Maverick Indonesia

Press Freedom in Doubt

Indo Pos reported on Monday, January 28th, 2008, that Aliansi Jurnalis Indonesia (AJI) is protesting against the decision by the President’s Press and Media Bureau for refusing to issue media passes to a number of journalists. The said the refusal might be because of articles written by the journalists who were denied the passes.

The Jakarta Post’s Abdul Khalik , for instance, was quoted as saying that he suspects he was denied a media pass because of his story about hotel payment mark ups during 2006 ASEAN Conference in Manila.

Inilah.com’s Mega Simarmata said she has been receiving unfriendly treatment from the Palace after writing Lidah Tak Bertulang, a story about Letjen TNI Agustadi Sasongko Purnomo’s appointment as KSAD. Pos Kota’s Endang Mihardi said she was still unclear about the reason behind the refusal.

A Palace officer, D.J. Nachrowi, said that this issue is yet to be confirmed, and the reason some journalists were not issued passes was because there was only a limited number of cards available. Nachrowi added that the Palace reserved the right to accept or deny all applications for media passes.

Nachrowi also uttered a telling statement according to IndoPos: “So, we have to be like a family. If someone can’t be one, we have the right to revoke the media pass for the Palace.

There’s a mixed message here and makes you wonder if the journalists did not get the passes because the palace ran out of cards or the journalists did not behave like good family members.

We think that the Palace should clarify why exactly the journalists aren’t getting their passes. Afterall, the President SBY has given his personal assurance that there would be Press Freedom and such ambiguity, if allowed to persist, would only cast doubts on the administration’s commitment to this promise.