Precedence: bulk Buletin PANTAU Edisi 3 (21 Mei-30 Mei 1999) INDONESIAN TV DEFENDS GOLKAR'S "POLITICS OF BRIBERY" Once again, the Indonesian broadcast media has been exhibiting bias by casting Golkar in a positive light. In the first few days of campaigning each station depicted Golkar as the victim of brutality at the hands of other parties and as a reasonable party which would abide by the law. Now the media appears to be defending Golkar against rumours, spreading throughout the country, that Golkar has resorted to the "politics of bribery". Responding to these rumours in a TPI (Indonesian Educational Television) news programme, Tadjus Sobirin, a top Golkar functionary, did not deny that Golkar gives money to people. He claimed, however, that the money was intended as charity for Golkar's partisans. "So it was not political bribery" remarked Sobirin. His remarks were backed up by a top Lemhannas (National Defence Institution) officer named General Agum Gumilar in the same broadcast. Gumilar stated that giving money to people to encourage them to join party campaigning parades and come to campaigning locations was not political bribery at all. These statements were broadcast without other parties or commentators being given the opportunity to respond. The result is clearly to cast Golkar in a positive light and to attempt to gloss over the allegations of political bribery. Other stations have avoided discussion of this issue altogether, despite its importance to the election and the current public interest surrounding it. When Wardah Hafidz, the chairperson of Rakyat Miskin Kota (Urban Poor Consortium), pointed out that Golkar and the PDR (People's Sovereignty Party) were practising political bribery, most TV stations, except for TPI, only showed her visual image without showing what she actually said. None of them presented a discussion of the evidence she had that there had been political bribery although Wardah had already submitted the evidence she had to Panwaslu (General Election Supervisory Committee). PDR, however, was given an opportunity to comment upon Wardah's statements, and denied any involvement. In other coverage on SCTV, the clash between Golkar and PDI-P supporters was again reported in a manner favourable to Golkar. The visual images on the screen showed PDI-P supporters throwing stones at Golkar supporters and the Golkar office building. By contrast, similar violence on the part of Golkar supporters against the PDI-P was not shown at all. This generally positive depiction of Golkar was also apparent from TV coverage describing Golkar's campaigning programme. Golkar's programme was presented in detail while other parties received only limited coverage. Such coverage included parades, the cancellation of meetings due to low attendance, and the fact that parties were campaigning in areas where their support was strong. There was no coverage of the issues covered by opposition parties in their campaigning. On RRI (state radio) the news was entirely dominated by official government statements. ---------- SiaR WEBSITE: http://apchr.murdoch.edu.au/minihub/siarlist/maillist.html
