Emerging fears of press control

Emerging fears of press control

Kornelius Purba, Paris

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's serious consideration of
the empowerment of the Office of the State Minister of
Communications and Information has raised concerns among many
parties, particularly the press.

The timing of the President's decision to put state-owned
telecommunications industries under the state minister's office,
which was coincidentally around National Press Day on Feb. 8, has
fueled further speculation as to the President's real agenda.

Reports have been made that the President has reversed his
position on the state minister's office. However, it is not
unusual for the government to retract a controversial plan due to
public pressure, but press ahead with it at a later date, when
the public has forgotten the issue.

Is Susilo's plan purely aimed at the acceleration of the
development of the country's information technology, as his aides
insist, or does it reach beyond the official statement? If IT
development acceleration is the only reason, why was the industry
not put under the Office of the State Minister of Research and
Technology? It is certainly possible that the President is
sincere about empowering the communications and information
office, but if the behavior of previous governments is any
indication, it is not out of the question that in the future the
government could be tempted to use the office as a powerful tool
against opposition to it.

The fact that State Minister of Communications and Information
Sofyan A. Djalil belongs to the President's inner circle only
adds to the suspicion. Financial reasons for the decision have
also been cited, because the blue-chip companies have reportedly
become cash cows for political parties. And, the President needs
funding resources other than the state budget.

Before the decision, companies such as PT Telkom were
technically under the auspices of the Ministry of Transportation,
but administratively also under the Office of the State Minister
of State Enterprises. Many parties, particularly the media --
both print and electronic -- worry that the government is really
after more effective control of the media, which continues to be
hostile against the government. Perhaps such a fear is unfounded,
but we should never forget that under Soeharto, until his fall in
1998, the information ministry was an effective tool for the
oppression of criticism against the government.

The country's third president, Abdurrahman Wahid, scrapped the
information ministry in 1999. His successor Megawati
Soekarnoputri revived it in 2001, although with much less power.
Since then, from time to time, efforts have been made by the
government to strengthen the ministry. During the Soeharto era,
the government and inner circles of power used violence and
threats to silence or intimidate the press, now they use legal
means against the media. With our corrupt judicial system, that
lawsuits can be settled without the interference of money, is
more often than not just a hope.

Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and a string of deadly
terror attacks in Indonesia, western countries, notably the
United States and Australia, have reportedly been sharing
sophisticated antiterror equipment with the Indonesian police,
including the technology to cut in on telephone wires and even
Internet communications to get information on suspected
terrorists.

An employee of a multi-national company recently disclosed the
company's fear that police may have tapped the company's
communications lines, including the cellular phones of its
executives. When they held meetings, it became standard procedure
for executives to not only switch off their cell phones, but pull
out the cell phone's batteries to prevent tapping. Perhaps the
allegation is baseless, but it is difficult for the police to
shake off their bad reputation for power abuse.

Some telecommunications experts who attended the Alcatel Forum
2005 confirmed that it is common practice -- even protected by
the law -- for many governments to intercept telecommunications
traffic if they feel it urgent, especially in regards to national
security issues.

"It is a quite common practice (to tap telephone
conversations), and the governments are protected by the law,"
said Brian Witt, an Alcatel expert, when asked by The Jakarta
Post about such practices on Tuesday.

Any democratic country requires a free and professional media.
Because Indonesia's media has only really enjoyed press freedom
in the last seven years, the media has also been guilty of
abusing its newfound freedom. The fast growth of the media
industry has not been in accordance with the professional human
resources available. Not only government officials but ordinary
people have had cause to be unhappy with what has been reported
by a media that thinks the truth "belongs to them". Reporting
fact and slander has at times been confused. However, rather than
cracking down on such practices, we need to help the media to
develop and prosper.

Likewise, we should wholeheartedly support efforts to develop
our IT industry as we are lagging far behind our neighbors like
Malaysia and Thailand.

Paranoia is not healthy, but there is nothing wrong with
keeping in mind Soeharto's brutal treatment of the press as we
witness contemporary developments. After all, history tends to
repeat itself.

The author is a staff writer of The Jakarta Post.