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)