Corrections from Atmakusumah

Corrections from Atmakusumah

I am writing this letter to correct some misquotes that
appeared in the article Press freedom 'still under threat' (The
Jakarta Post, July 23, 2002, page 20). The article was apparently
based on an interview with me, which was conducted by your
correspondent in Palu, Central Sulawesi.

1) I began writing for the media while attending junior high
school in Jakarta (not in Medan, North Sumatra). My articles were
then printed in, among others, the Medan-based weekly magazine
Waktu.

2) It is not the Raymond Magsaysay award, but the Ramon Magsaysay
award. Muhtar Lubis is spelled Mochtar Lubis. Djafar Assegaf is
spelled Dja'far Husin Assegaff.

3) The article says: "Lubis and several others in the media were
brought to court, while Atmakusumah and 14 other journalists were
blacklisted." Mochtar Lubis, the publisher and editor-in-chief of
the daily Indonesia Raya, and his deputy editor-in-chief Enggak
Baha'uddin were imprisoned for several months without a trial.
Following the ban of the daily and weekly newspapers and one news
magazine in the aftermath of the "Malari" (January catastrophe)
affairs in January 1974, fourteen journalists, including Lubis,
Baha'uddin and myself, were blacklisted by the New Order
government.

4) Dja'far H. Assegaff was named Indonesia's ambassador to Hanoi
in 1994, not 1999. He was then succeeded by Jakob Oetama as
director of the Soetomo Press Institute (LPDS) and me as LPDS
executive director.

ATMAKUSUMAH ASTRAATMADJA, Jakarta