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)