What free press is all about

What free press is all about

The National Press Day yesterday also marked the 50th
anniversary of the Indonesian Journalists Association. Wimar
Witoelar looks at the bumpy road journalists have to travel in
their venture toward freedom of the press.

JAKARTA (JP): Much of the talk about freedom of the press is
like "mirror, mirror on the wall, am I the freest of them all?"

The answer, is that like everything else, the press is part of
everything else. You cannot have a free press in a culture which
is not free.

Conversely, democratic tradition will certainly produce a free
press. What good are new tires if your car's engine block is
busted? What good is a free press if your country is oppressed?

To lead the fight for freedom? That is a romantic notion,
which hardly ever holds in real life. The process of
democratization is complex and requires simultaneous reform in
many sectors. Relying on the press to reform society is asking
too much from a single institution.

In the many cases when censorship and bans have hit the press,
the political environment shaped the decisions in a reactive way.
Mochtar Lubis had his Indonesia Raya daily banned in 1974 in the
aftermath of the Malari riots. Goenawan Mohamad had his Tempo
magazine banned in 1994 over the German battleship deal.

Action against press freedom is not based on any comprehensive
policy. The principles of press development and guidance
routinely recited just make things fuzzier.

Examining press control policy is best done by analyzing
personal or group motives of the people in power, rather than
any other seemingly substantial matters

Officials, whose main concerns are personal survival and
career enhancement, are often under pressure to deliver political
results to their superiors.

If someone is under pressure, they will either lash out or lie
low. That is why political analysis in Indonesia is so similar to
watching a soap opera and why palace politics has not yielded to
people politics.

My advice to myself, as I am hardly in a position to advise
anyone else, is not to take myself too seriously. We rarely have
the power to change things, just like sailors cannot create the
wind. But they can use the wind, and if they are skilled, they
can travel independently of the wind's direction.

Jumping several steps in logical sequence, this means that
unlike the people in authority, the press should have a much
simpler job. Because it is easier to stay true to the principles
of a free press than to try to develop a uniquely "Indonesian"
press ethic when it is a euphemism for self-censorship.

I learned something from a conversation with an English friend
recently. I asked him: "Jakarta must be pretty disappointing to
you after witnessing the modernity of Singapore?"

To my surprise his answer was negative. He finds Singapore
boring. It was "totalitarian", he said. "Hmm, isn't Indonesia the
same?" His candid answer: "Yes, but at least everybody is
complaining."

When you think of it, you do hear everybody complaining. There
are the scholars, the philosophers, and the moral leaders.
Indonesia is fortunate to have them to inspire us.

Then there are those who speak bravely against the regime, and
complain about oppression. They are the darlings of the world
press and well-meaning global democrats. Then of course there are
the bad guys who live off the nation's riches and distribute
power and money with equal agility. They complain about people
(and the press) getting in their way.

Finally, there are ordinary people like you and me who do not
want trouble but cannot accept injustice. We need to be secure
but who also want to be free. These should be the constituencies
of tomorrow's Indonesian press.

The workers, traders, housewives, shopkeepers, professionals.
They are now creating the new Indonesia underneath the shell
which is slowly cracking. No overt political action is needed to
encourage the process.

But these ordinary people need the press to assure them they
are recognized. Less suffocating official jargon and less
conflict-oriented negative reporting will do wonders to make
people realize Indonesia is still a fine place to in which to
live.

Taking strong positions is important, not necessarily always
in opposition to the system, but always in tune with the concerns
of ordinary people.

The most basic implication is to be aware that markets are
better beacons than politics.

When newspapers are loyal to their readers, radio shows to
their listeners, and when TV shows respect their fans, ways will
always be found to communicate information, ideals and even
values. And that is what a free press is all about.

The writer is a talk-show host whose popular Perspektif
program on SCTV ended abruptly last September after being on the
air every week for almost two years. His new program Perspektif
Baru is regularly on M97 FM radio.