Press bans spur new debate on openness

Press bans spur new debate on openness

JAKARTA (JP): The government, facing accusations of turning
back the clock on democracy, yesterday said the ban against three
news magazines would not have happened if they had used their
newly gained freedom more wisely.

Minister/State Secretary Moerdiono gave his assurances that
the government remains committed to the present course of
political openness

He said the press must continue to observe the journalistic
code of ethics. "Put it into practice and nothing will happen."

On a separate occasion last night, Moerdiono said that
everyone should shoulder the responsibility of maintaining the
current momentum of openness.

"Don't let anyone slip out," he said.

The minister was continually haunted, yesterday, by the
question of the government's commitment to openness. Many people
said that they doubted the commitment following the government's
decision to revoke the publishing licenses of Tempo, Editor and
DeTIK on Tuesday.

There were two separate demonstrations yesterday in front of
the Ministry of Information office in Central Jakarta, bringing
in journalists, students and activists together protesting at the
government's clampdown on the three magazines.

Critics of the government said Indonesia was back-tracking on
political openness.

The Association of Indonesian Journalists (PWI) and the
Association of Newspaper Publishers (SPS), while falling short of
criticizing the government, joined in the chorus seeking
government's assurances that the trend towards openness will
continue.

In separate statements, they hoped the revocation of the
licenses would not discourage the press, the government and the
public in pursuing greater political openness.

Mechanisms

"PWI believes that, if the government uses the existing legal
mechanisms and the press adheres to organizational mechanisms,
this will not happen," PWI said.

SPS, calling the bans a "tragedy" to the Indonesian press,
urged the government to see to it that the closing down of the
newspapers would not cause additional suffering to the ill-fated
employees.

"The tragedy should serve as a reminder for us to implement
the positive interactions between the press, the government and
the public," the statement said.

Spokesman for the Armed Forces (ABRI), Brig. Gen. Syarwan
Hamid described the bans as "unwanted, regrettable and (events
which) should not have happened."

"I'm close to the press and therefore I hope the press will
learn from this lesson," he told Suara Pembaruan, the renamed
Sinar Harapan daily that the government closed down in 1986.

He advised the press to use the prevailing openness
positively.

Abu Hartono, chairman of the ABRI faction in the House of
Representatives, said the revocation of the licenses had nothing
to do with political openness and therefore the latter should not
be affected.

He underlined that the three magazines had been warned
repeatedly and therefore had the chance to make amends.

However, there was no shortage of criticisms yesterday.

The National Commission on Human Rights last night in a
surprisingly blunt attack against the government described the
ban as a "setback" to the democratization process.

"The government should be educative and transparent in its
policy on the press development," commission chairman Ali Said
said in a press conference.

Abdurrahman Wahid of the Forum for Democracy said the
government's measure to kill the weeklies without taking them to
court amounted to abuse of power.

Stability

"The government said it was punishing the magazines because
they undermined stability, but there is no evidence that the
stability has been shaken because of their reports," he said.

He added that the government should lift the ban.

Two groups which demonstrated outside the Ministry of
Information office eventually merged into one. The first group
was mostly made up of students while the second one marched from
the office of the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI).

Some journalists came to join in the demonstrations, others
came to cover the event, but eventually it became difficult to
distinguish who belonged to which group.

The noisy poster-waving demonstrators charged that the
government meant to kill democracy in its infancy. Spearheading
the protest that disrupted the peak-hour traffic were human right
campaigners Adnan Buyung Nasution and Mulya Lubis.

The demonstrators failed to see Minister of Information
Harmoko but presented a petition to his staff demanding that the
government publicly announced why it has banned the magazines

The decree revoking the licenses of the three magazines was
signed by Director General for Press and Graphics Subrata on
behalf of Harmoko. Neither men were available to answer the
charges leveled against them by the protesters.

The demonstrators were not happy at the low profile reception
given at the ministry and vowed to return today with an even
bigger rally.

In the House of Representatives, Sri Bintang Pamungkas of the
United Development Party (PPP) was among the staunchest critics
of the government's media clampdown.

Criticisms also came from numerous non-governmental
organizations.

YLBHI said the closing down of the weeklies was illegal
because it ran counter with the 1945 constitution and the press
law which guarantee freedom of expression.

The independent Prosperous Labor Union said the move means the
loss of 450 jobs at Tempo, 150 in Editor and another 150 in
DeTik. (pan/pwn/bsr/jsk)