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.