Press freedom in Aceh in danger

BANDA ACEH (JP): The Acehnese have lost one more element of their liberty, the freedom of the press, following the enforced suspension of the province's only daily, Serambi Indonesia, and the holding as hostage three crew from state television TVRI by the separatists.

Some parties in Aceh and members of the media slam such an infringement of press freedom, saying that it will only reduce sympathy for the separatist movement in Aceh.

Chairman of the Aceh branch of the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) Nazamuddin Arbi pointed out that the paper's enforced absence meant another infringement of human rights in Aceh.

"It is the right of society to get information from all sources. The public can judge freely what is right. They should not be forced to do so," he added.

Similar concern was voiced by Iskandar Jamil, head of the information screening office at the Aceh governor's office.

"We have difficulty in absorbing aspirations from all segments of the Aceh society, as critical voices of the local people are no longer included in the paper," Iskandar said.

Meanwhile, Alfian Lukman, president of the student executive board of Ar-Raniry State Institute of Islamic Studies in Banda Aceh, said the students in fact did not want the suspension of any publication but stressed that "the press should be unbiased because any imbalanced reporting will run such a risk."

Serambi stopped publication from August 11, allegedly due to continuing pressure from the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) separatist group.

The group has also held hostage three TVRI crew members for a few weeks in an apparent attempt to exert force on the local mass media. The group claimed that it had "detained" the three.

On the suspension of Serambi, Amri Abdul Wahab, a senior GAM "war commander", said that his party had objected to its "biased reports," especially the one about the murder of scores of people at Bumi Flora estates.

"The report created the impression that GAM had been the culprit, whereas the facts proved the reverse," he said.

He demanded that the paper produce fair and independent reporting by presenting the facts. "Otherwise, it's better to stop publication altogether so as not to harm the public interest through distorted news."

In Jakarta, Press Council chairman Atmakusumah Astraatmadja and AJI chairman Lukas Luwarso made a joint appeal that all parties involved in the Aceh conflict should respect the press.

Atmakusumah even urged all media in the country to boycott parties that refused to respect the role of journalists in reporting the facts as they found them during field assignments.

"The public will assess what's right or wrong. I know the credibility of Serambi, as it has tried to present balanced reports," he claimed.

Meanwhile, State Minister of Communications and Information Syamsul Mu'arif said the government would help the daily to resume publication.

"I'm going to Banda Aceh on Monday or Tuesday to find ways of reviving the paper," Syamsul said last weekend.

He added the government had no other choice than to intervene in this issue because the state policy guidelines obliged it to protect press freedom in the country.

In fact, most Acehnese have come to rely on Serambi, the province's only comprehensive paper established by Jakarta-based Kompas daily in the 1980s.

The enforced absence of Serambi has also affected social workers in war-torn Aceh and also the people who rely, for their income, on selling the newspaper.

Indonesian Red Cross volunteer Soni Octavianus revealed that in the past week, nobody had claimed the unidentified corpses evacuated to hospitals due to lack of news reports, such that they had to be buried without relatives being informed.

A Serambi agent in Pidie regency, Mohd. Roem Daoed, who used to sell 120 copies daily, complained on Sunday that he had lost Rp 50,000 (US$5.80) in daily income from distributing the newspaper.

"Hundreds of other agents have also lost their jobs since the suspension," he said. (50/02/dja)