Pigai: Press and Government Must Maintain Independence Whilst Collaborating

JAKARTA — Indonesia’s Minister for Human Rights Natalius Pigai has stated that the press must maintain its independence when developing relationships with government.

He made the remarks whilst launching a media collaboration programme at the Kick Off Launch event for the Media Press and Human Rights Civilisation Development Programme on Wednesday, 11 March 2026.

“We have a mutually dependent relationship where we maintain independence but collaborate with one another,” Pigai said.

The collaboration is seen as important in driving civilisational development, particularly in advancing human rights in Indonesia. According to Pigai, the press is a powerful force capable of driving civilisational development and strengthening human rights values in Indonesia.

For this reason, he hopes the media will contribute by communicating various developments in national development, particularly those related to advancing human rights in the civil, political, economic, social, and cultural spheres.

Nevertheless, he emphasised that media must continue to expose various social problems occurring in society, such as poverty, unemployment, and high maternal and child mortality rates.

“There is no problem in exposing all these social pathologies. However, the media also needs to campaign for solutions and prevention measures so that development can proceed more effectively,” he said.

Consequently, the Ministry of Human Rights plans to invite the Press Council to discuss various challenges currently facing conventional media.

“We want to hear what problems the media is actually facing. Why mainstream media seems to be losing out to social media,” he said.

Pigai stated that these discussions could lead to the formulation of regulations to ensure the sustainability of conventional media so it is not eroded by the penetration of social media.

Among these initiatives is the establishment of specialised human rights training classes for journalists throughout Indonesia.

Other programmes include facilitating the production of human rights-themed journalistic work, conducting human rights journalism competitions, and awarding the Human Rights Journalism Award to journalists.