Information ministry meets resistance

Information ministry meets resistance

JAKARTA (JP): The establishment of the State Ministry for
Communication and Information was met with antagonism from
activists despite assurances from the new minister that the
institution will not exercise censorship.

Syamsul Mu'arif, the new state minister, said on Thursday that
the new institution would not be modeled on the New Order
regime's information ministry, which controlled the media.

"I have no intention to hamper the free flow of information in
this era of reformation," he told journalists.

The authority of the new institution has yet to be stipulated
in a presidential decree. But Syamsul, a Golkar politician,
pledged he would "befriend" members of the media.

The new communication and information ministry holds no
portfolio and its authority is largely confined to giving policy
advice to the President and other institutions.

The Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) voiced strong
objections, saying that the state ministry was "unnecessary".

Information on government activities can be handled by the
public relations department which exists in every major
government office, AJI secretary-general Didik Supriyanto said.

"Or, if dissemination of information is what the government
wants, it can activate the National Information Agency (LIN) set
up by the then president Abdurrahman Wahid," he said.

Abdurrahman's move to kill the despised information ministry,
whose authority included revoking media licenses, won huge praise
from all quarters.

"Reviving an institution which bears resemblance to the
information ministry is antidemocratic, antireform and
unproductive," Didik said.

Objection to the newly established state ministry also came
from the Indonesian Journalists Association (PWI), the only
journalist organization recognized by the New Order regime.

PWI chairman Tarman Azzam told Antara that he could accept the
idea of having an institution overseeing information but the
government should not meddle in the freedom of the media.

"The law on the press frowns on government intervention," he
said.

On Wednesday a coalition of non-governmental organizations
demanded that the new administration honor its promise to retain
the freedom of expression that Indonesian rediscovered after the
fall of the New Order government. (07/bby/pan)