Gus Dur reprimands 'Jawa Post'
Gus Dur reprimands 'Jawa Post'
JAKARTA (JP): President Abdurrahman Wahid blasted on Monday
the Jawa Pos daily for erroneously reporting alleged corruption
by Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and charged that it was part of an
attempt to topple his government.
"I know that this is part of a conspiracy to topple and
discredit the government before (the General Session of the
People's Consultative Assembly) in August ... and unfortunately
Jawa Pos has been going along with it," Abdurrahman said during a
media briefing at Bina Graha presidential office on Monday night.
He said the reports were "unacceptable" and admitted that he
had "phoned friends" on Saturday calling on them to stop NU
civilian Banser guards from "going too far" in their protest
against the newspaper.
Abdurrahman even said that despite a front-page apology from
Jawa Pos on Monday, both himself and NU, which he chaired for
more than 15 years, could still file a lawsuit against the
newspaper at any time.
"I am sorry to say that if we are not satisfied, we can file a
lawsuit against them," he said adding that the newspaper had
"smeared" his name.
But he was quick to add that he had nothing against media
criticism as long as reports were "honest" and had "no bad
intentions" against the government.
The controversy erupted when Jawa Pos in its Saturday edition
quoted Tempo magazine which alleged that NU chairman Hasyim
Muzadi received Rp 35 billion (US$4.37million) from the State
Logistics Agency (Bulog).
However, the daily neglected to recheck its information as
Tempo on May 3 sent a personal letter signed by executive editor
Toriq Hadad to Hasyim apologizing and admitting that it made a
mistake.
The magazine said it had wrongly written Hasyim's name instead
of Hasyim Wahid, Abdurrahman's brother.
On Saturday afternoon, several Banser members went to the Jawa
Pos office in Surabaya, East Java, demanding to meet the daily's
general manager, Dahlan Iskan, to present a letter of protest
from Hasyim Muzadi.
But Dahlan at the time was in Surakarta, Central Java, and by
evening more Banser guards had descended on the daily's office.
While the source of the erroneous report was Tempo,
Abdurrahman was forgiving of the magazine on Monday.
"Jawa Pos has violated all journalistic codes of ethics. Why?
Because Tempo printed an apology, but Jawa Pos reprinted it as if
I was really guilty," he said.
The President, however, neglected to mention that Tempo's
apology was only printed in its May 8 edition, two days after
Jawa Pos quoted the magazine.
Outburst
Prior to Abdurrahman's Monday night outburst, comments from
Jawa Pos and NU officials indicated a conciliatory tone,
especially as the daily began the first of a week-long front page
apology.
The chairman of the Ansor Youth Movement, coordinator of NU's
Banser civilian guards, Saifullah Yusuf apologized for the
misconduct of some Banser members at the Jawa Pos office.
"To all Jawa Pos employees and reporters, I, chairman of
Ansor, apologize for making them feel threatened and worried,
just as Jawa Pos has apologized to us," Saifullah said here on
Monday.
He expressed concern over the action of Banser members in
Surabaya, East Java, who occupied the daily's office and caused
the loss of its Sunday's edition.
Jawa Pos managing editor Arief Affandi earlier said that the
daily was "occupied" by NU Banser members on Saturday night,
forcing the daily to cancel its Sunday edition.
But when contacted by The Jakarta Post by telephone on Monday,
Arief appeared to backtrack his account of events.
He said no equipment had been damaged at the office: "They did
not wreck a single thing".
Arief underlined that it was his own personal decision to
cancel Sunday's edition, because by 11 p.m. only six pages had
been completed by the editorial staff.
He said that some 30 Banser members were on the editorial
floor between 7:15 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.
"We were not allowed to work until they could meet Pak
Dahlan," Arief said.
"We also agreed to publish a quarter-page apology on the front
page for seven days in a row and build a mosque, along with
disciplinary action against the reporters who wrote the story,"
he added.
Separately, NU chairman Hasyim Muzadi was fuming on Monday
over reports that Banser guards occupied and damaged the daily's
office.
"The media reports have turned the facts around, it's all
untrue. No part of the building or equipment was damaged. Ansor
never forced them to cancel the edition," Hasyim said.
"It was also the decision of the daily to cancel the edition.
Actually, the boys (Banser guards) wanted them to run the Sunday
edition so they could publicly apologize in that edition," Hasyim
said, adding that Saturday's incident was purely spontaneous.
Reaction
Strong public reaction continued over the attack on Monday.
The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) in a
statement signed by chairman Djoko Soegianto and secretary-
general Asmara Nababan condemned the action of banser guards and
described it as a violation of human rights.
In Makassar, South Sulawesi, journalists grouped under the
Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) and the Joint Forum of
Makassar Journalists (Forbes) staged a protest to show solidarity
for their colleagues in East Java.
AJI official Suparno said Saturday's incident was a bad
precedent which could trigger further intimidation against
members of the media.
"Abdurrahman, as an NU patron, must teach his followers not to
be arrogant or use force to reach their goals," Suparno said.
Meanwhile, communications expert Astrid Susanto called on the
media to be wiser and to understand the psychology of the masses
to avoid public anger.
"We cannot expect the public, living in such a sick situation
like now, to obey the law," Astrid from the University of
Indonesia said on Monday. (dja/27/edt/jun/byg/prb)