DON'T FEAR JOURNOS - THEIR ONLY WEAPONS ARE WORDS

  

LIKE KNIVES, WORDS WOUND. BEST BAN THEIR USE                    

To call a former general anywhere a coward would be a great insult and might push her or him into taking revenge. 

So let’s observe from afar that disgraced former general Prabowo Subianto, Indonesia’s next president after inauguration on 20 October, seems frightened. Not of invaders - he’s never met any - but unarmed local professionals doing their job.

Prabowo’s imagined foe is the labourers in the fourth estate, working alongside the legislature, executive and judiciary to hold politicians accountable.  Or as Okkers  say, “keep the bastards honest.”

Journalists don’t just believe in freedom – we’re its custodians.

Prabowo claims he’s into democracy yet loathes reporters.  He’s told rallies that journos want to manipulate democracy and aren’t to be trusted.

The Polish-British writer Joseph Conrad (Heart of Darkness) offered a more respectful view:  "My task, which I am trying to achieve is, by the power of the written word, to make you hear, to make you feel-- it is, before all, to make you see."

Prabowo won’t experience these emotions because he’s put himself in quarantine; he’s closing the impromptu press conferences the current civilian President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo has been using to reach the people.

Instead, there'll be occasional formal events where Prabowo will select approved questions from chosen reps of partisan publishers.  Nothing spontaneous. AI could be used - and maybe will.

His spokesperson Hasan Nasbi has told the media the shut-out is part of “a greater scheme to limit access provided to journalists ,,, and that the president-elect would only make official statements when necessary.

"For instance, if the President is on a visit to a wet market and he is subjected to questions from reporters, he may not be ready with an answer. We don't want to create confusion."

Correct – it would be dangerous anywhere to confuse a faction of politicians with a shiver of sharks.

Hasan also said his boss would need to prepare responses and that he’d only “speak to the press in routine press briefings and only on matters that have been confirmed.”

That’s equally reasonable: A seasoned commander leading troops in bitter guerilla wars in East Timor and West Papua that have reportedly taken thousands of lives would obviously fumble curveballs. 

Reporters’ camcorders and notebooks are no physical threat to the one-time commander of special forces fighting fellow Indonesians last century.

Even if an unhinged imposter tried to stab the 73-year-old with a ballpoint pen the prez’s safari suit would deflect the thrusting plastic.  No black ink would stain the khaki.  No fear here.

The terror is how skilled wordsmiths might spear through the lies, distractions and obfuscations to reveal what manner of man will lead the world’s fourth most populous nation.

Historians think studying the past is essential in considering the future and preventing repeats. So do scribes.

Australian researcher Pat Walsh has asked whether Prabowo is  “fit and proper” to run the world’s third largest democracy – even though he’s been formidably endorsed by 58.6 per cent of voters in the three-way February poll. 

The turnout was almost 82 per cent - 66 per cent in the US in 2020. Voting is not compulsory.

Walsh still answers – “no”.  Young electors knew little of the candidate’s past; they were amused by a harmless grandpa cartoon image suggesting fun times ahead. 

More significantly he was endorsed by the once popular Jokowi whose son Gibran Rakabuming, 37, has become VP in a deal so dirty Machiavelli would have sent a smiley emoji.

Unreal, according to award-winning American investigative journalist Allan Nairn, who once interviewed Prabowo, labelling him as “the worst of the massacre generals, and the closest US protege in the Indonesian military.

“He’s still someone who imagines himself in the role of the fascist dictator. There’s every reason to think that he will … go after his opponents massively.”

He has the dough and clout to do that: During his exile, he started businesses in Indonesia with the help of his US dollar-billionaire younger brother Hashim Djojohadikusumo.

A decade ago Prabowo’s estimated wealth was US$140 million plus assets in 26 companies, mainly mining and plantations. His backers own five top TV stations reaching more than 40 per cent of viewers.

Last century second president Soeharto ran a 32-year military-backed autocracy (Orde Baru – New Order) that violently crushed independence movements.  Prabowo was his muscle and his son-in-law through a failed marriage to the boss’s daughter Siti.

Does he have blood on his hands? That’s a robust reporter’s question to any leader allegedly involved in human rights abuses.  Prabowo rubbishes the allegations although they were credible enough for Washington and Canberra to deny visas for many years.

Another one, Sir: Where are the 13 pro-democracy students your troops kidnapped in 1998?  Their families demonstrate every Thursday in Jakarta wanting to know, but no one tells.

Finally, to get the record straight: You’ve never been charged in court but why were you cashiered in 1998 and why did you run away and hide in Jordan for eight years?

Thank you, Sir; apologies if our questions got you trembling.

The inquirers take no position – they just want answers from whoever knows the truth. The chance of getting honest responses diminishes daily along the road to Palace propaganda and a retreat from the free world.

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 First published in Independent Australia, 3 October 2024: 

https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/president-prabowo-faces-new-nemesis-press-accountability,19031