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