General scolded by reporter

General scolded by reporter

JAKARTA (JP): An Army general complained yesterday that some
people are taking the country's flourishing state of democracy a
little too far.

Maj. Gen. (ret) Z.A. Maulani, a People's Consultative Assembly
member from the dominant Golkar faction, was annoyed by a
question asked in an "angry" tone by a journalist at a news
conference.

The reporter from an East Java-based morning daily said he
doubted the truth in the general's earlier claim that Indonesians
enjoyed much greater democracy now than they did five years ago.

"Now people can do things that they did not even imagine five
years ago," the general said.

Then came the fierce protest from the journalist, "But Sir,
what do you have to say about the continuing closure of print
media and the government-sanctioned destruction of the Indonesian
Democratic Party leadership under Megawati Soekarnoputri?"

The journalist did not stop protesting when the general, a
former Kalimantan regional military commander well-known for his
fiery look, shouted "Are you asking questions or getting angry
with me?"

Then Maulani replied that the journalist had only proved his
democracy comment was correct.

"It's only now that a general is scolded by a reporter," he
said, smiling. (pan)