Banned publications deserve reprieve: Emil

Banned publications deserve reprieve: Emil

JAKARTA (JP): Leading reform campaigner Emil Salim said
yesterday that the political openness required for reform should
be preceded by a respect for media freedoms.

Emil called on President B.J. Habibie to allow publications
closed down by former president Soeharto's regime to reopen.

"(Publications) such as Tempo, Editor and DeTik which won
their cases (against the government) in court, should of course
be allowed to publish again," Emil told reporters after he and
four other pro-reform activists met with Habibie at the Bina
Graha presidential office yesterday.

"They won in court. They should legally be allowed to publish
again," Emil said of the weeklies which were banned in 1994.

The employees of Tempo sued the Ministry of Information over
the banning of the magazine and won in the lower and higher
administrative courts in Jakarta. They lost their case in the
Supreme Court, much to the consternation of Indonesian
journalists.

The government banned the weeklies for administrative
violations as well as their "editorial content".

The public speculation, however, was that the publications
were muzzled because their reports offended certain parties in
the political elite, including Habibie, who, in his position as
state minister of research and technology, was in charge of a
much-criticized purchase of 39 used warships from Germany.

Journalists who lost their jobs and felt they were not
adequately protected by the official Association of Indonesian
Journalists (PWI) protested by establishing the Alliance of
Independent Journalists (AJI).

Yesterday, the alliance made a call for reform in the mass
media, demanding a cease to government meddling in the media and
a termination of censorship and bannings. They also urged the
government to lift its restriction that journalists may only
assemble in the sole, government-sanctioned PWI.

In addition, the alliance called for an end to regulations
constricting media freedoms, including a requirement for
publication licenses.

In a related development, the Yogyakarta PWI branch urged the
local police yesterday to open a fresh investigation into the
1996 murder of Bernas daily reporter Fuad Muhammad Syafruddin.

Masduki Atamimi said the PWI investigation team for the case
and the police could now "literally join hands" in revealing the
facts of the case. He said Bantul police chief Lt. Col. Yotje
Mende had called his team and asked for further information.

Fuad, better known as Udin, was attacked by a group of
unidentified men at his home in Bantul on August 13, 1996. He
died three days later in a hospital without regaining
consciousness.

Police, widely criticized for their dubious methods in the
investigation, charged Dwi Sumaji of killing the reporter, but he
was later acquitted. Many people believed Udin was killed because
of his critical reporting.

In Jakarta yesterday, National Police spokesman Brig. Gen.
Da'i Bachtiar said police were looking into new clues regarding
Udin's murder.

"We will continue to work on the case. We are calling on
people with information to come forward," he said.

"The police has received demands from journalists and PWI
chairman, Sofyan Lubis, to continue the investigation. Currently
we are running it, and hopefully we will gain a more informative
and transparent result," Da'i added. (swe/23/edt)