Former governor, CEO get journalism award
A. Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Indonesian Journalists Association (PWI) conferred on Thursday the Pena Mas award on former Jakarta Governor Ali Sadikin, the chief executive officer of giant noodle producer PT Indofood Sukses, Makmur Eva Riyanti Hutapea, and the late television journalist Sory Ersa Siregar.
PWI chairman Tarman Azzam said that the association's highest award was given to those who contributed to the development of the national press.
"The award is also a prestigious honor for the recipient," Tarman said when presenting the awards here on Thursday.
He said Ali had been recognized for his close relations with journalists, including his role in providing an office for the PWI's Jakarta chapter.
Eva, on the other hand, was honored because of her admission that journalists had helped turnaround Indofood from suffering a loss in 1997 during the economic crisis to making a profit the following year.
"Meanwhile, Ersa must be honored because of his commitment to his journalistic work until he was killed while being held hostage by the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) last year," Tarman said.
Ali said that besides providing an office for the PWI's Jakarta chapter, he had also provided many other benefits for journalists, such as housing complexes for journalists in Cempaka Putih, Central Jakarta, and Kebon Nanas in East Jakarta, as well as free tickets to Ancol Dreamland and massage parlors. He did not say, however, whether the provision of these benefits could be considered as attempts to influence the journalists concerned, as they would be in most countries around the world.
However, Ali regretted the PWI's stance regarding the ongoing legal disputes between Tempo magazine and Koran Tempo daily on the one hand, and businessman Tomy Winata on the other.
"Why have you paid so little attention to these Tempo cases. We all know who Tomy Winata is," Ali said
The South Jakarta District Court ordered Koran Tempo to pay damages of US$1 million to Tomy for defamation.
In addition, three Tempo journalists, including its chief editor, Bambang Harimurti, are being tried by the Central Jakarta District Court on charges of defaming the businessman.
Meanwhile, Eva said that she had at first been wary of journalists following allegations of poisoning leveled against her company by the Sriwijaya Post in Palembang, South Sumatra, six years ago.
"But with the help of senior journalists Sofjan Lubis and August Parengkuan, as well as meetings with the Sriwijaya Post' management, we managed to solve the problem. Since then, I've always listened to what journalists have to say," Eva said.
The Pena Mas award is designed to honor people, especially journalists, who have contributed their lives to the development of the profession. The first award was given in 1976 to former PWI chairman Soemanang.
In keeping with the New Order spirit of sycophancy, the award was later mostly conferred on government officials. Maj. Gen. (ret) Harsono, the former secretary-general of the now defunct Ministry of Information, and 20 governors received the award in the following years.
Since 1976, only four journalists have actually been conferred with the award, namely Soemanang, another former PWI chairman, Rosihan Anwar, the late Muhammad "Udin" Syafruddin and the late Ersa.