Japanese press blasted

Japanese press blasted

JAKARTA (JP): An 82 year-old Japanese military veteran has
criticized his country's newspapers for overexposing riots in
Indonesia, saying the coverage may tarnish the Soeharto
government's image.

Shizuo Miyamoto, deputy president of Nihon Indonesia Kyokai
(the Indonesia-Japan Friendship Organization), said the culprits
were the major dailies Asahi Shimbun and Mainichi Shimbun.

Miyamoto accused the dailies of dramatizing the series of
riots that rocked Indonesia recently.

"The ugly reports on Indonesia in Japanese papers are then
blown up by the Japanese Communist Party which hates the New
Order government for its staunch anti-Communist stance," Miyamoto
said, as quoted by Antara yesterday.

Miyamoto, who was the commander of Japanese troops in Java
during World War II, said he was anti-Communist and claimed to
have good relations with two of Indonesia's founding fathers,
Sukarno and Moh. Hatta.

He said reports made by another Japanese paper, Yomiuri
Shimbun, were more neutral compared to the two.

Miyamoto said, he had sent a letter to Yomiuri Simbun in
appreciation of the paper's reports, which he said provided
balanced information and insight into the present situation in
Indonesia.

According to Miyamoto, successive riots rocking Indonesia
recently are "normal and natural" for a country which is
developing into an industrial nation. (08)