Press warned of threats to national interests

JAKARTA (JP): Coordinating Minister for Political Affairs and Security Soesilo Soedarman warned the Indonesian press yesterday of possible influences that could harm national interests.

"The Indonesian press should always remain vigilant," Soesilo told Indonesia's top media executives at the Bogor presidential palace, about 60 kilometers south of here.

About 70 senior editors are taking part in the 10-day "Manggala" course on Pancasila, the state ideology.

Soesilo said that the need for senior editors to heighten their awareness of damaging influences is critical now that the media industry has become more competitive.

"It is up to the mass media itself to safeguard its image," he said.

Soesilo, a retired army general, said that the government senses a "liberal spirit" in the way the local mass media has been reporting on recent events in Indonesia.

He said that such a spirit is incompatible with the spirit of a "free and responsible" press that Indonesia rigorously pursues.

As an example, he pointed to several news reports on the July 27 rioting in the capital that was triggered by the violent takeover of the Indonesian Democratic Party's headquarters.

He said that some publications, which he did not name, carried condemnations from foreign non-governmental organizations about the way the authorities handled the riots.

The mass media also carried the opinion of some scholars who, he said, wrongly assumed that the riots occurred due to economic disparities in the capital.

The government has blamed the tiny leftist Democratic People's Party (PRD) for the riots, in which five people died and dozens of people were injured.

The authorities have detained about a dozen of the PRD's key activists, all of whom face subversion charges.

Over the weekend, Minister of Information Harmoko told the senior editors to present their criticism in a way that will not foment hatred against the government.

All criticism in the mass media should aim to help improve the development process, he said.

"Criticism from the press should encourage the development of social control," he said.

He pointed out that the relationship between the mass media, the government and the public should not be tainted by suspicion.

Harmoko also called on the editors to be watchful of the PRD and the latent danger of communism as well as efforts to undermine and replace Pancasila. (imn)