Harmoko warns press of latent communist danger
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Information Harmoko warned the Indonesian press yesterday to remain leery of the latent danger of communism.
"The communists will continue trying to exert influence at every opportunity, including through the mass media," Harmoko insisted during a ceremony to hand out the annual "Upholders of Pancasila Press" awards.
The minister said the communists' favorite weapons include agitation, propaganda, creating intrigue, insinuation, slander and setting one side against another to exploit class struggles.
His remarks echoed warnings other officials have voiced in recent weeks. Minister/State Secretary Moerdiono, during a seminar last week, also said he had detected whiffs of communism in some recently published articles.
Harmoko was speaking before awarding nine journalists for their meritorious service in upholding the concept of the "Pancasila press".
Among this year's defenders of Pancasila award winners is former ambassador to Syria Chalid Mawardi, who was chief editor of the Duta Masyarakat daily newspaper. Chalid, who is also a member of the Supreme Advisory Council, is now on the editorial board of the Indonesia Times.
Other recipients include K. Nadha, a former journalist at Suara Indonesia and now the editor in chief of the Bali Post daily in Denpasar; H. Agil H. Ali, a former journalist at Kami and currently the chief editor of the Memorandum daily in Semarang; Soewarno, the assistant chief editor of the Suara Merdeka daily in Semarang; Benny Ishaq Yahya, a former journalist at the Selecta magazine in Jakarta.
Awards were also presented to D.S. Moeljanto, a former journalist at Merdeka who now works for Warnasari in Jakarta; Sjam Alamsjah, once a journalist at the Semesta daily and currently chief editor of the Sinar weekly in Jakarta; H. Nasrul Siddik, a former journalist at Res Publika and currently chief editor of the Canang weekly in Padang; and A. Moein M.G., formerly with the Mercusuar who is now the editor of the Makassar Press weekly in Ujung Pandang.
The award presentation was timed to coincide with Pancasila Sanctity Day on Oct. 1. The date was set aside to mark the survival of the state ideology after a coup attempt blamed on the Indonesian Communist Party on the night of Sept. 30, 1965.
The awards were given to journalists whose work has been recognized as strengthening Pancasila since the coup was thwarted by the military.
In related a development, Minister/State Secretary Moerdiono criticized Surabaya Mayor Sunarto Sumoprawiro yesterday for threatening to expel local reporters who allegedly besmirched Governor Basofi Sudirman's reputation.
Mayor Sunarto said on Friday he would "throw out" of the city any reporters who smeared the governor.
"Don't you dare write bad stuff, or I'll make you my enemies. I'll seek you out, I'll demolish your homes and turn them into parks," he was quoted by a number of newspapers as saying. He failed to specify what he meant by "bad reports".
"Don't you play games with me. I'm the one with power, whatever happens, I'd still win. I don't care if I have to lose my job, I'm only defending the governor," he continued.
"That's not a proper thing for an official to say," Moerdiono concluded. (swe)