Armed Forces legislators regret media ban

JAKARTA (JP): Legislators from the Armed Forces on Saturday supported journalists' efforts to lift a media ban by saying that they will seek a congenial solution.

They also urged the journalists to file a law suit against the government.

The government closed down Tempo and two other news magazines last month for ignoring government warnings on news policy and operational management.

Delegate Toriq Hadad, Jakarta bureau chief of Tempo, quoted Maj. Gen. Suparman of the House of Representatives (DPR), as saying that the Armed Forces faction will lobby the authorities to find a way out of the controversy.

"It's completely different from the cold response that we got from Golkar," said one delegate, referring to the hearing on the same day between around 50 Tempo journalists and the ruling Golkar faction.

Golkar is the government party whose chairman is Minister of Information Harmoko.

"Suparman has given us new hope. He shares our concern too," said Bambang Harymurti, a Tempo correspondent, who headed the delegation.

Debate

The hearing with the Golkar faction, however, turned into a heated debate as legislator Abu Hasan Sazili said that the media ban was in line with the law, referring to Press Act No. 21/1982 as well as the Information Minister's decree No. 1/1984.

The newsmen said that up to date they have never known the real reason behind the Tempo ban, adding that the magazine had never had any serious problem regarding its coverage of the tribal people of Sasak on Lombok Island and the Dayaks of Kalimantan, as well as its cartoon about the land controversy.

Harmoko had earlier told DPR members that Tempo had insulted the feelings of those people, which later prompted the government to close down the magazine.

Prior to Saturday's meetings, Tempo journalists had met with legislators of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) and the United Development Party (PPP).

Meanwhile, Wahono, the DPR speaker, said in a plenary session on Saturday that the government and the press should have 'similar perceptions' on the concept of a free and responsible press.

"In the era of openness, a press ban is a regrettable action," Wahono said, without specifying whether DPR would take any steps regarding the ban. (B09)