Sue the messenger

You can usually tell that a regime is in serious trouble when it starts picking on the press. In a desperate attempt to deflect public criticism, such a regime needs to find a scapegoat for some of its own failings. The media then has become the regime's enemy number one because it is the one delivering the bad news that its days are numbered. Not happy with the message? Just shoot the messenger.

It remains to be seen whether this is also the case with President Abdurrahman Wahid's administration. Last week, he set up a team of law experts to look into the possibility of taking to court some of what it perceives as deviant media. The media's sin, according to his aides, was in spreading lies about the President's activities.

President Abdurrahman, who rose to public prominence largely through his writings in magazines and newspapers in the 1980s and 1990s, has not had a happy relationship with the media in recent months. That is hardly surprising, for the media, now working in a free environment, reflects to a large extent his rapidly declining popularity among the people.

The President has made public his contempt of the media on more than one occasion. But this is the first time that he has announced his intention to take legal action against the media. What apparently triggered him to take on the media was the way it has covered the activities of the presidential palace in the past week or so.

The President is now fighting for his political survival. His position has become even more tenacious since the House of Representatives rebuked him on April 30 for his leadership failings. There have been mounting calls for him to resign or to share more of his political powers with Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri. And there is the threat of an impeachment process if he ignores those calls.

Given the situation, it is not surprising to find that domestic and international confidence in the administration has reached a low ebb. It is also the reason why market confidence has been low. But the President is instead blaming the media for disrupting the market.

At least we can take comfort in the fact that the President is only suing, and not shooting the messenger. The President, like any other citizen in this country, is entitled to legal protection from abuses by the media. The 1999 Press Law not only ensures a free environment for the industry to operate in. It also protects the public against abuses of this freedom by the media. Yet in nearly two years since its enactment, we have not seen the Press Law's provisions to protect the public used in a court of law.

Members of the public who have a bone to pick have usually taken their case directly to the media institution for an out-of- court settlement. Some would use the mob to intimidate or harass the media institution to succumb to their demand. This reflects the public's general mistrust of the Press Law as well as the capability of the law enforcement agencies and the court in delivering justice.

The 1999 Press Law could not have asked for a better dignitary than President Abdurrahman to test its effectiveness in court. As the holder of the country's highest public office, the President is a prime target not only for press criticism, but also its abuses, deliberate or otherwise.

The President must be lauded for resorting to legal channels, and not repressive measures, in addressing complaints about how the media has treated him. But the timing and precarious condition he is in presently raises the question whether he really has a valid complaint that will stand in an independent court, or whether this is just another one of those desperate attempts of a falling regime to cling to power.