Governor urges press to think positively
Governor urges press to think positively
JAKARTA (JP): Governor Surjadi Soedirdja has urged journalists to think positive, to help create better journalism from which the people can get information about city administration programs without creating negative presumptions.
"If journalists develop a negative way of thinking then everything will appear from that side and it is easy to carry out this kind of journalism because nobody is perfect," he said.
Governor Surjadi asked journalists to adopt positive ways of thinking to enable themselves to see the real benefit of city administration policies.
The governor said over the weekend that there are many parties who judged the city's policies in relocating street vendors and sending beggars back to their hometowns as inhumane.
Surjadi said the policies are aimed mainly at giving them a better future, but they often appeared as inhumane as a result of sensational journalism, Antara reported.
In his speech during the celebration of the 1995 National Press Day in the Rawa Badak Subdistrict, North Jakarta, the governor said the city administration needs the help of the press to encourage the public's participation in development by giving them positive, balanced and objective information, thereby enabling the public to see the benefits of the policies.
The city administration is becoming the target of repeated criticisms for its policies concerning beggars, street vendors, land appropriation and squatters, policies considered as cruel and heartless.
The strongest criticism erupted in September last year when hundreds of security officers were deployed to help clear the former fire site of Bendungan Hilir slum area of squatters who were refusing to leave the area, to pave way for the construction of low-cost apartments.
On Thursday another city policy was tested by 63 sidewalk vendors operating along Jl. Matraman Raya in Jatinegara area, East Jakarta.
They went to the headquarters of the National Commission on Human Rights to complain about the city administration plan to expel them from the area because the mayoralty intends to put potted plants along the sidewalks on which they are operating.
The conflicts of interest between the city administration and its people are often consumed by reporters, who then write it in a sensationalistic style to sell more papers.
Despite its negative side the press' positive role in supporting city programs was hailed by South Jakarta Mayor H. Pardjoko.
At the celebration on Friday evening he said that the press has played a magnificent role in helping the mayoralty promote cleanliness and orderliness in South Jakarta.
Mayor Pardjoko said that without the assistance of reporters the development process would not be noticed by the people, Antara reported on Saturday.
The celebration of the 1995 press day was celebrated by the Jakarta office of the Indonesian Journalist Association with various festivities such as free circumcisions, blood donations, medical check-ups and a mass wedding.
In South Jakarta, Mayor Pardjoko held a variety of shows at the mayoralty office with noted artists, such as Swari Arizona, Lusiana Purnomo, Vivi Effendi, Yulia Yasmin, Niken, Eka Savitri and comedian Edi Gombloh. (mas)