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.