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.
##
First published in Independent Australia, 3 October 2024:
https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/president-prabowo-faces-new-nemesis-press-accountability,19031
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