[Kabar-indonesia] 80 media leaders, editors from 51 countries meet in Indonesia

[Joyo at aol.com]

also: Free, pluralist press helps promote tolerance

The Jakarta Post 
Saturday, September 2, 2006

Media leaders to discuss global challenges

Endy M. Bayuni and Luh Putu Trisna Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post, Nusa Dua

About 80 media leaders and editors from 51 countries are gathering here for 
the Global Inter-Media Dialogue in an effort to promote freedom of expression 
and diversity.

The forum, to be officially opened by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on 
Saturday, will discuss various contentious issues faced by world media and seek 
ways of promoting greater tolerance.

Participants arriving Friday came with modest expectations about what could 
be achieved.

"We are facing complicated issues and these are useful exercises to hash them 
out," said Mike Chinoy, long known as a CNN reporter but who is now with the 
Los Angeles-based Pacific Council on International Policy.

Another familiar face from CNN who is now with Aljazeera International, Riz 
Khan, said the forum would serve to allow an exchange of views between 
journalists from the East and the West.

"It's good to see that there is a desire to discuss some issues."

Some are hoping for more tangible outcomes. Siri Mannes, Norway's TV2 anchor, 
said she wished to see an exchange program for journalists, for example an 
Indonesian working in her TV network and for a Norwegian to spend time working 
in an Indonesian media.

Ghazanfar Ali Khan of Arab News said he wanted the forum institutionalized 
and a permanent secretariat established, and hoped that the forum could devise a 
global code of conduct for journalists.

Meanwhile, an Indonesian Foreign Ministry official denied a report that an 
Israeli journalist invited to the forum had been denied a visa to enter 
Indonesia.

"We asked him to come on a different travel document, but he refused," the 
official said of Yossi Sarid, a journalist, Israel's former education minister 
and a strong promoter of peace and dialog with the Muslim world.

Co-sponsored by Yudhoyono and Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, the 
gathering aims at bridging the wide gaps between people of diverse religions 
and cultures.

"We are taking this initiative because we recognize the important role the 
media has in providing a free flow of news and information," the two leaders 
said in their joint statement.

The forum will discuss a range of topics, including increased global 
communications, cultural and religious sensitivity, freedom of expression and the role 
of media in a complex and multicultural world.

The recent Prophet Muhammad cartoon controversy was just one extreme example. 
Their publishing, despite the prohibition in Islam of depictions of the 
Prophet, sparked intense debate and even violence in several countries. In other 
parts of the world, some newspaper publishers decided not to publish the images, 
leading to a parallel debate about freedom of expression.

The integrity of news stories has been threatened by various factors, 
including stiff media competition, time constraints, limited access to sources and 
lack of knowledge about the culture, history and religions of people living in 
different parts of the world. 

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The Jakarta Post 
Saturday, September 2, 2006

Free, pluralist press helps promote tolerance

Endy M. Bayuni, Nusa Dua Beach, Bali

Multiculturalism, or the notion of people of different cultures coexisting 
peacefully, is not an alien concept to Indonesia.

If anything, multiculturalism, or its broader form, pluralism, defines 
Indonesia.

The state motto of "Unity in Diversity" is not merely symbolic words; it is a 
statement of what Indonesia stands for.

As a predominantly Muslim nation, Indonesia's diversity goes beyond just 
religion.

The people in western Indonesia are predominantly Malays, but those in the 
eastern part are mostly Melanesians.

Besides these two dominant races, there are the Chinese, the Indians, the 
Arabs and the Eurasians.

And then there is the division of society into more than 400 ethnicities or 
cultural groups, with the Javanese, Sundanese, Bataks and Bugis among the 
largest. And that's not even to mention the more than 700 languages and dialects 
spoken across the archipelago.

In terms of religion, while Indonesia has the world's largest Muslim 
population (nearly 80 percent of its 220 million people follow the faith), it is a 
misnomer for anyone to call it a Muslim nation.

The Hindus in Bali, the Christian Manadonese in North Sulawesi, and the Roman 
Catholics in East Nusa Tenggara would scoff at the suggestion.

And rightly so.

The only reason these provinces joined the republic shortly after Sukarno and 
Mohammad Hatta proclaimed Indonesia's independence in August 1945 was that 
they were assured the newly independent country would be run along secular lines.

They wouldn't hesitate to leave the republic (and they have made this clear) 
at the first sign that Indonesia is turning into a theocratic state.

Indonesia has not escaped the troubles rooted in the diversity of its 
society. Its modern history is filled with armed secessionist movements, constant 
fighting (to this day) over having a secular versus a theocratic state, and 
sporadic communal conflicts and riots with racial, religious or ethnic overtones.

The glass, as always, is either half full or half empty.

One could argue that these violent episodes prove multiculturalism is not 
working in Indonesia. But one could also argue that the fact that Indonesia 
remains intact as one nation -- even with all its problems -- after more than six 
decades, shows that most people still believe in having a common destiny.

Pluralism -- defined broadly as the recognition that every citizen of 
whatever background has the same rights, and that peaceful coexistence can be 
promoted through greater understanding and mutual respect between diverse peoples -- 
has a lot to do with the state of affairs in Indonesia. The country's future, 
as a state and as a nation, depends on it.

Where does the press stand on this issue?

Obviously having a free press helps in any society, whether it is a 
homogenous single-ethnicity nation, or a heterogeneous multicultural and multireligious 
one like Indonesia.

But having a free press alone would not be sufficient to ensure tolerance.

The experience of Europe, which is struggling to incorporate its growing 
number of Muslim immigrants, shows that having a strong tradition of a free press 
does not guarantee the promotion of greater tolerance and understanding.

Indonesia's own experience of the last 61 years as an independent nation 
shows that a pluralist media counts for much more than a free media -- which is a 
more recent phenomenon here -- when it comes to promoting greater 
understanding among people of different cultures.

It is not a coincidence that the more financially successful media sources in 
Indonesia are the ones that transcend the divisions in society.

While Indonesia today has its share of media outlets catering to their own 
groups (defined by religion, race, ethnicity or language), the pluralist media, 
thankfully, are more widely accepted.

This is true for newspapers and magazines as well as for broadcasters. They 
have a wider audience than their counterparts that cater to particular groups.

This is probably a reflection of society's own attitude toward the issue of 
diversity. But what is sure is that people reading from the same newspapers or 
magazines or watching news from the same TV stations are likely to have much 
more in common than if they get their news from media sources that cater to 
their own groups, with their own biases, stereotypes and prejudices.

A quick glance at who's who in the Indonesian media industry further confirms 
the notion that pluralism rules the day. Almost all religions, races and 
ethnic groups are represented in the top positions of the national media.

Indonesia could not ask for more from the diversity of its media people, 
except that they could do an even better job at promoting greater tolerance and 
understanding.

Or at the very least, they could warn the nation about the peril intolerance, 
which seems to be creeping in of late, poses to the future of Indonesia.

The writer is taking part in the Global Inter-Media Dialogue in Nusa Dua 
Beach, Bali, on Sept. 2. 

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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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