Press Freedom Under Threat In Indonesia
JAKARTA (TAPOL/Pacific Media Watch): Press freedom in Indonesia is coming under sustained attack from big business and
the courts with the encouragement of Megawati Sukarnoputri's government. A number of lawsuits for libel have been filed
against publications in Jakarta. In addition, the military is exercising tight control over journalists in Aceh, who
have been warned to toe the nationalist line in their coverage of the war in the province.
These developments represent a serious reversal of the democratic gains, which followed the downfall of the Suharto
regime in May 1998.
In 1999, as part of the post-Suharto reformasi process, Press Law 40/1999 was enacted which grants important protections
to the media while making provision for the establishment of a Press Council to mediate between the media and the
public. Under this post-Suharto arrangement, the state lost its power to ban publications. As a result however, attacks
on press freedom are coming from big business and the courts while there has been a rush of complaints against the press
using the Criminal Code, not Press Law 40/1999, because it permits far heavier penalties.
Since early 2003, a number of lawsuits have been filed against the Tempo weekly, one of Indonesia's leading
publications, which was banned twice during the Suharto era. Leading the attack is the country's most influential
businessman, Tomy Winata, who has extensive banking and real estate interests and close ties with the military as well
as with the criminal underworld.
A week after an article appeared in Tempo on 3 March 2003 citing allegations that Winata may have been behind a fire
that gutted 5,500 kiosks in Tanah Abang market, Jakarta, a gang of thugs attacked the publication's editorial office,
threatening to burn it down. The police were present at the scene but did nothing to stop the attack.
In May 2003, members of a youth group, Pemuda Panca Merdeka attacked a leading human rights organisation, Kontras. When
this attack was reported in Tempo, leaders of the PPM assailed Tempo for reporting the incident. Although initially it
appeared that an agreement would be reached between PPM and Tempo, the youth organisation unexpectedly changed tack and
filed a lawsuit against the publication in December 2003.
The 1999 press law provides for anyone dissatisfied at their treatment by the press to use their right of reply.
However, the criminal code still retains an article introduced during the Dutch colonial era regarding the crime of
defamation which provides for a penalty of up to four years in prison or a possible eight years 'for publishing an
article that could cause unrest'. There have been repeated calls for the repeal of these 'hate-articles', which are now
being used to frame Tempo's chief editor, Bambang Harymurti, as well as well editor Iskandar Ali and reporter Ahmad
Taufiq.
Goenawan Mohamad, a co-founder of Tempo back in 1974, called on journalists in February to stand together against these
assaults on the press, saying that Indonesia should not be allowed to fall into the hands of a gang of criminals. This
statement has resulted in his being charged by Winata for libel. In the early stages of the trial, the court ordered
that his home be seized as collateral against a possible claim for damages in the event that he loses the case, though
he is still resident in the house. The case is still ongoing.
In June 2003, Tempo's sister publication, Koran Tempo, published an article citing allegations that Winata is linked to
illegal gambling. This resulted in a lawsuit for libel and a record judgement ordering the publication to pay US$1
million damages to Winata as well as publishing apologies on three consecutive days in several national newspapers. The
publication has appealed against this verdict.
Media workers have strongly denounced the way in which the criminal code is being used against journalists and
publications, while the press law is being ignored. This strategy is supported by Syamsul Mu'arif, the minister for
communications and information, who is on record as saying (Jakarta Post, 24 February 2004) that the criminal code will
be used against journalists because it allows harsher penalties against offending journalists than the press law.
Explaining that the government is now pressing for a revision of the press law, he said that until this happens, the
criminal code will be used.
Other publications have also been targeted. Late last year, a Jakarta court handed down a six-month suspended sentence
against Supratman, the executive editor of the popular tabloid, Rakyar Merdeka and a five-month suspended sentence
against Karim Paputungan of the same publication for publishing articles that are deemed to have insulted President
Megawati and the speaker of parliament, Ahmad Tanjung.
There is a danger that the new constraints will force jounalists to exercise self-censorship. TAPOL strongly condemns
these blatant attacks on freedom of the press in Indonesia and warns that this poses a grave threat to the process of
democratisation as a whole. If this trend is not reversed, other hard-won freedoms that followed in the wake of the
downfall of Suharto and the end of his reviled dictatorship will also be lost.
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PACIFIC MEDIA WATCH is an independent, non-profit, non-government organisation comprising journalists, lawyers, editors
and other media workers, dedicated to examining issues of ethics, accountability, censorship, media freedom and media
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the South Pacific, Bushfire Media based in Sydney, Journalism Studies at the University of PNG (UPNG), the Australian
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