Pacific News And Other Battles Continue Unabated
posted 29th March 2000

MEDIA COUNCIL ACTION COULD FORCE NEW LEGISLATION SUVA:
Fiji's Assistant Information Minister Lekh Ram Vayeshnoi yesterday said that failure on the part of the Media Council would leave the government with little option but to introduce legislation to address the problem of bias towards the media by the council, reports the Fiji Sun. Vayeshnoi hit out at the Media Council for compromising its impartiality on a statement on the "removal" of Thakur Ranjit Singh as a co-host of a programme on Radio Fiji 2 and from his position as Daily Post general manager. Vayeshnoi said that it was deplorable that the council had quickly jumped into the fray of criticising the government. "Without allowing the government to present its case, the council by its statement has adjudicated on the matter, compromising the credibility of the chairman and its members of the Complaints Committee," said Vayeshnoi. "The council is a self-appointed media body and should, therefore, show greater diligence in dealing with issues before it."

Vayeshnoi challenged the Media Council to define what it meant by government's directive to the [state-run] Fiji Broadcasting Corporation (FBC) being "absurd" as reported in one of the dailies. He questioned what was so absurd about the complaints from people concerning the "derogatory and insulting" remarks levelled by Singh at the women of Labasa, targeting the South Indian community in particular. Vayeshnoi said that the Media Council should note that there was a Public Service Broadcast Agreement between the FBC and government and Schedule 3 of the Act stated: "The supplier must ensure that public service broadcasting programmes fully satisfy professional broadcasting standards and as far as plausible conform to audience standards."

WAHID SACKS EDITOR AND DEMANDS 'HONEST NEWS' JAKARTA:
Indonesia's President Abdurrahman Wahid has ordered a shake-up of the country's official news agency, Antara, removing its editor-in-chief and demanding it be more independent. For months last year Antara published fiercely anti-Australian stories about the role of Australian troops in East Timor which prompted complaints from Australian diplomats in Jakarta about their accuracy. Australian diplomats and officials believed Ant- ara's coverage was designed to fuel anti-Australian sentiment in Indonesia and deflect attention from atrocities com- mitted by its military and proxy militias in East Timor.

The Australian embassy in Jakarta was the target of anti-Australian demonstrations over more than 40 days that included the firing of guns and throwing of Molotov cocktails. Mr Wahid ordered the removal of Antara's head, Mr Parni Hadi, who had a close association with the former Habibie government, and replaced him with a columnist and writer, Mr Mohamad Sobary. But soon after a ceremony where Mr Sobary, 47, was installed in the job, Antara carried a report claiming that most of its journalists and employees objected to the appointment. Mr Hadi, who took charge of the agency in 1998, snubbed the ceremony. Acting State Secretary Mr Bondan Gunawan, who swore in Mr Sobary on behalf of Mr Wahid, quoted him as saying that abuses of information for political purposes must end. "A news agency, although state owned, must be able to deliver open and honest news because the state is not allowed to lie to its people," Mr Bondan said.

He told Mr Sobary, a friend of Mr Wahid, not to cover up bad news and said the President would be disappointed if Antara did not become more independent. Meanwhile, Mr Wahid is losing of his closest aides, Ms Ratih Hardjono, 40, who denied accusations before a parliamentary committee last month that she was an Australian spy. Ms Hardjono's resignation as presidential secretary comes after months of tensions among staff at the palace following the sidelining of the military-dominated State Secretariat that had wide powers and authority under the 32-year Soeharto presidency. The spy rumours are believed to be have been circulated by people who saw Ms Hardjono, a former correspondent in Australia for Indonesia's Kompas newspaper, as having too much influence with the President.

A presidential spokesman told journalists Ms Hardjono was resigning to concentrate on her wedding.On March 26, the Sunday Sun reported that the Media Council had accused Assistant Information Minister Lekh Ram Vayeshnoi of not responding to requests for a meeting with the council. Media Council chairman Daryl Tarte also asked Vayeshnoi to apologise for the comments he made about the credibility of the Complaints Committee. "Mr Vayeshnoi should know that the committee plays no part in the deliberations of the council. The Complaints Committee members are respected, independent persons who deal only with complaints."

INDONESIAN CHIEF LODGES 'STRONG PROTEST' AGAINST AUSTRALIAN DAILY
Jakarta: Parni Hadi, outgoing chief of Antara national news agency, has lodged a strong protest against the Australian daily the Sydney Morning Herald', which has accused Antara of spreading anti-Australia reports during the referendum process in East Timor. "I strongly protest the Australian daily's report. It is not true that Antara did what the daily said," Parni said in Jakarta on Thursday (23rd March) in response to the Australian daily's report in its 22nd March edition. The Australian daily wrote: "Antara had for months in 1999 published a number of articles on the Australian forces' role in East Timor, which were full of anti-Australia sentiment and highly questioned for their accuracy by Australian diplomats in Jakarta." Parni Hadi quoted Antara sources as saying at that time that all Indonesian journalists could not enter East Timor because they had to pass through Australia to do so. Parni said he once proposed to Australian Ambassador John McCarthy that the International Force in East Timor should produce press releases in Indonesian, set up a radio station, and give access to Indonesian journalists. "Australia should not wash its hands off this matter. Relations between Indonesia and Australia were strained in 1985 due to an article written by an Australian journalist. However, we managed to restore the strained relations a long time ago," said Parni. Parni went on to say that the demonstrations at the Australian embassy in Jakarta were actually provoked by the Australian nationals themselves. "Firstly, the demonstrations took place due to the Australians' insults against Indonesians living in Australia. Secondly, they were caused by the arrogance of the Australian forces in East Timor, " he said. Parni said Antara is ready to publish the Australian daily's response to the matter anytime. "Please do not grumble only, but give us your reply. I hope that the strained bilateral relations will soon be restored," said Parni. Parni said Antara attaches great importance to the diplomatic ties between the two countries. This explains why Antara has decided to assign a correspondent in Australia. "I was one of the people that initiated a meeting of Australian and Indonesian senior editors at the end of 1989," Parni Hadi said.

SINGIROK IS DISMISSED PORT MORESBY:
Suspended Defence Force commander Major General Jerry Singirok was yesterday recommended for dismissal from the force for "one of the most serious breaches of the Leadership Code ever brought before any leadership tribunal", the National reports. Leadership Tribunal chairman, Justice Moses Jalina, ruled that "when the commander of the armed forces conducts himself in a way that brings his integrity into question, especially when bribes are accepted from foreigners, the people's trust and confidence in their commander is eroded." Justice Jalina passed the judgement on Maj Gen Singirok at the Waigani National Court yesterday afternoon on three counts of breaches of the Leadership Code in relation to secretly receiving K68,000 from a British-based arms dealer in the months leading to the Sandline crisis of 1997.

Said Justice Jalina: "The commander of the armed forces is someone very special to the people of his country. He is special because he is at the pinnacle of those who have been entrusted by the people to defend the sovereignty of their nation. "He is at the pinnacle of those who have sworn to lay down their lives for their countrymen. People go about their lives with confidence that the armed forces are commanded by someone who has not secretly compromised their country's sovereignty and their lives in any way. "But when the commander of the armed forces conducts himself in a way that brings his integrity into question, especially when bribes are accepted from foreigners, the people's trust and confidence in their commander is eroded." Maj Gen Singirok had faced a total of five counts of breaches of the Leadership Code and was convicted of three counts of misconduct in office, all in relation to the arms dealer and his failure to notify the Ombudsman Commission of his alleged dealings. He was found guilty of secretly receiving K68,000 from arms dealer J&S Franklin through his Visa card account in the London-based Lloyds Bank.

He was also found guilty of failing to obtain exemption from the Ombudsman Commission of the payments he received from J& S Franklin. The Jalina Tribunal noted that it was extremely serious for Maj Gen Singirok to deliberately evade the Leadership Code by failing to seek an exemption and to disclose the existence of the London account. The tribunal ruled that by applying the money for private and personal purposes, Maj Gen Singirok contravened sections 27(1), 27(2) and 27 (5) (b) of the Constitution. "In other words it relates to bribery," Justice Jalina said. "No-one else - certainly not the media which had just done its job of reporting on very serious allegations can be held to be blame. Only the leader himself is to blame, it is he who bears exclusive culpability," Justice Jalina said. He said that it was not demonstrated that Maj Gen Singirok's conduct did not amount to serious culpability. "Public policy and public good demand dismissal in this situation. Leaders must be discouraged from this sort of heinous conduct which amounts to corruption in its barest form," Justice Jalina said. He said that a leader who does this "sort of thing" - even if he has done many good things in his public life - deserved the shame of being dismissed."