Supporters of press ban overwhelm rivals

JAKARTA (JP): There were more protests and counter-protests over the government's ban against three news weeklies in many large cities over the weekend, with supporters of the government's move appearing to have the upper hand in Jakarta.

The Jakarta chapter of the Indonesian National Youth Committee (KNPI) issued a statement on Saturday giving its support to the bans against Tempo, DeTIK and Editor magazines.

It also blamed the Association of Indonesian Journalists (PWI) and the Association of Newspaper Publishers (SPS) and the Press Council for failing to control the behavior of the magazines.

Also on Saturday, two bus-loads of youths turned up at the Ministry of Information's office for a show of force in support the government, which has been the target of a barrage of protests and criticisms since it issued the ban on Tuesday.

The 50 young people, who called themselves "Young Generation against Liberal Press" (GMPPL), urged the government not to succumb to pressure to allow the three magazines, which they accused of indulging in "yellow press" journalism, to resume operations.

The youths were later bused to the House of Representative where they also denounced the three magazines during a meeting with a number of House members. One of their posters read "Tempo is poisonous, Editor is dirty, DeTIK is dummy."

"Long Live Harmoko" another poster read, referring to the minister of information whose decision was to ban the magazines.

Opponents of the bans decided to sit it out in Jakarta during the weekend, having conducted rallies on Wednesday and Thursday in front of the Ministry of Information's office. An earlier plan to march to the House of Representatives did not materialize, defusing a potential clash between the two opposing camps.

But outside Jakarta, their voices were louder than that of the government's supporters -- at least in Surabaya, capital of East Java, and in Mataram, capital of West Nusa Tenggara.

In these two cities, journalists, activists, students, artists, and intellectuals took to the streets demanding that the government allow the magazines to reappear in the name of democracy.

Opponents of the ban in Jakarta also began circulating a petition denouncing the government's clamp down on freedom of expression.

When the petition was first presented at a meeting at the Taman Ismail Marzuki art center on Friday night, it received the signatures of 80 literary and art figures.

Radhar Pancadahana, who is coordinating the petition, said the document will be presented to Harmoko when he holds a hearing with the House of Representatives this Wednesday.

The three magazines lost their publishing licenses after ignoring repeated government warnings over the way they were reporting events and or managing their operations. The decree was signed by Director General for Press and Graphics Subrata on behalf of Harmoko.

Subrata, during a meeting with four representatives of GMPPL on Saturday, appealed for restraint from all parties so the situation could be allowed to calm.

The group of representatives was led by Panhar Makowi.

Subrata also appealed to parties not directly concerned with the issue to refrain themselves. "Let the press community in Indonesia resolve the problem," he said.

KNPI Jakarta called for a special conference to present its statement on the issue.

While it supports the government bans, the committee appealed to the government to find ways of helping the 800 journalists and workers of the magazines which have been displaced, said Setu Alberto, deputy chief of the chapter.

KNPI is an umbrella group of dozens of youth organizations which often mobilizes its members for street demonstrations. One of the organizations is the Panca Marga Youth, which on Friday threatened to send its members to the street to counter any demonstration against the government's ban.

The KNPI Jakarta statement apparently did not have the support of all the organizations this time.

Representatives of the Indonesian Christian Students Movement (GMKI) and the Muhammadiyah Students Union (IMM), at the same press conference, let it be known that they had nothing to do with the statement.

"We denounce the ban of the magazines," cried John Tua Simarmata of the GMKI.

Meanwhile, 70 former journalists and employees of Editor visited PWI's headquarters in Jakarta on Saturday calling on the association to pressure the government to lift the ban. (05/arf/jsk/pwn/emb)