Hundreds protest

Hundreds protest
against press bans

JAKARTA (JP): Hundreds of journalists and employees of three
news magazines marched to the Ministry of Information yesterday,
demanding the government to lift the ban against their
publications.

The protesters, who also demanded a public apology from the
government for its decision to revoke the magazines' publishing
licenses, were joined by activists, members of the intellectual
community and students, bolstering their number to over 1,000.

The contingent from Tempo, one of the three weeklies that lost
its license early this week, was led by its chief editor Fikri
Jufri and Zulkifli Lubis, one of its directors. The other two
magazines affected by the ban are Editor and DeTIK.

Adnan Buyung Nasution, the prominent human rights lawyer, was
there again yesterday to lend his support. Buyung had led the
protest rally at the same place on Wednesday but at the time his
requests to meet with officials of the ministry were turned down.

In contrast with the time before, senior officials of the
ministry agreed to meet with the demonstrator's representatives.

Director General of Press and Graphics Subrata, who signed the
decree revoking the magazines' permits on behalf of Minister
Harmoko, met with about a dozen of the protest leaders, including
Buyung, legislator Sri Bintang Pamungkas, and lawyers Mulyana W.
Kusumah and H.J.C. Princen and representatives of the magazines.

Subrata assured the protest leaders that he would convey their
messages to higher authorities. He pointed out however that the
revocation of the license was in compliance with all procedures.

Ignorance

Tempo lost its license because it ignored repeated government
warnings about its reports in recent weeks, DeTIK was banned
because it had been reporting political events in contravention
of its permit as a criminal and detective magazine and Editor was
faulted because it had been managed by people other than those
stipulated in its permit.

The ban against the three weeklies has raised doubts among
some journalists, politicians and intellectuals about the
government's commitment towards political openness despite
official assurances that it will continue.

Yesterday more organizations, at home and abroad, joined in
condemning the ban. Besides Jakarta, there were also protests in
Bandung, Salatiga and Surabaya.

To the employees of the three magazines, the ban also touched
the bread and butter question. The jobs of 700 workers, including
journalists, are now on the line because the revocation of the
publishing licenses virtually means their closure.

In his first public comment since the ban, Minister of
Information Harmoko on Wednesday evening appealed to everyone to
think about it. "I won't make further comment at the moment.
Let's accept the fact and then look inside ourselves," he told
journalists after opening a meeting of activists of Golkar, which
he chairs.

There were brief skirmishes and scuffles between security
officers and the protesters during the demonstration in front of
the Ministry of Information office but they were quickly
overcome. There were no reports of injury.

While the proceedings where restrained, the anger and
frustration of the crowd spilled over into emotional outbursts.

Tense moment

The only tense moments came when the security forces, under
the guidance of Central Jakarta police Chief Dadang Kurnida,
decided at 10:45 that it was time to move the demonstrators
across the street into the nearby Monas park.

As the line of troops armed with riot shields and rattan canes
pushed into the crowd, 20 or 30 young demonstrators resisted,
screaming "this is a free country," and matters quickly
deteriorated into heated pushing and shoving.

In Bandung, the police blocked scores of protesting students
and journalists who wanted to march from the Bandung Islamic
University to the provincial legislative council.

The security forces seized dozens of posters that the
demonstrators unfurled as they staged a sit-in under the watchful
eyes of security officers who demanded a permit for the protest.

Like their colleagues elsewhere, they demanded that the
government cancel its decision to close the journals, charging
that it was meant to kill democracy.

In Salatiga, some 300 students and prominent intellectuals of
the Satya Wacana Christian University staged a rally.

Addressing the crowd were outspoken intellectuals like George
Aditjondro, Nico L. Kana, Arief Budiman, Ariel Heryanto. All
condemned the closing down of the newspapers.

They said the government should have resorted to legal
procedures if it believed that the newspapers had violated any
law as it charged. "The closure of the publications means that
the government leaves many innocent people, from the journalists
to delivery boys, to live in misery."

Condemnation also came from the New York-based human rights
organization, Human Rights Watch/Asia, which called the clampdown
on the press a violation of freedom of expression.

"By this action, the Indonesian government has not only
effectively killed three of the most widely read and courageous
publications in the country; it has also killed its own
carefully-constructed image of openness," said Sydney Jones,
executive director of Human Rights Watch/Asia. (pan/09/dmy/pet)