MPR scuttles press freedom centerpiece

MPR scuttles press freedom centerpiece

By Atmakusumah

This is the first of two articles on the aborted attempt by
Indonesian journalists to ensure press freedom in the country.

JAKARTA (JP): The recently concluded Special Session of the
People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) was the most remarkable
meeting the Indonesian press has ever seen.

It could have gone down in history for the birth of the
greatest workpiece for press freedom in Indonesia in over two and
a half centuries. The MPR, however, rejected a draft decree
drawn up by a panel of media leaders and legal experts of the
Indonesian Press Society (MPI) which would have ensured this
freedom of the press.

MPI's proposal, "The Draft Decree of the MPR on the Freedom of
Communication and Information through the Mass Media", only
garnered the full support of the Moslem-oriented United
Development Party (PPP), which, out of five MPR factions, was the
only faction that forwarded the draft decree to the Assembly
floor on Nov. 11.

In Indonesia's legal system, MPR decrees are superior to laws
enacted by the House of Representatives (DPR). But they are one
rank lower than the Constitution, which is the supreme law of the
land, and which the MPR has the power to amend.

The dictum of the draft decree, after modifications by the
PPP, read:

Article 1: The state guarantees the right of citizens to
communicate and obtain information through the mass media.

Article 2: All legislation concerning the press may not
abridge press freedom.

Article 3: [The MPR] charges the President/Mandatory of the
People's Consultative Assembly of the Republic of Indonesia and
the House of Representatives to enact laws that guarantee public
freedom to communicate and obtain information through the mass
media.

Other Assembly factions did not appear eager to endorse the
draft decree. In separate meetings with an MPI delegation prior
to the MPR Special Session, the factions explained that they
already had their hands full with the 12 proposed decrees the
Assembly's Work Committee had drafted. They also argued that it
was too late to forward a new draft decree because the Work
Committee was already done meeting.

However, the talks between the factions and the MPI
representatives revealed the "classic apprehension" of some
faction members about the meaning of the freedom of the press.
They argued that press freedom in any democratic society can
never be absolute; that the granting of press freedom does not
mean that there are no legal or moral sanctions for the abuse of
freedom; and that the press is an instrument for the public to
use to obtain information and to disseminate opinions that
reflect democracy at work. Thus, press freedom is not for the
interest of the press alone, but it is primarily for the public's
interest.

Through the print and broadcast media, the clash of vibrant
and clamorous views is a part of public education. This clash is
designed to develop tolerance toward difference and opposing
opinions, a tolerance which is an essential element for a
democracy that wants to discourage the use of force.

Indonesia's first minister of information, Amir Syarifuddin,
was aware of this power of the press. In October 1945, two months
after Indonesia's proclamation of independence, he declared:
"Public opinion is the foundation of a democratic government. It
is not possible for a press that is not free to express public
opinion; it can only express the opinion of those few in power.
Thus, our principle is: the press must be free."

Since the archipelago got its first newspaper, the Dutch
language Bataviasche Nouvelles en Politique Raisonnementen
(Batavian Political News and Reasoning), on Aug. 7, 1744, not a
single era in Indonesia's history has ever allowed the press to
enjoy total freedom. In the past 254 years, there has been no era
that did not have government pressure against and suppression of
the press. Pressure and suppression occurred during the Dutch
colonial period up to 1942, and throughout the World War II
Japanese military occupation from 1942 to 1945.

The fate of the press remained the same after Indonesia
declared its independence. In the early years of national
freedom, 1945-1949, and even in the "liberal democracy" period of
1949-1959, press history in Indonesia has been marked by
numerous clampdowns. Victims of muzzling in 1945-1949 included
the newspapers Revolusioner, Patriot and Soeara Iboekota in
Yogyakarta; Soeara Moeda in Solo; and Suara Rakjat, the Kediri,
East Java, edition.

During the "liberal democracy", print bans were experienced by
the newspapers Merdeka and Berita Indonesia; 10 other newspapers
and three news agencies were closed in the first mass ban in
Indonesian press history (September 1957), and, in 1958, 12
newspapers in Jakarta were shut down.

During the same period, the Dutch-language press had to
shutdown when the conflict over West Irian erupted between
Indonesia and the Netherlands in December of 1957. All
publications not using Latin or Arabic script were banned
"because there was an expert manpower shortage for their
surveillance" (April 1958). That ban, however, was lifted the
following month.

Observers and writers of press history often tout "the
honeymoon of press freedom" between the press and the government
in the first nine years of the New Order era beginning in 1965.
In January 1974, the honeymoon ended when government banned
eleven "opposition" newspapers and one newsmagazine. Although
many claim that there were no shutdowns for nine years, in
reality the government did close 46 left-wing newspapers it
believed to be in support of the Sept. 30, 1965 putsch, and
"those (newspapers) that do not abide by the press law". The
failed coup was blamed on the now banned Indonesian Communist
Party.

The writer is past-managing editor of Indonesia Raya, the
investigative daily the Soeharto government banned in 1974. He is
now executive director of the Dr. Soetomo Press Institute. The
above article is translated by Warief Djajanto; the Indonesian
version appears in the weekly magazine D&R (Detektif dan
Romantika) on Tuesday.