MPR urged to issue press freedom decree

MPR urged to issue press freedom decree

JAKARTA (JP): Media experts have called on the People's
Consultative Assembly (MPR) to issue a decree to guarantee press
freedoms.

A team representing the experts participating in a national
discussion said in a statement on Thursday that the ongoing
social, economic and political crisis was partly caused by an
absence of an uninhibited flow of information.

"The terrifying situation" over the last 24 years, in which
media organizations were under constant threat of being closed
down, made the national press unable to function as an "early
warning system" to prevent disasters and crises, the experts
said.

The statement, signed by among others senior journalists
Muhammad Ridlo Eisy and Tribuana Said, law practitioner Dindin S.
Maolani, legislator Bambang Sadono Komariah Sapardjaja, and media
observer Atmakusumah, was a result of the discussion, which was
organized by the Association of Indonesian Publishers (SPS).

The two-day gathering featured Kompas chief editor Jakob
Oetama, Tempo general manager Fikri Jufri, Anatara chief editor
Parni Hadi, R.H. Siregar, legal experts Loebby Loqman, A. Muis
and Hinca Panjaitan, and Didin S. Maolani.

It was also attended by the press community in Jakarta.

The statement, a copy of which was made available to The
Jakarta Post, said the MPR should issue a decree in its special
session from Nov. 10 to Nov. 13 on the freedom of the press. Such
a decree was needed to underline the Constitution's Chapter 28 on
freedom of expression, it said.

"Therefore, no measures should be taken to limit the freedom
of the press."

It also said an MPR decree would be an integrated part of the
press' struggle to uphold human rights in Indonesia. (rms)