President rebukes careless media<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): President Abdurrahman Wahid reiterated on
\nWednesday his full commitment to a free press, but rebuked some
\nmedia for abusing the country's new freedom.<\/p>\n
\"We need freedom, but freedom should go hand in hand with the
\nability to use it wisely,\" Abdurrahman said in his address to 100
\nSoutheast Asian journalists at Bina Graha presidential office.<\/p>\n
Abdurrahman's speech marked the opening of a conference on
\nfreedom of the press held to commemorate World Press Freedom Day
\nwhich falls on May 3.<\/p>\n
He said that \"in the past months, we, Indonesia, have
\ndeveloped a trend of investigating everything and spending our
\nenergy on so many activities unnecessarily while forgetting the
\nessential things (that need) to be monitored.\"<\/p>\n
Abdurrahman said that developing professionalism and ethics
\nmust be carried out by the press themselves.<\/p>\n
\"The government has no right to decide what is good and what
\nis good not for the press ... it is up to the press to make those
\ndecisions,\" Gus Dur, as the President is popularly called, said.<\/p>\n
\"That's why it is understandable why we abolished the
\ninformation ministry despite protests against the decision,\" he
\nadded.<\/p>\n
Gus Dur abolished the ministry days after he was elected in
\nOctober saying that the decision was part of the government's
\neffort to streamline and create a clean bureaucracy.<\/p>\n
In the past, the ministry became one of the institutions most
\nfeared by journalists and media.<\/p>\n
Scores of newspapers and magazines were closed and hundreds of
\njournalists and others employed in the media lost their jobs for
\nnot toeing the government line.<\/p>\n
The publication of reports or articles the authorities deemed
\ndisruptive, rebellious or subversive -- and thus \"harmful to the
\nnation\" -- was a virtual death sentence for media.<\/p>\n
A system of mandatory licensing, which has also been abolished
\nby the new government, further added to the ministry's power and
\nopened opportunities for corruption, collusion and nepotism.
\n(byg)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/president-rebukes-careless-media-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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