Indonesian Press Struggling Despite New Freedoms

by Andreas Harsono

"It's sort of strange. Usually we have to be very cautious with plainclothes officers. Now a guard even helped me with directions," said Goenawan with a laugh to the more than four dozens journalists in the crowded room.

His amazement did not stop there. A high-ranking official from the Ministry of Information, a government agency usually feared by journalists, also joined the meeting and gave a speech as television crews from the government-controlled TVRI let their cameras roll.

These are changing times for media workers in Indonesia. The collapse of Indonesia's currency and the consequent huge increases in the price of basic goods and foodstuff have triggered rioting and anger in many parts of the huge country.

Thousands of students and opposition protesters staged anti-government rallies that forced President Suharto, who had been in power since 1965, to step down on May 21.

Vice President B.J. Habibie took over the top job and in an apparent bid to gain public support released many political prisoners, embraced the protesting students, opened a dialogue with opposition figures and revoked some controversial rulings on the media.

The impact was quite surprising. The officially-unrecognized AJI can freely hold a seminar. Across Indonesia, many news organizations began to publish bolder reports on the reform movement, price hikes and corrupt officials.

TVRI ran interviews with several opposition leaders, including Megawati Sukarnoputri and Amien Rais, whose images had previously been banned. Indonesia's six channels also praised the students and showed images of the anti-Suharto street protests as radio stations started to hold talk shows.

Some magazines went further and published investigative reports on the Suhartos, who allegedly accumulated more than $30 billion during the rule of their patriarch.

Such a report was taboo and dangerous during the rule of the military-backed Suharto. The Ministry of Information could easily revoke the publishing license of a newspaper for "defaming President Suharto and his family."

Four AJI members, including AJI founding president Ahmad Taufik, were jailed separately for between two and three years in 1995 and 1996 for publishing an unlicensed newspaper and defaming Suharto.

"The press should now be brave and replace the excessive use of euphemism and slogans with direct, frank journalism," said Susanto, adding that one of the most encumbering remnants of the old regime was the "mental prison" often faced by journalists who had built a self-censorship mechanism after years of strong controls on their work.

But Muslim scholar and newspaper columnist Ulil Abshar-Abdalla reminded media workers to "institutionalize" the freedom as soon as possible, saying that just like farmers who had reclaimed their lands from the Suhartos, "Now the farmers are demanding [that] the new government issue their land titles. Journalists should also demand [that] the government change the press laws."

As if responding to the call, Information Minister Yunus Yosfiah, a close associate to Habibie, on June 5 revoked a controversial ruling which gives his ministry the right to revoke publishing licenses. He also declared that banned newspapers such as Goenawan's Tempo newsweekly, could again be published.

Yunus, an active Lieutenant General, also issued a series of new rulings on press and radio broadcasting which he said were part of "reformation in the information sector." Publishing companies no longer need government approval to appoint or to change their editors.

Applicants now need only to meet three conditions to start a publication: fill in an application form, register the company and present a list of executives. During the Suharto era, a publisher should go to a jungle of bureaucratic hurdles to get a publishing license. Around 40 signatures were needed to apply for a permit.

Another decree also revokes an older one that recognizes the government-controlled Association of Indonesian Journalists (PWI) as the only union for journalists and the Newspaper Publishers Association (SPS) as the sole voice of newspaper publishers.

"I'm proud that Yunus, who is a military officer, is highly committed to reform," said Fikri Jufri of the Matra men's magazine.

They said the basic problem is the existence of such a license. The government should abolish the "political permit" and require only a "business permit" of the media.

Gedsiri Suhartono, a 26-year-old reporter for the Kompas daily, the biggest serious newspaper in Indonesia, sees not much difference between the Suharto and the Habibie governments.

"Actually nothing changes," he said. "It's even worse. But to be fair, indeed, Habibie made some progressive decisions but only to get the public support."

"Whether Tempo will be republished or not is unimportant. The important thing is that the government must now guarantee freedom of the press," said Goenawan, whose leading weekly magazine was banned in 1994. For Indonesians, it was the equivalent of a ban on Time magazine to Americans.

Yunus pointed out that the problem now lies on the Indonesian parliament, saying that he could only alter the ministerial decrees but not the law. Currently the parliament, whose members were mostly handpicked by Suharto, is working on the new press law.

There is still a big question mark as to whether the parliamentarians could make real change. Nonetheless, journalists like Goenawan, who had openly opposed the Suharto regime, said that Yunus had contributed something to the Indonesian media.

Ironically Indonesian journalists got their relative freedom when most newspapers had difficulty buying newsprint and suffered from drastic cuts in ad income. The economic crisis has seen the rupiah lose around 80 percent of its value against the American dollar.

Major newspapers such as the Jakarta Post, Kompas and Republika have had to reduce the number of pages they publish. Other news organizations dismissed reporters and even closed their doors. Smaller "niche" media such as those on sports and entertainment have chosen to temporarily suspend publication.