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)