, at the same time, also does business in the media industry,
\n\"must be questioned\".<\/p>\n
\"The SIUPP has encouraged a conspiracy between investors and
\npoliticians in the establishment of a media industry,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Hill completed his Bachelor of Arts in Asian Studies at the
\nAustralian National University and wrote his thesis on Indonesian
\nliterature. He spent 1980-1982 in Indonesia doing his doctoral
\ndissertation on senior journalist and writer Mochtar Lubis.<\/p>\n
Risky<\/p>\n
Kastorius Sinaga, a business consultant and columnist, pointed
\nout that the oligarchical media industry, together with strict
\ngovernment regulations, makes it very risky for people to run in
\nthe business \"unless they have strong political access\".<\/p>\n
The expectation of the Indonesian public to see their
\naspirations expressed in the media have given way to the voice
\nand aspirations of government and big business, he said.<\/p>\n
Benny Harman from the Media Indonesia daily said that human
\ninterest stories, for instance, once reflected a journalist's
\ntrue ideals. Now such coverage is often commercially motivated,
\nresulting in an unreal picture of what is really going on in the
\ncountry.<\/p>\n
\"Most media reach only a very small, elite group of middle-
\nclass people...Outside this group is the rest of the middle-class
\nwho have a minimal interest in the goings-on of the country,\"
\nKastorius said.<\/p>\n
Mudji Sutrisno from the Driyarkara School of Philosophy
\nattributed this indifference to the fact that most middle-class
\npeople \"are too busy tending to their own personal needs and have
\nno time to deal with political issues\". Those who work for
\ngovernment institutions, however, \"are dependent on the
\ngovernment and therefore reluctant to say anything against it\".<\/p>\n
This, for example, was evidenced last year in the minimal
\nreaction of the middle class to the media ban, he said.<\/p>\n
\"This class is in something of a transitional stage and
\nbecause they are so involved in surviving, it forgets everything
\nelse. As such the media has not yet become an absolute
\nnecessity,\" Mudji said.<\/p>\n
Despite the pressure, he said, \"there is still a small number
\nof journalists who try to look for 'gaps' which allow them to
\ndevelop their creativity and stick to their ideals\". (pwn)<\/p>",
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