Press plays tug of war with cultural values

The press celebrated its 51st anniversary this week. Ignas Kleden discusses the clash of values in the history of the press.

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian press, due to its history, has had some conflicting interests on its shoulders. First, as part of the struggle for national independence, it was supposed to strive for setting Indonesia free from the colonial powers and prepare the new nation for self-determination. It was brought into existence by necessity and a task which made it a combat press.

During the Old Order it was faced with the authoritarian style of the Great Leader of Revolution, which insisted that everything, including the freedom of expression and freedom of the press, should be dedicated to realizing the goals of revolution. This was difficult for the press, which saw the liberal European press as its only model.

An alternative press was introduced during the period of the Guided Democracy, in which the leftist press, mostly run by the Communist party and its affiliated organizations found room to develop. This introduced another style and ethics, whereby the revolutionary cause and revolutionary logic stemming from the class struggle, seemed to justify a lot of linguistic and political violence aimed at crushing the enemies of the revolution.

After the establishment of the New Order, the Indonesian press was called upon to play an important role in disseminating the political programs of the regime and to eliminate the remnants of the authoritarian political climate of the Old Order. Freedom of the press and freedom of expression were heralded as a means to fight the authoritarian indoctrination and ideological commotion common during the Old Order, while the anticommunist sentiment gave the newspapers a militant undertone.

The beginning of the New Order was then celebrated as the victory to regain freedom which suffered during the Guided Democracy, almost in the same manner the proclamation of independence in 1945 was perceived as the national success to gain freedom from colonial control. However, in both cases, history repeated itself in that freedom from an old situation was not substantiated by enough understanding of freedom for a new one. A clear consensus concerning the former was not accompanied by a clear agreement about the latter.

In both cases freedom was treated as a means for something else rather than a goal in itself despite many difficulties. In case the country was faced with the political consequences of freedom we were tempted to attribute the origin of the idea of freedom with the West. But if the idea of freedom is western by nature, and if anything western must be considered incompatible with our political culture, why was the struggle for national independence never seen as a western inspired movement? Why are we, even today, still so proud of it?

The idea of freedom has not been taken over because it is western but because it is a necessary thing for Indonesian people. Freedom is the basic right of every nation and that is why all sorts of colonialism are opposed to it. This is stated in Indonesian basic law.

A new controversy about freedom has been revived by recent attention to local values. This attention to local values has been endorsed by the idea of "Asian values". The East began to question why western countries were so forceful in insisting on the realization of certain values which have emerged in the West such as human rights.

The government of the developing countries also started redefining freedom of expression in general and freedom of the press in particular not as a universal ideal but rather as something which should and can be modified according to local conditions. Indonesian "freedom with responsibility" is only one example.

However, the question which looms large among many developing countries is: can we judge the validity of values on the basis of their origin? And are there certain crimes which can be seen as "Asian crimes" or is it a crime by an Asian? Are the killing fields of Cambodia an Asian crime or a crime which every civilized human being will condemn? Is China's cultural revolution a violation against cultural expression which was specific of communist China, or a violation which all people of culture are called upon to protest?

It is important to understand cultural values are a result of historical and human production. However, the production of values is by no means equal to the universe to which those values are to be applied.

After so many years, the Indonesian press is now required to take local values into account and translate them into freedom of expression and freedom of the press. The underlying assumption is that a liberal press is not the only model, since it was produced in another cultural and historical context.

It is not an easy job because freedom of the press during the post-independence years and during the first years of the New Order was an ideological means to set the country free from an old situation. Today, it is requested to realize a sort of freedom for a new situation.

The readers of Indonesian newspapers are waiting to see how the press in this country can solve the double challenge of becoming real press and Indonesian at the same time.

The writer is a sociologist based in Jakarta.