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)