Reporting inaccuracies

Reporting inaccuracies

Your article "Megawati gets it right with party lineup:
Observers" published on Oct. 12 and written by Imanuddin and
M.M.I. Ahyani, misquotes and misrepresents my comments to your
reporters.

I did not say the composition of the Indonesian Democratic
Party (PDI) board was "the most acceptable" to the members, since
I did not interview all the members and thus could not possibly
know who was "most" acceptable to them. I also never said
Megawati had "done her best" in establishing the board. I was not
a witness to the closed-door process and negotiations, and thus
would have no basis for making such a statement.

And finally, I never "praised" the appointment of Mr. Mochtar
Buchori, nor did I say anything remotely resembling "Megawati has
placed the right man in the right place," with regard to Mr.
Buchori. What I said was that the appointment of the former
senior researcher of the National Institute of Sciences (LIPI)
appeared to be intended to show the PDI's commitment to
education. I said this because Megawati said the same thing
herself when she announced Mr. Buchori's name a few minutes
before.

In the many interviews conducted with me during the congress,
I only offered "praise" twice -- once to acknowledge that a very
large event had been organized with a small budget and on short
notice. That, in my view, seemed to be an achievement. I also
praised the fact that the party managed to conduct such a mass-
based event without incident or violence and, as far as I could
tell, without any major mistakes or problems. That seemed to me
to be worthy of praise. Your reporters never asked me about these
matters.

At no other time did I either praise or criticize. I was there
as an observer and researcher, just as I have observed and
researched hundreds of other political events in Indonesia. I
went to great lengths to report on and analyze what I saw, rather
than editorialize or speculate.

I would note that my comments were reported much more
accurately and faithfully by the print-media reporters at the
congress who had tape recorders. The Jakarta Post reporter who
approached me did not have a tape recorder and I noticed he did
not make notes in his notepad during our conversation. Perhaps
this accounts for the inaccuracies?

JEFFREY A. WINTERS

Professor of Political Economy

Northwestern University