Enhancing the press role

Enhancing the press role

Recent developments strike rather a disheartening note with
regards the weakening role of the media in Southeast Asia,
particularly in Indonesia. An article written by a correspondent
for the Deutsche Presse Agentur (DPA) in Bangkok and carried in
this newspaper on Friday, Feb. 27, p.3 under the headline:
Freedom of the press under strong pressure in Southeast Asia,
effectively delineated the background for those fears. The lead
paragraph encapsulates the problem as we perceive it. The DPA
journalist writes: "Freedom of the press, which flowered in
Southeast Asian nations in the 1990s, now appears to be withering
under pressure from authoritarian governments, corrupt judges and
corporate interference ..."

Most probably, in the case of Indonesia, part of the problem
is caused by the euphoria that was created when President B.J.
Habibie's government, with a stroke of the pen in 1999 abrogated
the regulations that hampered the freedom of the press. The very
restrictive regulation decreed by the government of President
Soeharto that an official license was needed to publish a
magazine or newspaper was suddenly removed.

As President Habibie's minister of information, Lt. Gen. Yunus
Yosfiah, a professional soldier with extensive combat experience
in East Timor, said at the time: "If you want to publish a
newspaper or a magazine tomorrow, go right ahead and don't bother
to ask for a license from my department." It just shows that an
army officer, a veteran of the East Timor armed conflict, can
also turn out to be a democrat.

Looking back, that sudden freedom that the Indonesian press
enjoyed, which consisted not only of the abolition of the license
requirement, but also the freedom to write and to disseminate
news, sort of caught the Indonesian media unprepared. Apparently,
President Habibie's government assumed that with the termination
of the requirement, it had done the public a service and
established democracy overnight.

As it turned out, with new publications emerging like
mushrooms after a rainstorm and television stations burgeoning,
the demand for experienced reporters, sub-editors and editors
specializing in a variety of subjects rose considerably, while at
the same time the supply was extremely limited. One simply does
not produce a good journalist overnight.

In the meantime, the reform movement was creating a situation
in which the legal institutions did not perform effectively and
some business corporations in their greed for instant profits
openly violated laws and regulations, often with the support, it
seemed, of some highly placed officials.

Thus, an unavoidable collision course was set in motion
between an aggressive media that was testing the scope of its
newly found freedom, and the forces that were out to benefit from
the weakened government and legal institutions. The recent case
of the prominent businessman Tomy Winata, who filed several
lawsuits against the Tempo publishing group, reveals the
fragility of Indonesian media organizations.

Unless the role of the Indonesian press can be strengthened
and improved within a relatively short time, it will be difficult
to expect that democracy in this country will experience a
healthy if gradual development in the not too distant future. The
role of a professionally competent press that is also strong in
the business sense is essential for the development of political
democracy and good governance in Indonesia. As a recent
conference in Jakarta, organized by the United Nations Support
Facility for Indonesian Recovery (UNSFIR) shows, the range of
problems faced by Indonesia since 1998 are indeed complex and
extensive. By organizing the conference on the theme: Lessons
from the Indonesian Transition -- Setting a Future Reform Agenda,
UNSFIR, headed by Dr. Satish Mishra, has provided a sort of road
map that is very helpful for the Indonesian media in focusing its
attention on a number of strategic issues.

The urgent question we are facing is: What program can be
designed and executed to enhance the role of the press so that it
can become a relevant force in the growth of a democratic
Indonesia with good governance? A number of international
organizations have already shown an interest in helping to push
the development of the Indonesian press forward. It seems that
what is needed is a comprehensive program combining what is
currently being done, and an extension of programs with adequate
funding in order to achieve a respectable and sustainable
progress.

First, a survey needs to be prepared to determine what can be
done in the short term. Obviously, existing journalism schools
and training institutions, the number of which does not exceed
five, need to be given assistance. They need effective help in
improving their curricula and in finding experienced instructors,
increasing their operational funds and expanding their libraries.
Further, workshops of at least two weeks should be held in a
number of areas in Indonesia in order to enhance the competence
of journalists in both the print and electronic media in a
relatively short time. What seems to be most important is the
devising of some sort of legal mechanism that would protect the
Indonesian media from undue harassment and threats.

Since obviously we cannot expect international organizations
to directly manage the program, perhaps a new indigenous
institution led by a respected media leader such as Jakob Oetama
of the Kompas Group would be appropriate to lead it.
That institution could then prompt international organizations to
provide assistance in various forms and to put together a
realistic and effective program.

We should seriously strive to develop a media in Indonesia
that competently focuses its efforts on a number of strategic
issues in the coming five years, so that political democracy and
social justice through good governance can be achieved.