The darling of the media
The darling of the media
The article titled Megawati laughs at Abdurrahman's move" (The
Jakarta Post, June 13, 2001) proves to me once more that the Post
sees through rose-colored spectacles when reporting about
Megawati Soekarnoputri's performance as vice president. Whatever
the Post wrote so far about her -- every sentence, every letter
and even the space between the lines -- sounds like a laud. It
seems that the Post makes Megawati an icon who is not supposed to
be criticized. There is nothing wrong if a daily or weekly
promotes a particular politician, this is common in all
democratic countries around the world; but such support shouldn't
get out of proportion.
A vice president is supposed to aid the president, but from
what I have observed, Megawati was not of much help for the
president. In fact, I cannot recall any action for which she
would deserve to be praised. So far, the Vice President hasn't
come up with any concrete suggestion on how she would solve the
nation's burning problems, for instance the economic crisis, the
separatist movements, the sectarian clashes in Maluku (which to
resolve she was given a special mandate by President Wahid), and
how to combat corruption, collusion and nepotism.
In fact, she has hardly ever made a public statement herself.
Headlines that read Megawati said..." usually turn out to mean
"...was quoted as saying...". That means that anything she "said"
can be questioned because one can never be sure whether it was an
authentic statement of hers or the opinion of one of her aides.
During the past weeks, the Vice President has given a most
questionable performance concerning her duties. She embarrassed
the blind President Wahid in front of an international audience
by refusing to read out his opening speech to the G-15
participants. She also refused to attend cabinet meetings, and
she didn't show up twice when new ministers were sworn in, only
because she was not comfortable with the President's cabinet
reshuffle. I wonder whether such behavior can be called
statesmanship?
If Megawati ignores the fact that she is still the Vice
President and has certain obligations, and if her so called "good
advisors" fail to remind her accordingly, then it should be the
duty of the media to do so. But instead, the media tend to turn a
blind eye to her weak performance.
Finally, I would like to remind the Post that all of its
readers are intellectually mature people who are quite capable of
making up their own minds about Megawati's performance, and who
cannot be manipulated by one-sided reporting.
MRS. HILDE MAY
Jakarta