Wanted: Neutral local political observers

Wanted: Neutral local political observers

By Santi W.E. Soekanto

JAKARTA (JP): Pity the journalists whose commitment to
objective reporting compels them to not only "cover both sides"
at all costs, but to also seek the comments of "neutral"
political observers to help the public make sense of the
situation.

This is because a reporter today needs to think long and hard
before she or he can come up with even one name of a so-called
objective observer. When one reporter did remember a respected
political analyst and tried to contact him, the scholar was away
for a teaching program in Wisconsin, U.S., and his secretary did
not have his email address.

Many of the observers whose names and pictures appear so
frequently in the media have recently displayed a leaning toward
one of the sides involved in the current political battle between
President Abdurrahman Wahid and legislators led by Amien Rais and
Akbar Tandjung.

Their assessment of the situation would therefore be less than
objective.

Actually, Indonesian journalists have always found it
difficult to obtain objective analysis from our political
observers -- at least for the past 10 years.

During the last years of the New Order regime, when Soeharto
became frantic at his weakening grip over Indonesia and responded
by becoming even more repressive, being objective could mean jail
for political commentators.

Speaking the truth, for journalists and analysts alike, meant
being courageous fools during those times. Printing any words
that criticized government policies meant telephone threats --
sometimes even physical attacks -- by some lowly ranked military
officers carrying out orders from their top brass.

Hence the giddy rush that would come after having done
something right in the face of danger, when one discovered a
political scientist who dared to speak his mind.

"He's good, he's brave, we need more interviews with him,"
said an editor of an analyst at the University of Indonesia,
happy because he could borrow the analyst's words to trash
Soeharto's government and earn the reputation of being the editor
of a "courageous newspaper" in the process.

"Ooh, our analyst just received a telephone threat because of
what he said in our newspaper. We will soon be getting some of
that too," the editor raved.

This analyst soon became popular and won the respect of
readers and journalists alike. Soon after the reform movement
toppled Soeharto, however, the analyst gradually lost his
impartial assessment of the political situation and recently
appeared to have been dragged to one of the many sides in the
current, confusing polarization of political forces.

"Let's not interview him, he's been co-opted by Gus Dur
already," said the editor.

Maybe the analyst is not really to blame. Maybe he is
practicing what international scholars like Edward Said have
advocated, namely taking sides with the weak and the downtrodden.
The analyst did that during Soeharto's regime; he is probably
thinking that in the current political conflict, President
Abdurrahman Wahid is the weaker party.

But still, spare a thought for journalists. They may find it
easier to get mere soundbites from just about anybody attached to
some scholarly institutions, but are having a much harder time
trying to obtain impartial comments on the situation.

When the International Monetary Fund (IMF) once again slapped
Abdurrahman's wrists and canceled the disbursement of its US$ 400
million loan installment, editors were hard up for comments.

"We used to be able to call up Andi Mallarangeng, Sjahrir,
Didik Rachbini, Riswandha Imawan or Dewi Fortuna Anwar for
analysis of the latest carrot-and-stick ploys by the IMF," an
editor complained, "but we can't now. Not after they signed their
petition for Gus Dur's resignation; they would just use this
opportunity to slap Gus Dur even harder."

Editors and journalists, of course, can still make the best of
the situation by inviting the comments of scholars from all
camps, and let the readers judge for themselves.

The writer is a journalist of The Jakarta Post.