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)