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