Use The Pen To Promote Peace - Vice President

Vice-President Calls On Press To Reduce News Which May Trigger Radicalism

DENPASAR, Bali (Via ETAN/Pacific Media Watch) - Vice President Jusuf Kalla called on the press to reduce the publication of news which might trigger radicalism and instead contribute to bringing about peace in the world.

"A journalist's pen is much sharper than a soldier's bayonet, and thus the media plays a strategic role in creating peace," he said on Sunday, 21 January 2007 when opening the Bali Global Forum.

Addressing 300 participants from 30 countries, Kalla said the impact of news broadcasts or coverage as well as short-message-services could be much stronger than the capabilities of a tank.

The mass media and electronic coverage have a strong impact on the creation of peace, he said, adding that the press should be able to encourage the promotion of peace and dialogue among people of different religious creeds.

Meanwhile, State Minister for Communications and Information Sofyan A. Djalil said the meeting organized jointly by the Indonesian government and the United Nations Organization for Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO) is aimed at identifying practical parameters that might benefit both the mass media and means of information and communication.

This was meant to gain free access to information, the ability to use the mass media and the means of information and communications in bringing about peace, he added. The current era of technology and information provides chances to find practical ways to use the means of communication and information to create peace.

Indonesia is using this opportunity to promote tourism and culture through the "Bali Landscape" in the hope of inclusion in the World Cultural Heritage listing, Sofyan said.

Some international panelists delivered lectures at the meeting held from January 20 to 23, including former Foreign Affairs Minister, Ali Alatas, telecommunications expert and former Rector of Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), Prof Dr Ir Iskandar Alisyahbana, and Managing Director of Kompas Jakob Oetama.

The Bali Global Forum is a follow up of the decision which was made at the 22th UNESCO General Assembly in Paris on October 10, 2005, and the discussions between the Indonesian delegation and UNESCO at the 4th Intergovernmental Council for Information of All Programs (IC-IFAP) UNESCO in Paris in March 2006.

Several leading international media groups, including CNN, Al Jazeera, international non-governmental organizations, Nobel Prize winners, religious leaders, political journalists and journalists took part in the meeting. (Antara, 22 January 2007)

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