Responsible reporting during religious wars

Responsible reporting during religious wars

A'an Suryana, Manila

Direct elections for the leaders of provincial and municipal
administrations across Indonesia are just a few months away. Most
of which will be surely be deemed newsworthy by various newspaper
and TV editors, as it represents another first in the country's
path to democracy.

Certainly the media will face challenges in reporting the
direct elections, especially in regard to the various religious
conflicts scattered across the diverse archipelago. The
population is only allowed by law to believe in four religions,
but there are many more belief systems. Experience has shown that
the differences in faiths have caused mass bloodshed in Maluku,
Sulawesi and other places. Now with the direct elections, where
candidates from different faiths will likely vie for votes, it
could provide a spark for more violence and bloodshed.

What then, should the Indonesian media be reporting if there
are outbreaks of religious conflicts during these local
elections?

Looking back over the history of the country, reporting on
religious conflict has indeed been a dilemma for the media. Under
tight supervision of the New Order Government (1965 - 1998), the
Indonesian media was simply not allowed to tell the full truth,
if anything at all, behind the various religious clashes that
often broke out across the archipelago. The iron-fisted Soeharto
regime was so obsessed with "national stability" that it simply
clamped down and ordered the media to bury the news that they
thought could "threaten people's harmony". Due to the fear of
forced closure and other threats, the journalists and editors
succumbed to the will of the repressive government.

Media freedom finally began to flourish after the New Order
was forced to step aside. The media had, almost overnight, gained
a measure of freedom to report on most any subject, including
religious violence. The media enjoyed unprecedented press
freedom. However, that did not mean that the dilemma for the
Indonesia media in reporting on religious conflict had come to an
end. After reformasi in 1998, the media has tried to be
transparent. The media has reported on conflicts in outer
islands, especially the formerly taboo religious wars.

Some media have reported with a balanced perspective, but
others have been accused of being irresponsible and liberal. Some
newspapers and magazines have often chose to run sensational
stories -- to increase circulation -- but they have also been
condemned for taking sides and fueling the religious conflicts.
The bloody sectarian conflict in Maluku was a clear example on
how the media helped fan religious hatred.

Learning from that experience, journalists are now caught in
the dilemma. If a conflict breaks out in the country, should the
media cover it or bury it for the sake of religious harmony? In
my opinion, burying the stories should not be the media position.
As a public forum, the media has to report the truth, however
painful it is.

However, unlike those early years of press freedom, the
journalists should now no longer report the conflicts in the same
way. The journalists and editors have to help promote peace in
the area prone to conflicts. While disclosing the names of the
protagonists in the conflict, we should also emphasize a sense of
justice. Journalists should push police personnel and the
judiciary to thoroughly investigate the conflict and punish the
perpetrators, regardless of religion.

If justice is done, it can be assured that there will not be
religious conflicts in the country. Justice would serve as a
deterrent for people so that they will not resort to violence.
Justice will also make people feel that they have been treated
fairly so that people will not take the law in their own hands.

The prolonged conflicts in Maluku and Central Sulawesi
happened because people did not believe that justice would be
done by the authorities. After the conflict broke out in Ambon,
Maluku, the police officers, most of whom are Christians from
Maluku, mainly defended the Christians, while the military
personnel, most of whom are from Java, defended the Muslims.
Bombings and deadly attacks still occur sporadically, and sadly
the security personnel are still unable to arrest the
perpetrators in most cases.

The public questioned the ability and seriousness of security
personnel, and as a result, they do not trust them. This
situation is dangerous for the establishment of peace in
Indonesia's hotspots and it is the role of the media to demand
that security personnel resolve the cases, in order to show that
the justice is seriously done in the country.

It is interesting to note that in some cases, journalists are
not part of the solution, but are part of the problem. Unable to
see past their own religious kinship, journalists do not help
defuse the conflicts, but instead, they make it even worse.
Journalists, especially those reporting from the hotspots like
the still-segregated city of Ambon, often report stories that are
biased in favor of their own religion. To some extent, this is
only human that they do it, because if they do not do it, their
very existence will be threatened. But, it will surely hamper
lasting peace in the region.

It is refreshing that some NGOs have realized that the
situation could prolong conflict in Ambon and a few years ago,
they began to set up approaches to allow the journalists to learn
how to report such things. The NGOs have helped build a mechanism
in order for the journalists to help restore peace in Ambon.
Meetings are regularly held among Muslim and Christian
journalists in order to promote understanding between them, and
the Maluku Media Center was established in a neutral zone in
Ambon. Some Muslim and Christian journalists are grouped under
MMC and they are guided to produce stories that could help foster
peace. In the MMC, multiculturalism and pluralism are planted
into the minds of journalists, regardless their religions.

The MMC and the intense dialogs for journalists with different
faiths can be a model in order to help the Indonesian journalists
responsibly cover and promote peace during the direct elections
that will be prone to conflicts.

The author is a staff writer at the Jakarta Post. These are
excerpts from a paper that was presented during a workshop held
by the Council of Asian Press Institutes (CAPI) on March 3 in
Manila.