Police grill reporters

KUPANG, East Nusa Tenggara: Police made preparations for the visit of President Soeharto today and tomorrow to the province by subjecting local reporters to hours of "clearance tests".

Antara reported last week that reporters wishing to cover Soeharto's visit had been interviewed thoroughly by police, to the point where they had to reveal certain confidential matters.

Held at the local office of the Ministry of Information to see whether the reporters were "fit" to cover a presidential visit, the tests probed issues such as the reporters' involvement in any non-governmental organizations.

"This is not a litsus. We're only taking the reporters' curricula vitae," said Capt. Samuel Dj. Lona on Wednesday, referring to the Indonesian acronym for the "special screening" usually conducted on legislature candidates to weed out those with past links with outlawed organizations.

A number of the reporters protested because they were made to disclose matters which according to local tradition are confidential. The news agency did not specify what these were.

Samuel Lona said that not all of the reporters tested will be allowed to cover Soeharto's visit, during which he is scheduled to inaugurate a number of development projects. "Those who are chosen will have to go through even tighter test," he said.

"We never experienced such an excessive procedure, not even when we covered the 1992 Non-Aligned Movement Conference in Jakarta," said one reporter. (swe)