BJ Habibie, rescuer of Indonesia's press

Post-Suharto reforms were dramatic but there is still a long way to go

Former Constitutional Court Chief Justice Mohammad Mahfud MD in a conference Saturday hailed Indonesia's free press, noting its importance in holding the judiciary and the government to account. "From legislative, government, and judiciary, only the press is successful. You can say that the press excessively opens up [a case] as wide as possible. The press is able to overcome oligarchy," said the popular legal expert and potential presidential candidate.

Indeed, the restoration of press freedom by then-president BJ Habibie following the 1998 ouster of President Suharto was probably the single biggest reform the nation has experienced. Newspapers, TV stations and Web portals have proliferated and the accompanying boom in social media means that politicians are quick to have their every foible dissected somewhere.

But it is far from a perfect picture. There are still bad laws on the books, and ownership of the media -- especially large TV news operations is virtually all controlled by large conglomerates where either commercial or political considerations color coverage.

Aburizal Bakrie's TVOne is a 24-hour news channel with predictably upbeat coverage of the Golkar leader, mining tycoon and presidential aspirant. Metro TV, the biggest Indonesian news channel, is controlled by politician and tycoon Suhrya Paloh of the NasDem Party. Businessman Chairul Tanjung, who is also presumed to harbor presidential aspirations, owns the large TransTV operation, which features both news and entertainment, and the dominant Detik.com news site.

Hary Tanoesoedibjo, a Chinese entrepreneur and political operator, runs the MNC group, which has TV, radio, newspapers and Web sites and calls itself the largest media group in the country. He is currently aligned with the Hanura Party of Suharto-era general Wiranto. The relatively minor Berita Satu Media Group, which owns the influential Jakarta Globe English newspaper, other dailies and a cable news channel, is controlled by the Lippo Group, whose president is the deputy chairman of the Golkar Party. Even the vaunted Kompas newspaper, Indonesia largest, is not immune to political and commercial colorations, insiders say.

In other words, commercial and political pressures are a daily fact of life in most large newsrooms. But so is the constant stream of social media, twitter and other forms of alternative media that keep the powers that be under an often uncomfortable microscope of public scrutiny.

Doubtless conservative religious groups, local thugs and powerful interests can bring pressure to bear to censor entertainment shows from time to time and keep particularly uncomfortable books off the shelf. And while Indonesian journalists may be able to carry out their work with few government threats, the general public is still being nannied by a restrictive government that decides what they should see and hear. Press freedom is more than not being physically threatened and attacked.

Originally posted here:

Indonesia Squeezes Freedom of Expression