Messengers beware
The first who told of Lucullus
' coming so angered Tigranes that he had the messenger’s head, effectively ensuring
no-one brought bad news. Deprived of fresh intelligence Tigranes watched while
war raged, listening only to flatterers.
[more]
Even
if Indonesian activists haven’t read Plutarch's Life
of Lucullus they’d recognise their
predicaments when facing President Joko Widodo, stand-in for the first century
BC King of Armenia.
Widodo
comes across as humble, serious about improving the sprawling archipelago’s
infrastructure. His determination to
build roads, rails and ports deserves applause, which he enjoys.
Unfortunately
he hasn’t done well at social engineering and pandemic control, so no clapping. He’s had a Chinese Covid-19 jab, but that’s
ineffective against the virus of hubris.
So when he asked for public feedback, few have been brave.
The
infection originated from media tycoon and Nasdem
(National Democrat) Party founder Surya Paloh, 69, whose role is kingmaker,
not candidate. He’s from the north
Sumatra province of Aceh; the convention has only Javanese in Jakarta’s White
House.
Shortly
after Widodo won the top job standing for the Partai
Demokrasi Indonesia Perjuangan (Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle), Paloh suggested the
Constitution be changed, letting the President serve more than two five-year
terms.
Widodo said ‘no’, knowing he’d
never get backing from his party’s matriarch Megawati Soekarnoputri, 74. She wants her dull daughter Puan Maharani,
47, currently Speaker of the Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat (DPR House of
Representatives) to contest the presidency in the 2024 election.
Paloh’s
obsequiousness must have gone to Widodo’s head because he’s losing his sheen as
a man of the people. This image once put
clear air between himself and his arrogant rival, former General Prabowo
Subianto, beating the oligarch 55 to 45 per cent in the direct vote.
In
2015 during his first term Widodo hosted Malcolm Turnbull, showing off his commoner’s
credentials by taking the PM on a signature blusukan. This was a supposedly unstaged public market meet-the-wee-folk
walkabout. Those stunts are long gone as
Widodo becomes more aloof.
The blusukan delighted a tie-less Turnbull who
snapped selfies with cheerful traders. However
it horrified the security detail trying to handle the unconstrained
crowds. The crew cuts who wear sunnies at
night and think this makes them invisible, started urging more discipline.
They
weren’t alone. Jakarta palace functionaries
had been urging their boss to be esteemed by all, and not just the
riff-raff. A preferred portrayal would
be more like Kim Jong-un surrounded by fawning geriatric generals scribbling
down the Dear Leader’s inspiring instructions as he tours another missile site.
No
journos in those staged shots from Pyongyang. In Jakarta the unkempt media youngsters
thrusting smartphones don’t show enough respect for the guy who runs the
world’s third largest democracy.
In 2018
a law was passed making it illegal to ‘disrespect Parliament or its members’. Unnecessary
- just tickle an old one – the 2008 Informasi
dan Transaksi Elektronik (ITE) Law.
It’s supposed to regulate on-line deals, but includes a defamation and
insults clause with up to four-years jail for offenders.
After
autocrat Soeharto quit in 1998, new media legislation gave some protection to
journos and publishers facing malicious litigants. The independent National
Press Council was tasked with settling disputes outside the courts. However the ITE law takes precedence.
Rights’
activists reckon this threatens free speech. Andre Arditya , political editor of The Conversation’s Indonesian edition,
wrote: ‘The ITE Law is one of the largest barriers to freedom of
expression in Indonesia. The article of defamation and the article of hate
speech in the ITE Law are most widely used as the basis for criminal reporting.
‘ ... (Widodo has) completely ignored criticism
from the public against him. If there is a response, it usually takes the form
of threats, intimidation and arrest of critics.’
In
2018 a teenager in Sumatra was
reportedly sentenced to 18 months jail for insulting Widodo on Facebook. Last year South Kalimantan
on-line local media editor Diananta Putra Sumedi was sentenced to 14 weeks jail
for his reporting of a land dispute, even though the Press Council had
apparently resolved the issue.
Last
year Amnesty International claimed to have found 29 cases of harassment and
intimidation against academics and journos across two months:
‘The
right to freedom of expression has already been on a decline in Indonesia in
recent years, which is exemplified by the increasing number of people convicted
of defamation, blasphemy and makar
(treason) simply for expressing their opinions online or organizing peaceful
protests between 2014 and 2019.’
Widodo
has neutered parliamentary criticism by making Subianto Defence Minister, and
handing goodies to small parties. Veteran
Australian academic and writer Max Lane, who lives in Indonesia, has listed the
President’s surviving antagonists: ‘The social justice wing of civil society –
human rights and environmental NGOs, student activists and the smaller more
activist trade unions – and some media, such as the Tempo group.’ .
As in
Australia, defamation is an arena to play word games. In Indonesia it’s been used against journos
who expose government corruption, big business wrongdoings and remind potential
investors that hazards abound in the Republic’s rugged corporate and legal
jungle.
Reporters Sans Frontiéres’ World Press
Freedom Index puts Indonesia 119 among 180 countries. (Australia is 28th.) The
Economist Intelligence Unit has Indonesia recording the lowest democracy score
for 14 years. Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index ranks
Indonesia 102 out of 180 countries.
Widodo
may be getting concerned about overseas perceptions of his democracy lest they
impact on his bid for more foreign investors, already spooked by his
mishandling of the pandemic, putting health of the economy above the wellbeing
of citizens.
Human
Rights Watch says the response has been ‘weak, with low testing and tracing
rates, and little transparency.’ Johns
Hopkins University’s Coronavirus Resource Centre reports 1.3 million cases and
close to 35,000 deaths, the highest levels in Southeast Asia.
In a
speech earlier this month Widodo pondered the possibility of asking the DPR to
revise the ITE law ‘if it is proven that the legislation has not provided a
sense of justice.’
So
far little has happened apart from delegating a police chief to write
guidelines, possibly not the ideal person to advise on free speech and media
rights.
Widodo’s
comments are, as usual, too vague to decode with certainty. Does the President want the ITE Law to be
refined to appease critics – or further strengthened to shut them down? The man is Javanese, and his words fit a culture
which is famously opaque. Tigranes was
too direct.
First
published in Pearls & Irritations, 3 March 2021: https://johnmenadue.com/thin-skinned-widodo-messengers-beware/
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