Media freedom threatened more than ever

Media freedom threatened more than ever

The fall of the New Order regime in 1998 and the formation of
a new government after democratic elections in 1999 were seen as
major boosts for press freedom in Indonesia. But the past two
years have seen press freedom in the country take a hit, with
several journalists brought up on criminal charges for allegedly
defamatory stories. Press Council chairman Ichlasul Amal shared
his views on the issue with The Jakarta Post's Sally Piri in
conjunction with World Press Freedom Day, which falls on May 3.

Question: The principle of press freedom is actually
adequately guaranteed in Indonesia at the moment. But the rapid
growth of the industry seems to be hurting this principle. What
is your view of this?

Answer: Yes, that is a problem because of the very tight
competition among members of the media to produce accurate news.
The lack of instruments in a press institution can cause
problems, too. For example, when a reporter has to take a bus to
pursue a news story, it will take a lot of time for a reporter to
get accurate news.

Under the New Order regime, power was used to control the
media. But now legal means are preferred. An individual or
institution would now rather send a case to court. How do you see
this?

This perception comes from the law enforcers, who tend to look
at errors in news reporting as regular crimes and thus are
inclined to apply the Criminal Code or Civil Code rather than the
Press Law (to such cases). Under the Press Law a maximum fine of
Rp 500 million (US$54,300) can be imposed. And what is currently
becoming a concern is that the draft of the new Criminal Code
takes a harder line than the old code. The media will be put in
greater danger than before because there are more articles, which
I cannot specify now, that could lead a journalist to jail when
such errors occur.

Do you see any indications that the government is against
freedom of press?

Actually, this is more on an individual basis. Basically,
nobody wants to be criticized or discredited by the media. This
is human. Everybody has his own way of responding to news. People
tend to respond by going to court but the law enforcers apply the
Criminal Code rather than the Press Law.

What needs to be done to avoid repression by the government?

Nowadays it is impossible for the government to use
repression because that would work like a boomerang. However, the
government can use its right to respond to the newspapers that
have published the story, following the procedures prescribed by
the Press Law.

As far as freedom of the press is concerned, who would be the
best to put limitations on the press?

Society, the media and the law. For example, society, which
may be considered as militant with regard to specific values,
might mobilize to confront the media. And through the law, the
government can keep national stability.

What are the challenges for today's media?

Newspapers need sophisticated technology, and that is
expensive. The large number of publications at present causes
tighter competition among the members of the media. In today's
economic conditions, how can they survive? For example, in Medan
alone there are at least 20 newspapers. And information
technology is growing rapidly around the world. The number of
people reading newspapers has tended to drop. However, people who
live in rural areas read more newspapers. In order to acquire
information technology tools and to survive, the media must have
strong assets.

What do you think about the quality of the press in Indonesia?

Generally, it still has not reached the standards that have
been achieved in neighboring countries. However, there are
several good publications. Ideally, the living standards of the
people who work in the media need to be upgraded.