Reporters angry with regent

CILACAP, Central Java: Journalists here have lodged a strong protest against Cilacap regent Herry Tabri after he ordered his subordinates not to provide information or make statements to the media.

The regent said media statements could only be made by himself or his spokesman Chaeroni.

"We will boycott the regent until he agrees to retract his decision," said Ibnu Sofyan, a local correspondent.

The journalists complain that Herry and his spokesman Chaeroni are neither amiable nor willing to make themselves available to them.

But the regent himself has hinted that he is merely following orders from his superiors.

"I'm just carrying out instructions. I do not intend to make any problems for the press," Chaeroni quoted the regent as saying. (45)