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New Indonesian Government Challenged Not To Curb Press Freedom
JAKARTA, July 27 (IslamOnline) - An influential member of the Indonesian lower legislative body, the DPR, Sutradara Gintings said on Friday that all political parties should reject the reactivation of a defunct Press Freedom control body in Indonesia.
He was commenting on reports that the new Indonesian president intends to re-invent the Information Department of the Information Ministry.
The department was the instrument created by the regime of General Suharto in order to control the press and its freedom.
The curb on press freedom denied the Indonesian people of vital information on the "dilapidation" and the "abuses of human rights" during the Suharto era, a student of the Law told IslamOnline.
Students, press organizations, print and online newspapers, as well as several concerned parliamentarians and members of the legislative body, said they would oppose any move to re-introduce press control.
It is not certain whether President Megawati Sukarnoputri will get the support of Amien Rais or that of newly elected Vice President Hamza Haz. Both leaders fought the Suharto regime towards the end of the latter's rule.
Rais was instrumental in the scrapping of the Press control body during former president B.J. Habibie's tenure.
The Speaker of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), currently Rais, is regarded as the guardian of democracy after the successful bid to "democratically" oust former president Abdurrahman Wahid from power.
Gintings said that his position was clear. He would not want the Information Department to be created to become another Press Control body in order to place curbs on press freedom.
"What is certain is that I do not support such an institution that would curb on Press Freedom. I do not know why they want to create such a department anyway?" he said to the press.
In Jakarta, speculation has it that Agung Laksono, a Megawati aide, would head the department.
Gintings said instead of controlling the press, there should be a form of support for both the print media and Internet news sources in the country in order to help the people get all the information they want.
His strong stance for maintaining press freedom in the country was hailed as a brave act by students and journalists who commented they would fight for what they acquired after the fall of Suharto.
Gandhi Sukardi, a member of the influential English news and analysis web site, www.laksamana.net, wrote that the media had made it known to the new rulers that press freedom must not in anyway suffer under whatever pretext during Megawati's rule.
Other web site owners running news sites on the Internet also voiced similar warnings.
Writer Mohamad Isa Selamat, editor for www.warisanmelayu.com, told IslamOnline he was worried the new regime would impose serious cuts on press freedom. He insisted that press freedom must be guaranteed and that the new regime must make sure the days of Suharto were well over.
Former president Wahid had a high respect for freedom of the press at the start of his administration, but gradually accused the media of biased reporting.
He said they were "twisting the facts" and at the end, blamed journalists for false reporting at the expense of his policy, and towards the detriment of his personal leadership.
He threatened to re-open the press control body in order to curb "miss-reporting". He failed to do so due to intense pressure from within his own cabinet and the ministry of information.
Gandhi Sukardi wrote, "The hard working journalists [in Indonesia], are still struggling economically to keep their heads above water."
He added that journalists do not want their vocational freedom as a source of information, and at times, inspiration for many, "to be robbed so to speak, by the power-holders under the Mega era."
"Rightly or wrongly, this new government should not act like a[n] authoritarian regime under earlier administrations. No journalist should be sent to jail or his office be closed simply because he has made a mistake or due to human error," he said.
With additional reporting by Kazi Mahmood
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