The Jakarta Post: 23 June 2001
MEDIA: Opinion: INDONESIAN PRESS CHARGED WITH DISINFORMATION
The Indonesian press retains many of its less-than-satisfactory qualities three years into the so-called reform era. Pundits assessing press performance said in a recent discussion that they found that the "culture of lies", official statements, disinformation and biased reporting remained pervasive.
By HARRY BHASKARA
THE INDONESIAN press retains many of its less-than-satisfactory
qualities three years into the so-called reform era. Pundits assessing press
performance said in a recent discussio that they found that the
"culture of lies", official statements, disinformation and biased reporting
remained pervasive.
Through a pliant and unprofessional media, political actors readily find
partners willing to serve their often distasteful interests at the cost of
the public interest.
The military, for example, was adamant to impose a military emergency status
in troubled provinces like Aceh and Maluku during the early months of
President Abdurrahman Wahid's government. But now they are opposed even to
civil emergency.
"This about-face is reflective of the excellent disinformation campaign waged
by the military," said senior journalist Aristides Katoppo, one of the three
speakers in the discussion. By "excellent" Aristides meant the military's
ability to create a public image that it was opposed to the declaration of a
state of emergency, while in fact it was to the contrary.
"Even in the absence of a state of emergency the military was bold enough to
stage a defiant stance in front of the presidential palace," Aristides said,
referring to the 7,000 troops gathered near the palace earlier this month
following the firing of the national police chief.
He said the current rift between Abdurrahman and his Vice President Megawati
Soekarnoputri was the result of a skillful disinformation campaign worked out
by remnants of the New Order forces adept in "parroting" the rhetoric of the
pro-reform camp.
"It is Soehartoism without a Soeharto situation," he said.
Plans are afoot, Aristides said, that as soon as Megawati becomes president
she will be dethroned in the way Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan was toppled.
"These are circumstances where 'thief cries thief'. The perpetrators, who are
the actual thieves, wash their hands by first calling the other camps
thieves," he said, referring to the forthcoming "Benazir operation". The
question is whether or not the public are able to recognize who the real
"thieves" are, he said.
Aristides' description only indicates the extent of disinformation in a
country devastated by multiple crises. "I am sad to learn that such type of
conflict can occur during peace time," he said.
Andre Hardjana, a communications expert from the University of Indonesia, had
earlier said that disinformation clashes only normally occurred during times
of war.
"We have lived so long in a culture of lies that we are no longer able to
distinguish between truthful news and false news," Aristides said, referring
to the 30-year rule of Soeharto that abruptly came to an end in 1998.
The discussion on disinformation and biased reporting took place at Taman
Ismail Marzuki on June 13 and was organized by a group called Get-together
for Democracy, a polling and media studies institute.
An activist for the urban poor, Wardah Hafidz, said the press and the mass
media in general were guilty of presenting views based on orders by
unscrupulous parties. "Hence the saying, there is no demonstration without
the mass media," she said.
On the other hand, fierce business competition among the mass media has often
pushed public interests to the sidelines, she said. "The mass media has also
become a tool for money laundering. Owners of illicit money have acquired new
newspapers or television stations," she said.
Wardah, a sociologist, also said the system in which the media operated was
deeply embedded in feudal culture.
"The voice from the palace, statements from ministers dominate the news. Very
seldom are the common people heard except when they are dissenting against
the government or are beaten black and blue in bloodied rallies and riots,"
she said.
The mass media see things mostly in the same way the government looks at
things, she said.
"They regard the common people as an uneducated lot, dismissing their protest
rallies as the work of political engineering.
"If an NGO gets a donation, the mass media often say that it is exploitation
of the poor. But they heap the government with praise when it receives loans
from foreign countries.
"When the loan is drained by corruption, the mass media report that it is
committed by 'certain parties'," she said.
Wardah said that the press was still guilty of self-censorship and that it
needed to set up a new agenda of reporting away from palace, to the reporting
of people on the street.
"The news agenda should be set by the people, like they do in public hearings
in the United States, it should cover a wide variety of issues including
corruption, health, consumer protection," she said.
Hardjana emphasized that the press "must stop selling news only for the
powerful." Hardjana defined disinformation as treason against information.
Information is supposed to remove uncertainties, while disinformation, he
added, "prolong (uncertainties) as we can see around us today."
Aristides said that as journalists, "we are not adequately trained to deter
disinformation."
Citing the recent media centennial celebration of founding president
Sukarno's birthday, he said, the press could have studied newspaper reports
prior to the Sept. 30 1965 coup attempt and how the reports presented the
extent of the war of disinformation war with the involvement of foreign
forces.
"We learned from that period that disinformation was produced by wrapping
true information with an overwhelmingly amount of false information. It is a
bit like honey-coated poison," he said.
He cited the issue of the Council of Generals -- said to have planned the
seizure of power in the early 1960s -- that came to the fore during the
extraordinary military tribunal following the 1965 putsch.
When the tribunal was over, he said, the issue was turned upside down with
the government saying that the council was responsible for the promotion of
the ranks of generals.
Disinformation can also be made through the Internet or through an agency
such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Aristides said.
The issue of accountability that has formed the basis of the IMF's repeated
refusal of granting the much needed US$400 million aid was turned into the
issue of the independence of Bank Indonesia, he said.
"Why the fuss over the central bank's independence?" he said, adding that the
bank's laws were prepared by German experts.
The press, Aristides said, "expanded during the New Order period and found it
awkward to operate in an atmosphere of freedom." He added that the press was
too important to be left to the media alone or to the government.
"The press strives to defend the interests of the public but it never
consults the public. It may have conducted a polling on various issues but
never on themselves," Aristides said.