Soeharto: Use openness responsibly
Soeharto: Use openness responsibly
JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto is cautioning the local press
to use political openness responsibly so as not to endanger
national stability.
The mass media should be aware they share the responsibility
for safeguarding national interests, he said while opening a
national workshop for the Ministry of Information at the Bina
Graha presidential office Saturday.
"They should see to it that they can exercise social control
without sacrificing the larger national interests," Soeharto said
in the ceremony attended by Minister of Information Harmoko.
Soeharto made the remarks less than a fortnight after the
government closed down the Tempo, Editor and DeTIK weeklies, a
move which has sparked strong reactions from the press and the
public alike.
Financially troubled Editor and the popular DeTIK were closed
down for operational reasons. Tempo, Indonesia's most influential
news magazine, was shut down for editorial content.
However, the assumption among the public seems to be that the
publications paid the price for being overtly critical of senior
government officials, a tactic viewed as "setting one official
against another."
The president said the openness that the government has been
pursuing is a concrete step toward encouraging the people to
contribute ideas for the development of the nation.
He reiterated the government's assurance that the political
openness he has been pursuing over the past few years will not be
terminated as some have feared following the media clampdown.
"We want the kind of openness that supports development, but
not exploitation of freedom and openness for something which
undermines the national stability," he said.
The President said Indonesia should be grateful to have
mechanisms to control the mass media, such as the press law, the
press council and the journalism code of ethics, which have
successfully directed the media to participate in the development
of the nation.
The government based the closure of the three publications on
a Ministry of Information Decree issued in 1984. Minister Harmoko
told a parliamentary hearing last week that the widely condemned
press ban was constitutional.
Critics argue that the decree runs counter to the 1982 press
law, which makes no mention of the government having the right to
ban publications.
Journalists and democracy activists have been seeking to have
the 1984 ministerial decree scrapped, but legislators have mixed
reactions to it.
In his speech, Soeharto also said the Ministry of Information
should intensify its role as the agency which encourages a free
and responsible press. He then reminded his listeners that the
ministry must also work to contain the spread of values which can
damage the local culture.
Interactions between the press and the government and between
the press and the public need to be improved, the President said.
The workshop aims to analyze and discuss problems facing the
information ministry. (pan)