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)