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)