Information and Communications Minister Tifatul Sembiring says there will be no more summons of the media by police in the future.
"What happened a few days ago was wrong. This is no longer the era for the media to be summoned before the police for whatever reason," he told reporters at the House of Representatives in Jakarta on Monday.
The National Police questioned the editors of two national daily newspapers, Kompas and Seputar Indonesia (Sindo) last Friday.
The police apparently summoned the editors because their newspapers had published transcripts of taped conversations between an alleged criminal case-broker with law enforcers.
Kompas managing editor Budiman Tanuredja said the police had initially verbally cancelled the summons on Thursday evening, but then on Friday morning insisted on going ahead with the questioning. Budiman also decided to go to the National Police headquarters to clarify the issue.
He said the police asked about the transcripts of wire-tapped conversations between alleged criminal case broker Anggodo Widjojo and others, which had been played during a Constitutional Court hearing on Nov. 3.
The wire-tapped recording overheard conversations between Anggodo and several senior police officers and officials from the Attorney General's Office.
The conversations discussed a suspected conspiracy to criminalize Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) deputies Bibit Samad Rianto and Chandra M Hamzah.
The summons ignited fury from journalists and press activists, who believed the police were trying to put pressure on the media and limit press freedom.
A dozen journalists calling themselves a coalition against the criminalization of the press protested in front of the National Police headquarters, against what they called a form of intimidation.
Al Araf from the Indonesian Human Rights Monitor, Imparsial, described the police questioning as going against press freedoms, which are guaranteed in the 2008 Freedom of Information Law and the 1999 Press Law.
Setara Institute chairman Hendardi said the summons was the police's attempt to intimidate the media.
Just last night, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono also met the country's top media leaders at the Presidential Palace.
Tifatul said last night's meeting was not a summoning but rather an invitation to discuss current issues and absorb the media leaders' input.
