Susilo needs the press more than his predecessors<\/p>\n
Ardimas Sasdi, Jakarta<\/p>\n
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's pledge on National Press
\nDay in Pekanbaru, Riau, on Feb. 9 not to curb press freedom
\ndeserves praise. The promise, if honored, will endear him to a
\npress that he needs to drum up highly necessary public support at
\nthis juncture of his rule.<\/p>\n
But time will tell whether his statement was the sincere
\ngesture of a statesman or just the political gimmick of a cunning
\nleader.<\/p>\n
I wrote a piece in The Jakarta Post two weeks ago urging the
\npress to put its house in order. The call was an expression of my
\nconcern about the fragility of the press in the face of such
\nissues as mob attacks on journalists and media offices, expensive
\nlawsuits and other troubling trends in the legal and political
\nspheres. If the media fails to heed these problems, they could
\ncurtail press freedom and the young democracy it promotes.<\/p>\n
The fresh threats include the drafting of draconian bills
\ntargeting the press, plans by the House of Representatives to
\nspeed up the deliberation of the bills and a move by the
\ngovernment to upgrade the status of the Office of the State
\nMinister for Communications and Information, a move being
\nmonitored by the press with apprehension.<\/p>\n
The question among journalists is whether these steps will
\ncontinue, and will they usher in an era of a controlled press
\nsimilar to the New Order era, when the information ministry acted
\nas a regulator of the media.<\/p>\n
The draft laws now being deliberated by the House consist of a
\nbill on pornography and a new criminal code. The pornography bill
\nregulates material that can be aired or printed by the media, but
\nthe quandary is that pornography for some is art to others. The
\nnew criminal code, which contains 40 clauses on the press, would
\ncriminalize libel and stipulates harsher punishments for press
\ninfractions.<\/p>\n
In contrast to the attention given by the executive and
\nlegislative branches to the two draft laws, as seen in their
\nspeedy deliberation, a bill on the Information Act, which would
\ngive people and the media more access to public information, has
\nbeen lying dormant in the legislature for a long time.<\/p>\n
Public apprehension about the future of a free press, which
\nevolved after the fall of strongman Soeharto in 1998, was
\ncompounded by an emotional outburst by President Susilo, a leader
\nportrayed as responsive, courteous and calm, and his ministers
\nover reports critical of the government.<\/p>\n
Susilo became furious earlier this month about a poll that
\nindicated his popularity was declining. There is great potential
\nfor Susilo's numbers to tumble if he fails to live up to the high
\nexpectations the people have placed on him to fix the problems
\nbesetting the country, though it would be unfair to put all of
\nthe blame on him.<\/p>\n
These turns of event have added fuel to speculation among the
\nalready suspicious press that the current government is just
\nanother regime that will not tolerate dissenting opinions and
\nwill use its power to muzzle the media if pushed against the
\nwall.<\/p>\n
The relationship between the government and the media in the
\nlast 40 years from Soeharto to Megawati Soekarnoputri, except
\nduring the transitional government of B.J. Habibie, who
\nliberalized the media industry in 1998, has been mostly gloomy,
\nwith the government exploiting the media through various devices.<\/p>\n
Soeharto built cozy ties with the press in the first seven
\nyears of his 32-year rule, but banned 10 publications after the
\nMalari riots in 1974. Soeharto continued to impose tight controls
\nover the press until his fall in 1998. Megawati, known as a
\nmedia-shy leader, received an outpouring of support from the
\npress during the initial stage of her presidency, but that
\nsupport plunged when she turned her back on the press.<\/p>\n
It is too early to predict whether history will repeat itself,
\nbut both Susilo and his predecessors initially received sympathy
\nand support from the press. The difference is that as a president
\ndirectly elected by the people, Susilo needs the press more than
\nhis predecessors, who were elected by the members of the People's
\nConsultative Assembly.<\/p>\n
The future of Susilo's government largely depends on the
\nmedia, which shapes public opinion about his government through
\neditorials, commentaries, news reports and polls -- a tool
\ncommonly used in democracies to gauge the popularity of a leader
\nor government. So it is puzzling to hear Susilo say, \"I don't
\ncare about my popularity.\"<\/p>\n
Interestingly, Susilo's outburst took place not long after a
\nvisit by State Minister for Communications and Information Sofyan
\nDjalil to two Jakarta-based media that had run reports critical
\nof the government. The visits were followed by an \"invitation\" to
\nmedia executives to meet with Susilo at the Presidential Palace.<\/p>\n
Both steps, especially the meeting, are problematic in view of
\ntheir appropriateness, as they could be interpreted by the media
\ncommunity as a form of pressure or intimidation. This conclusion
\nis not an exaggeration, as these visits and meeting had all the
\nhallmarks of briefings and meetings held by the defunct
\ninformation ministry and the military during the New Order
\nregime, where government officials gave media executives lists of
\nwhat they could and could not do.<\/p>\n
So rather than harassing the media with \"visits\" and
\n\"invitations\", the government must learn how to deal with the
\npress. The current government needs the media more than previous
\ngovernments as a tool to improve its image among the people, who
\nnow have a direct say in who leads the country.<\/p>\n
The author is a staff writer at The Jakarta Post.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/susilo-needs-the-press-more-than-his-predecessors-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }