New Indonesian Laws A Threat To Free Press

New Indonesian Laws A Threat To Free Press: Activists

http://thejakartaglobe.com/news/new-indonesian-laws-a-threat-to-free-press-activists/351468

By Ismira Lutfia

JAKARTA (The Jakarta Globe/Pacific Media Watch): Though Indonesia was a leader among fellow Asean member nation in press freedom in 2009 and violence against journalists here has declined in recent years, media activists warned that the country should remain on guard.

Advocates have been relentless in their criticism of the government for introducing repressive laws, such as the controversial 2008 Information and Electronic Transaction Law (ITE) and the Freedom of Information Law, saying such measures are simply new ways to control the media.

A bill set for deliberation this year relating to information technology crimes — already labeled by the Alliance of Independence Journalists (AJI) as even “more repressive and stretchable” — is facing strong resistance, while further discussion on the state secrecy bill has been suspended after a public backlash because of its perceived goal of taming the media.

In its year-end review, the AJI said “these undemocratic laws are threatening cyberspace, known to be the freest form of media.”

The alliance also said that these laws often clashed with the nation’s ideals of freedom of expression and led to the prosecution of critics on defamation charges.

However, Press Council member Abdullah Alamudi said: “Indonesia is better off compared to other Asean countries in terms of its [media] laws even though in reality there are still attempts by the government to control the media.”

The World Press Freedom’s poll last year placed Indonesia in 101st place out of the 175 countries surveyed. It was 111th among 173 countries surveyed in 2008, when Burma ranked a dismal 171st.

Atmakusumah Astraatmadja, a Ramon Magsaysay honoree in 2000 for journalism, literature and the creative communication arts, said that “compared to most countries in Southeast Asia, we have to be thankful and need to keep working to maintain this position, especially since the [media] license-revoking laws of the New Order era no longer exist.”

However,” he added, “the new laws [are more accommodative to the government’s interest than to the public’s interest.”

A Burmese journalist, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told the Jakarta Globe that the media in that nation is subject to strict censorship under the junta’s oppressive body, the Press Scrutiny and Registration Division, which scans the contents of magazines and news journals once or twice a week.

The tight censorship rules discourage privately owned companies from publishing daily newspapers, unlike state-run newspapers, which are spared the screenings.

We often have paragraphs in our political-related news articles chopped or even whole articles removed. If we insist on publishing certain stories, we could be sued by the government,” said the journalist, adding that the censorship body was “a huge hindrance and hampers our work as journalists.”

The journalist also said that the junta has warned reporters and media outlets that “a troubling article” could result in the offending organization’s license being suspended.

The situation faced by journalists from Cambodia is only slightly better. That country ranks 117th, the second-best in Asean in the World Press Freedom survey. Freedom House, a separate NGO that advocates for political freedoms, dropped Cambodia’s press freedom status from “partly free” to “not free” in its 2009 rankings as a result of increased violence against journalists.

Alamudi said there was almost no press freedom in Cambodia under the authoritarian rule of the government ,which imposes strict control over the media.

Say Soeun, a journalist from English-language daily newspaper the Phnom Penh Post, said that a journalist in his country could end up in jail for being too critical of the government.

"I can only hope that the government allows our journalists more freedom in the future,” said Soeun, adding that there were journalists in prison because their organisations had taken an oppositional stance to the government .

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