Govt supports PWI's sacking of reporters

Govt supports PWI's sacking of reporters

JAKARTA (JP): The government has backed a move by the Association of Indonesian Journalists (PWI) to sack 13 of its members for joining the unrecognized Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI).

Minister of Information Harmoko threatened on Saturday that the government would take action against mass media publications that employ AJI members.

"It is stated in the official press publication permit that the (licensed mainstream) media should employ only PWI members. It's crystal clear," the former PWI boss said after meeting with President Soeharto.

PWI, the only journalists organization that the government recognizes, sacked 13 of its members last week for challenging it when the government closed Tempo, Editor and DeTIK last year.

They, together with more than 50 others, signed the Sirnagalih Declaration in August that lead to the establishment of AJI. PWI officials are angered by the declaration because it contains a passage denying it has the right to be the sole organization of Indonesian journalists.

Most of those kicked out of the PWI were former Tempo journalists, including former chief editor Goenawan Mohamad and senior editor Fikri Jufri.

Other journalists who have had their names scratched from the list are from the influential newspapers Kompas and Bisnis Indonesia and one from the Jakarta-Jakarta monthly.

In a press statement signed by deputy chairman Tarman Azzam, PWI also urged all editors to dismiss journalists who become AJI members.

AJI is currently in trouble after ABRI security forces arrested three of its activists last week for publishing an underground magazine which is critical of the government.

Harmoko said that harsher punitive action may be taken against newspaper editors who employ AJI members on a contract basis.

Many former journalists from Tempo, who refuse to join the government-sanctioned substitute Gatra, are reportedly employed on a contract basis by a number of newspapers. (pan)