Megawati urged to improve communication skills
Megawati urged to improve communication skills
Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The House of Representatives' Commission I for defense, foreign
policy and information affairs, and some of the nation's top
media moguls told President Megawati Soekarnoputri on Thursday to
improve her communication skills with the public to avoid
misunderstanding.
The commission also pledged to promote professionalism with
regard to the country's journalists by ending the practice of
bribing journalists, also known as "envelope journalism".
The statement was made after a hearing between commission
members and several editors and journalist associations at the
House.
"The commission asks the President to improve communications
with the public," deputy commission chairman Effendi Choirie
said, summarizing the hearing.
President Megawati has persistently criticized the national
press, saying that reports in the media about anti-government
protests were unbalanced. The media, she grumbled, was not
sympathetic to her.
Megawati was referring to recent reporting on the nationwide
anti-government protests after her administration raised
electricity and telephone prices and removed fuel subsidies.
The decision met strong opposition from the public as it was
done within the same week that the government issued an
instruction for the release and discharge (R&D) for multi-billion
rupiah debtors who settled a tiny percentage of their debts to
the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA). Under the
scheme, debtors who repaid a minute portion of their debts would
be freed from all criminal charges and not required to pay back
the balance of, essentially, the public's money.
Protesters accused the government of robbing the poor to pay
the rich. In some places, angry demonstrators tore the pictures
of both Megawati and Vice President Hamzah Haz or burned their
effigies.
Atmakusumah Astraatmadja from the Press Council said that the
national media should be seen from two aspects: the society and
the media.
According to Atmakusumah, there was confusion among the people
about press freedom. "Many people do not understand what to do
with press freedom," he said.
But he also said that the national press should improve
professionalism because it had no experience with the newly found
freedom.
Despite these flaws, Atmakusumah said that the mainstream of
the national media was moderate and professional, "but I do know
the reports Megawati was referring to" he said.
Chairman of the Indonesian Journalists Association (PWI)
Tarman Azzam noticed that there was nothing unusual with the
criticism made by the President.
He added that the criticism from the President should motivate
the press to improve professionalism.
Meanwhile, chairwoman of the Independent Journalist's Alliance
(AJI) Ati Nurbaiti said that she did not know of any unbalanced
reports in the mass media.
The media, Ati added, simply reported the actual events of the
ever-increasing protests against the government's policy to
increase prices.
During the hearing, Ati expressed concern over the fact that
many journalists received money during interviews. This practice,
she added, should not be blamed merely on the journalists, but on
the government offices and the elite, particularly legislators.