'Independence leaders upheld free speech'

'Independence leaders upheld free speech'

JAKARTA (JP): Though facing monumental armed and ideological
challenges, in the early years of independence Indonesian leaders
set great store by the values of freedom of expression and
freedom of the press, an American historian said yesterday.

George McTurnan Kahin recounted his experiences when he first
came to Indonesia in 1948 to do historical research. He arrived
barely three years after the proclamation of independence, with
Indonesia still battling the Netherlands' attempt to reimpose its
rule.

"I was impressed that a state with its back against the wall,
under the omnipresent threat of further Dutch attack, was willing
to countenance such freedom," 77-year-old Kahin said.

Kahin was speaking on the second day of an international
conference at the Indonesian Research Institute entitled "50
Years of National Revolution: Examination, Remembrance and
Reflection."

He recalled that at the time the government was also facing
various challenges within the young republic.

Observer

As a professor at the Center for Advanced Research on
Southeast Asia at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, Kahin
has done extensive work in this area and is one of Indonesia's
most respected observers.

In 1954 Kahin was the director of the Modern Indonesia Project
at Cornell which went on to become a model for similar research
institutes throughout the United States and Australia.

The Indonesian government honored Kahin's work with a medal in
1991.

Reminiscing about his experiences in Yogyakarta in 1948, Kahin
emphasized the way in which the Indonesian leaders at the time
preserved the right of free expression and freedom of the press
despite the multitude of difficulties they faced. "This openness
was something the leaders of the republic were proud of," he
said.

Kahin said that there were several newspapers at the time,
expressing the views of a number of political entities.

"I was struck by their freedom to criticize government
policies, which some did with great vigor," he said, adding that
the stifling atmosphere in the Dutch-controlled areas provided a
stark contrast.

"The press was remarkably outspoken, with a multitude of
newspapers representing a whole spectrum of parties and
ideologies," he said.

Goenawan

Another speaker, Goenawan Mohamad, the editor in chief of the
now-banned Tempo magazine, also said that during the days of the
revolutionary struggle writers were very experimental, producing
a great deal of alternative literature.

According to Kahin, the degree of freedom given also extended
to those were considered politically suspect.

He said Indonesian communist leader Musso had been permitted
to speak in public despite widespread misgivings about his
beliefs.

"Though the famous communist leader Musso returned to
Indonesia from the Soviet Union under a considerable cloud of
suspicion, the students were free to arrange for him to speak to
a massive crowd where admission was open to the public," he said.

Kahin said that government leaders he talked to "found the
exercise a healthy one", since they believed that public scrutiny
would expose the truth about Musso's position.(mds)