Infomation minister ponders new ways to rein in media

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

State Minister for Communications and Information Syamsul Muarif raised the specter of a return to press censorship on Friday by suggesting that he was considering ways of reining in the press, which he described as being "out of control."

Briefing journalists in the same room that was often used in the past by government and military officials to bully the press into submission, Syamsul assured the audience that the government would continue to protect the freedom of the media.

He said that members of the House of Representatives had complained to him that the press had gone overboard in exploiting its freedoms, and suggested that the government should again adopt some form of controlling role to prevent further abuses.

When President Megawati Soekarnoputri decided to include the Office of the State Minister for Communications and Information in her Cabinet in August, many feared the return of the Ministry of Information, the government organ that suppressed press freedoms during the regime of President Soeharto.

The ministry was disbanded by President Abdurrahman Wahid upon taking office in October 1999. In its place, the government has set up the National Information Agency (LIN), whose task is limited to disseminating information on behalf of the government.

Ignoring advice from many media executives, Syamsul decided to set up his office in the building that once housed the Ministry of Information on Jl. Medan Merdeka Barat.

"Let's all put the past behind us," he told journalists during the briefing, which was designed to present the vision and mission of his office to the public for the first time.

Kompas chief editor Tommy Suryopratomo took exception to Syamsul's suggestion that the press had been completely out of control during the current era of media freedom.

"When you talk about an out-of-control press, you should identify the offenders. There are plenty of good press outlets around, and they should not be made to suffer just because you want to bring the errant press under control," he said.

Tommy said, however, that he was quite reassured by Syamsul's pledge to protect the freedom of the press.

The press in Indonesia has enjoyed unprecedented freedom since the downfall of the Soeharto regime in May 1998.

This freedom was given legitimacy by the enactment of a new and very liberal press law in 1999.

During the Soeharto regime, the press was controlled through a licensing mechanism that allowed the government, through the Ministry of Information, to revoke press licenses.

Several newspapers and magazines critical of the regime lost their licenses and were forced to close down.

One of these was Tempo magazine, which closed in 1994. It has since returned to take advantage of the more liberal environment.

The press, however, has come under considerable public criticism of late for abusing its virtually unlimited freedoms.

While the 1999 Press Law and the criminal code have provisions allowing members of the public to sue the press for pornography or slander, prosecutions have been rare and convictions even rarer.

Powerful officials and organizations with a bone to pick have resorted to intimidation and violence to settle scores with the press rather than using proper legal channels.

Syamsul this month disclosed that his office was drafting a number of regulations and guidelines to help prosecutors and judges handle cases involving violations of the 1999 Press Law.

Syamsul unveiled his plan to establish a "Country Information Officer" position within his office, to coordinate all information about the government and the Cabinet.

He cited the confusion over President Megawati's plan to halt the corruption investigation into former president Soeharto as an example of where such an officer could play a useful role.

In the absence of an official Cabinet spokesman, each minister has had to explain his or her own policies and views. At times, their explanations have contradicted one another, as in the case of Megawati's stance on the Soeharto case.

Syamsul, stressing that his office would be restricted to drafting concepts for the regulatory framework and not enforcement, said the government would soon submit bills regulating cyberlaw and electronic transactions.

His office was also drafting bills on access to information and broadcasting.