Press freedom

Press freedom

In his acceptance speech for a professorship at the University
of Indonesia recently, Harsono Suwardi questioned the
compatibility of the government's pledge of more political
openness and the restriction of the press in actual practice.

Harsono said that the so-called "free and responsible" press
is none other than a government-controlled press. In reality,
this control has given rise to an atmosphere of uncertainty.
Gauging the authority's sensitivity toward certain issues is a
daily task. Most of the time, the press has to rely on survival
instinct.

Perhaps, it is about time to set up an arbitration body, such
as the ombudsman in Europe, which can serve as an intermediary
between the government and the press when there is a
disagreement.

It is now 50 years since our independence and we have never
pondered the possibility of having such a body. One of the
reasons, perhaps, is because, up to the 1970s, we had only been
acquainted with the term "free press".

Harsono suggested that both parties exercise tolerance in
order to achieve the high sounding goal of a "free and
responsible" press. But there is a weakness in this tolerant
approach: the absence of legal basis. The existence of an
arbitration body may fill in this void.

-- Merdeka, Jakarta