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"Everywhere, the rule of law is at its lowest ebb. Street justice is the order of the day. In this chaotic situation, it is neither the law nor the authorities that are considered the biggest threat by the Indonesian media."

The Role of Indonesian Journalists
By: Susanto Pudjomartono
February 10, 2000

What is the state of freedom of the press in Indonesia today? Demands for more transparency and openness have been growing since the Indonesian press won its freedom in 1998. But does press freedom really work? Following are two stories that illustrate the difficulties of the current situation.
On August 8, 1999, Jakarta police detectives invited several reporters, including a cameraman from the private TV station SCTV, to cover a drug raid. Their target was a hotel in west Jakarta where a big transaction was allegedly going to take place. True enough, there was a drug bust. Two young men were apprehended in one of the hotel rooms, where the police found and seized 3.7 kilograms of shabu-shabu (crystal metamphetamine), 6,218 ecstasy pills, 27.8 grams of heroin, 25 sachets of Valium pills, some 3 million rupiah in cash (about US$400), and a pistol.
The TV crew caught the raid on video. They also filmed the two suspects being roughed up by the police and then confessing to their true identity. One of them, 2nd Lt. Agus Isrok, 22, turned out to be a member of the Army Special Force (Kopassus) and is the eldest son of Gen. Subagyo Hadisiswoyo, then Army Chief of Staff.
When he discovered Isrok's identity, the Jakarta police chief immediately released the suspect and sent him to his father's home. Although the raid was aired by SCTV the very next day and reported by the newspapers the day after, the Jakarta police disavowed any knowledge of Isrok's arrest. Later, a police source leaked to the press that the dossier on Isrok's arrest was "missing" from the police files.
Weeks passed and whenever reporters asked questions about the Isrok case, the Jakarta police refused to answer and maintained their silence. Rumor has it that Isrok has either been under military police custody or under Kopassus protection. Gen. Subagyo himself has stuck to his standard statement: "No comment." Five months afterward, there seems to be no crack in the wall of silence that surrounds the case. Many people are afraid that the case will eventually join the many unsolved cases (the kidnapping of activists in 1997 and 1998, the killings of student demonstrators in 1997 and 1998 and many others), and will end in the depths of the so-called X-files...
On August 30, 1999, the South Jakarta District Court sentenced Hoessein Madilis, the managing editor of the biweekly Warta Republik tabloid, to six months in jail for publishing a falsified report of an alleged "triple sex scandal," involving former Vice President Try Soetrisno, former minister of defense Edi Sudradjat, and a widow, identified only as "Nani."
In his verdict, the presiding judge contended that the defendant had failed to provide strong evidence that Try Soetrisno and Edi Sudradjat were involved in a fight for a woman. The conclusion: the defendant had defamed both Try and Edi and therefore had violated Article 310 of the criminal code, which carries a maximum four-year jail sentence.
The most interesting part of the case is the bizarre story behind the story, as disclosed by Hoessein in interviews with a number of publications prior to his trial.
According to Hoessein, the story started a few years ago when, during a driving trip, he made a stop in Cirebon, a coastal city some 200 km east of Jakarta. There, he gave a lift to a woman he identified as Nani. During the conversation, Nani confessed to him that she once lived in Jakarta as a "call girl" and she bragged how famous she was, with many men vying for her affections. She told Hoessein that two of her "admirers," Try Soetrisno and Edi Sudradjat, once had a fight over her.
The years passed. Suddenly Hoessein found himself in a new environment. The fall of Soeharto in May 1998 was followed by the liberation of the Indonesian press. Publication licenses, which in the past were a major obstacle to setting up newspapers, could now be easily obtained. Hossein, who has some experience as a reporter, was now appointed managing editor of a tabloid. In the midst of the fierce market competing for readers and in an effort to outdo other tabloids, he suddenly remembered his encounter with Nani, the widow. Believing that the public should know about the scandal, he decided to publish the story in November 1998. He put a banner headline, titled "Triple Love Story of Two Generals."
When asked whether he has tried to reconfirm the story with Nani, he replied ""How could I do that. I don't even know her present whereabouts?" In response to questions on his effort to check and confirm the story with the two men who were allegedly Nani's lovers, Hoessein simply said, "They are high ranking officers. It is very difficult to interview them." However, he confessed that he did once tried to call Try on the telephone, but could not make a connection.
The two stories are perhaps extreme examples of the state of freedom of the press in Indonesia. But it shows how freedom of the press is perceived by different people in this country. The first story is related to access to information, and the second is perhaps one that demonstrates excess of information.
The two examples also show that the challenges of freedom of the press in Indonesia come not only from outside the press, but also from within the press, and both have to be addressed simultaneously
The first story shows how access to information is still a big problem here. The Press Law vaguely stipulates that "the national press reserves the right to look for, obtain and disseminate ideas and information." The Freedom of Information Act has yet to be formulated here. But, anyway, who really cares about law? After all, in Indonesia at the moment, the supremacy of the law is still something to be dreamed about.
Everywhere, the rule of law is at the moment at its lowest ebb. Street justice is the order of the day. In hundreds of cases, perhaps thousands, people-turned-into-mobs have taken justice into their own hands. Thieves, burglars, or people who have allegedly committed crimes have been beaten to death by mobs. Scores of soldiers and police officers have been caught red-handed committing burglaries. Villagers by the hundreds, or even thousands, attacked, ransacked and burned, other villages, or looted state estates. Thousands of people have been killed in communal conflicts that seem to occur everyday and everywhere. People seem to be easily angered and provoked and resort to violence to settle disputes. Lawlessness seems to prevail everywhere.
In this chaotic situation, it is neither the law nor the authorities that are considered the biggest threat by the Indonesian media. The Big Brother who used to carry a big stick and was always ready to bludgeon the press whenever it made mistakes has gone. The clear and present danger is in the form of people who could turn hostile if their protest against a certain press report is not immediately addressed to their satisfaction, either by correcting the "mistakes" or make a public apology. And in Indonesia today, where "mob politics" has taken root (and a mob is something that could be "engineered" and organized), the threat of a mob is something that should be taken seriously.
With regard to access to information, the new environment of freedom does not immediately change the mindset of many officials. A case in point is the reluctance of financial and banking officials to release the report of an independent audit on the scandal-ridden Bank Bali a few months ago. Only after some pressure from the International Monetary Fund did the officials reluctantly agree to release the information.
As mentioned before, the challenges of freedom also come from within the press. In the 30 years or more of the authoritarian regime of Soeharto, the press has neglected to improve its infrastructure. The education and training of journalists were practically ignored because the most important law then was the law of survival. Surviving the Big Brother's threats was top priority. Moreover, in an authoritarian regime where the press is tightly controlled, investigative journalism (except on apolitical issues such as prostitution) could be dangerous.
Consequently, when freedom has been achieved, and the press is free to report anything it wants, many journalists found themselves not equipped with the best knowledge and expertise to practice their craft. Investigative reporting, for example, is a new craft for many reporters.
In short, many Indonesian journalists suffer from a lack of professionalism, both in journalistic competence and in ethical competence, not to mention business competence. Many journalists here just could not grasp that in the long run people read a newspaper because they trust the newspaper, because they trust the people working at the newspaper.
Therefore, journalists must prove that they are trustworthy. They must be professionally competent and firmly adhere to the professional code of ethics. They must not compromise their integrity. For at stake in their reporting is the credibility of the institution in which they work.
Yet, we should not be pessimistic even if the media landscape seems gloomy. There have been many improvements in the last couple of years. Most heartening is the noticeable growing awareness among media workers and media institutions that the responsibility for the much-needed improvement lies in themselves. The establishment of a number of media watch institutions in the past one year, for example, is an evidence.
All in all, one can conclude that the Indonesian press is on the right track. There is no denying that Indonesia now is on the road toward real democracy. Democratization is a long learning process. Hence, one of the roles of journalists here is to empower citizens so they can take part in democracy building. They can do this by informing the public of their duties and responsibilities, and by showing them that only with a vibrant civil society can their freedom can be assured.

Susanto Pudjomartono is chief editor of the Jakarta Post. .This piece was presented as a paper at the PCIJ-SEAPA Access to Information forum in Jakarta on February 10, 2000.
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