'Media self-censorship is essential'<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian media should develop a self-
\nregulatory mechanism to control articles and news programs,
\nMinister of Transportation and Telecommunications Agum Gumelar
\nsaid on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\"We are in the sensitive transitional period from a difficult
\nera of the New Order regime to the reform era, which offers
\ntransparency, democracy and the protection of people's basic
\nrights and dignity,\" Agum told a conference on Reconciliation and
\nthe Role of the Media.<\/p>\n
\"Not every country could cope with this transitional period.
\nIt is the press, as the opinion maker, which has the ability to
\nlead the country in a certain direction.\"<\/p>\n
Other conference speakers were chief editor of Media Indonesia
\ndaily Djaffar Husin Assegaf, M. Taufik of the Indonesian
\nAssociation of Private Radio Broadcasters (PRSSNI), and Asiaweek
\nsenior reporter Keith Loveard.<\/p>\n
Agum said the reform era had given Indonesia's media full
\nfreedom, outside government control.<\/p>\n
\"The obligation to control is on the press itself.<\/p>\n
\"If the press fail to develop self censorship...in which they
\ncannot differentiate which issues should be publicized and which
\nshould not...they have the potential to commit rights abuses.\"<\/p>\n
Such abuses did not only take the form of physical threats,
\nbut also slanderous articles, incorrect writing or misleading
\nopinion, Agum said.<\/p>\n
The press must also focus on helping to reduce the nationwide
\ncommunal clashes and ethnic conflicts.<\/p>\n
\"I regretted a picture showing a man of a certain ethnicity
\nholding a severed head during the communal clashes in Sampit,
\nCentral Kalimantan,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"How could our press lose their conscience?\"<\/p>\n
Commenting on a warning issued by North Maluku Governor Muhyi
\nEffendie to two private television stations, RCTI and TPI, Agum
\nsaid the governor had spoken in his capacity as the civil
\nemergency authority.<\/p>\n
\"I don't know exactly what has been happening there, but I
\nguess he (the governor) is only doing his job,\" Agum said.<\/p>\n
Antara reported earlier that RCTI and TPI had been warned by
\nMuhyi over their reports, which were said to have inflamed
\nopinion in North Maluku, although security conditions had since
\nreturned to normal.<\/p>\n
Besides RCTI and TPI, the governor also warned local print
\nmedia the Ternate Pos weekly, Mimbar Kieraha daily and Fokus
\nweekly.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Keith Loveard said the press in Britain and the
\nUnited States had \"a gentleman's agreement\" in dealing with
\nsensitive issues.<\/p>\n
\"We, journalists, will only refrain from reporting news if it
\nthreatens the safety of the nation.<\/p>\n
\"I guess this 'gentleman's agreement' is acceptable for local
\njournalists here,\" Keith said.<\/p>\n
Djaffar Assegaf proposed that the Press Council be given the
\npower to issue rulings and impose sanctions against press that
\ncommitted violations.<\/p>\n
\"By empowering the press council, we can take control over the
\npress,\" Djaffar said.<\/p>\n
\"The council also must seriously respond to every complaint
\nfiled by the public, and the complaints must be made public.\"
\n(02)<\/p>",
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