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.