Journalists boycott Attorney General

Journalists boycott Attorney General

MAKASSAR, South Sulawesi: Local journalists have instituted a
boycott against covering the activities of Attorney General Abdul
Rahman Saleh, who visited the provincial capital on Saturday,
following a dispute over coverage code.

The boycott followed a decision by the provincial prosecutor's
office to declare a meeting between Abdul Rahman and local
prosecutors closed to the media.

Arifuddin, who works for a television station, said the action
to close the meeting was reminiscent of Soeharto's New Order
dictatorship, that despised transparency. He said that
journalists had waited for Abdul Rahman for six hours to ask him
questions about the anticorruption drive in the province.

Adding to their anger, the provincial prosecutor's office also
prevented journalists from covering a meeting between Abdul
Rahman and a group of student protesters.

The Attorney General was involved in a heated argument with
House of Representatives members recently after one of the
lawmakers described him "a preacher in a village of thieves". --
Antara