Waning Press Freedom in Indonesia

The figures are worrying. Last year, attacks on journalists rose from 53 in 2006 to 75. That's the result Heru Hendratmoko, the president of AJI, the Alliance of Independent Journalists, recently presented in Indonesia's capital Jakarta.

The alliance monitors the Indonesian media -- physical attacks, threats and legal complaints against journalists are on the up. Many journalists are worried about growing legal uncertainty.

In 1999, the information ministry, which had exercised a strict control of the media, was shut down and a national press law was introduced to protect media freedom. However, Heru Hendratmoko says this is being used less and less and that when there are cases involving journalists, "the judge, prosecutors and police always use criminal code articles. That's why there are still many journalists facing the courts after writing on certain issues such as corruption."

"That's why we're complaining to the police, to the prosecutors, to the judges, that they should use the press law instead of the criminal code, but these complaints have been falling on deaf ears. Hendratmoko fears the government wants to roll back press freedom because at the moment it has no authority to interfere with the media.

Jailed in Yogjakarta

The most recent example of the criminal code being used against journalists is the case of the chief editor of the newspaper "Radar Yogya" in the central Javanese city of Yogjakarta.

"One of our journalists in Yogjakarta was accused of defamation for writing about a local businessman who also owned the local newspaper," explained Eko Maryadi, the Indonesia correspondent for Reporters Without Borders.

"Apparently, the guy is also the second king of Jogjakarta -- he was unhappy about the reporting of the media and made a lawsuit against our colleague, who now has to serve six months in prison because of the Supreme Court's decision."

Media tycoons

Media tycoons control large sectors of the market as well as the content -- they do not value investigative journalism. Bambang Harymurti found this out for himself.

The chief editor of TEMPO, the country's most important news magazine, was sued a few years ago for his reporting on the dubious business practices of Tommy Winata, a businessman and media tsar.

Harymurti was even handed a jail sentence but this was never enforced. He continued to publish reports criticising corruption and nepotism but he is sceptical about current developments.

"I'm worried that media are interested in doing really investigative [journalism]. One: because of the risk and two: because of the ownership of the media, especially in the electronic media, which are owned by just a few business people with their own interests. Although they are the ones who have the resources to carry out investigative journalism."

Heru Hendratmoko from the Alliance of Independent Journalists the problem is exacerbated by a lack of professionalism among Indonesian journalists and the fact that they are incredibly underpaid.

Although some media outlets are doing their best to do quality reporting, he says there needs to be a code of ethics, more money and more legal protection if the overall quality of content in the Indonesian media is to improve.