Regressing into the past?

Regressing into the past?

The government's refusal to extend the visa of Lindsay
Murdoch, a senior correspondent for the Australian newspapers The
Age and The Sydney Morning Herald comes like a bolt of lightning
amid a clear blue sky -- all the more so, since Jakarta has
stubbornly refused to justify its action.

Asked for the reason for the action, Wahid Supriyadi, the
foreign ministry's deputy spokesman, merely told reporters that
the foreign ministry "has its own considerations for not
extending his visa". Moreover, according to Wahid, "it is common
policy for any country to decline a visa application without
having to provide an explanation."

That may be so. However, whatever the reason or reasons may
be, the government's refusal of a visa extension for the
Australian journalist is sending scary signals to the media world
in Indonesia, and in all probability abroad as well. Nor does
Jakarta's refusal to explain the incident help to assuage the
growing anxiety.

To add to the befuddlement, Murdoch's visa expired on Dec. 10
last year, but was extended for three months. Murdoch left
Jakarta last Sunday, March 10, more than a week before the news
finally became publicly known. His only comment on the matter was
that "as a guest of the country I have been shown the door and I
will leave politely.

Murdoch, however, said he could not understand the decision
because none of the reports he had been dispatching from Jakarta
was in his opinion unbalanced, unfair or inaccurate. A joint
statement received in Jakarta on Sunday from the two Australian
newspapers, however, said that it had become clear in discussions
with Indonesian officials that the action was taken because of
Murdoch's "authoritative reporting".

Of course it would be more than regrettable if this latest
little disagreement should have a disturbing effect on
Indonesian-Australian relations. Not since the huge fracas over a
report about then president Soeharto's family -- an in-depth
report on Soeharto's alleged riches by David Jenkins that
appeared in The Sydney Morning Herald in April 1986 -- has the
press been made the scapegoat for marring relations between
Indonesia and Australia. Our fear is that unless this latest case
is handled with wisdom and restraint on both sides of the
argument, we could well see history repeating itself.

As far as the Indonesian media is concerned, it is no secret
that, of late, the government has been showing an unmistakable
uneasiness over what it apparently conceives as an overindulgence
on the part of the Indonesian media, both printed and electronic,
in its exercise of the principles of freedom of the press and the
free flow of information.

All we can do for the present is hope that Indonesia, and
Indonesian officialdom in particular, have learned the lessons of
the past. After all, nowhere in history has there been an
incident in which a government has fallen or country brought to
ruin, simply because of a report in the press. The best way, or
indeed the only way, to effectively counter any false, untrue or
unfair reporting in the press is to make a sober rejoinder. Any
effort to hamper the press in fulfilling its duty of informing
the public will only bear an adverse effect.