Press freedom eroding in RI: RSF

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Press freedom in Indonesia remains under serious threat due to the existence of outdated laws, and killings and physical attacks targeting journalists, an international press organization has said in a report.

The Reporters sans Frontier (RSF) organization ranked Indonesia 117th out of 167 countries surveyed in its third annual worldwide press freedom index, which was released on Tuesday.

Besides killings and physical attacks targeting journalists, the group specifically pointed to the government's decision to make Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam out-of-bounds to the media during martial law there between May 2003 and May 2004.

Indonesia was ranked 110th out of 166 countries surveyed by the RSF last year, a drop from 57th the previous year.

Press figures in the country acknowledged that press freedom here had continued to deteriorate despite the media boom following the fall of Soeharto's New Order regime in 1998.

"Indeed, the situation is very bad as both the authorities and members of society remain unaware of the need for press freedom even though Indonesia has gained wider freedom thanks to reform," Atmakusumah Astraatmadja, a former Press Council chairman, told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

He said most Indonesians, who had lived under authoritarian rule for more than 40 years, considered the press to merely be a business instead of an integral part of democracy.

Atmakusumah also highlighted the fact that Indonesia had also failed to update the Criminal Code in line with the changing times. The Criminal Code contained 35 articles that permitted the criminal prosecution of journalists for their writings.

There were also 10 laws, such as the Copyright Law, the Companies Law, the Monopolies Law and the States of Emergency Law, whose articles could be used to criminalize the press and journalists.

Worse, Atmakusumah revealed that the revised criminal code, drafted by a team under former justice minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra, contained 45 articles that could be used to criminalize journalists and media.

Hinca Panjaitan, a member of the Press Council, said that the fact that Indonesia's decision to use legislation to bring criminal prosecutions against the press showed that the authorities lack the commitment to upholding press freedom.

A number of journalists have been prosecuted for their stories. The latest was Bambang Harymurti, the chief editor of Tempo magazine, who was sentenced to one year in jail for the weekly's report on the alleged involvement of a businessman in a fire that razed Tanah Abang market in Central Jakarta last year.

"Legal protection is very important for protecting press freedom," he said, while calling on the new government to pay a serious attention to the issue.

Apart from the legal aspect, both Atmakusumah and Hinca agreed that the country's media and journalists had been facing threats from both the authorities and members of society.

Earlier this year, Ersa Siregar, a reporter with RCTI television was killed in a shootout between the military and Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels in Aceh.

The country also witnessed a number of physical attacks on media institutions and journalists that were committed by members of society who felt upset by stories involving them.

"Any physical acts against the news media are unacceptable. If they deem a story to be insulting, they must file an objection with the media outlet and not launch a physical attack," Hinca said.

Atmakusumah said that most Indonesians were incapable of properly appreciating press freedom. They would not hesitate to attack a media outlet or a journalist if they believed a news story prejudiced them, even if it was accurate, he added.

"They hate it if the media disturbs their comfortable lives. They are not aware that publishing negative news is also one of the main duties of the media -- part of its social control function.

"I don't think we will go back to the past but it is clear that we need to devote more energy to fighting for real press freedom in the country," he said.