It has only been since 1998 that Indonesians have enjoyed democracy and freedom of the press and it was not until the 2004 general election that most politicians became aware of the importance of the media in channeling their message to voters. This has triggered a frenzy of match-making between politicians and media owners. The Jakarta Post’s Hasyim Widhiarto explores the issues.

For Lt. Gen. (ret.) Prabowo Subianto, founder of the Gerindra Party and among the top seeded presidential candidates for the 2014 election, his shopping list ahead of the election includes television stations.

The ex son-in-law of former president Soeharto is mulling whether to acquire or establish various local television stations as a way to promote his political agenda in the provinces, according to a source at Gerindra.

Prabowo, however, refused to comment on the issue, saying he would keep his election campaign strategy confidential.

“We will let you guys know about it at the right time,” he said.

Politicians are now attempting to get the media on their side, either by forging alliances with media owners or establishing their own networks.

Top political figures have learned their lesson well from the media coverage of 2004 general election that showcased Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, until that point a relatively unknown minister, turning him into a star and then going on to win the presidency.

Yudhoyono boosted his popularity after his widely publicized conflict with former president Megawati Soekarnoputri and her husband Taufik Kiemas. Yudhoyono, who aggressively appeared on media outlets positioning himself as a victim of the couple’s mischief, successfully transformed public sympathy into enough votes to win the election.

Fully aware of the media impact, Yudhoyono and his Democratic Party set up the Jurnal Nasional daily and forged an alliance with media tycoon Chairul Tanjung, the owner of Trans7, Trans TV and detik.com, Indonesia’s biggest news portal.

Chairul, chairman of the President’s National Economic Committee (KEN), is now among Yudhoyono’s closest advisors.

Aside from Chairul, Yudhoyono has also tried to embrace other media moguls into his camp, including businessmen Peter Gontha and James Riyadi — both are also KEN executives. The two, with the backing of Riyadi family’s business empire Lippo Group, run Berita Satu Media Holdings, an integrated multimedia company which runs, among others, news portal BeritaSatu.com, and several newspapers, including Suara Pembaruan, Investor Daily Indonesia and the Jakarta Globe.

Jawa Pos Group founder Dahlan Iskan, now State-Owned Enterprises Minister, is also approached to help strengthen Yudhoyono’s image in the grassroot and in East Java.

Jawa Pos, circulating mostly in East Java and Central Java, is the second largest newspaper by circulation natiwonwide after Kompas.

“Although there has been no political commitment between the president and these media figures, I believe their professional relationship will somehow bring positive implication for our party in the near future,” said Democratic Party’s executive Kastorius Sinaga.

“Particularly when we need media support to introduce our new presidential candidate for the upcoming elections.”

Yudhoyono could not run in the upcoming election as he already served for two terms.

While Dahlan, Chairul, Peter and James have refused to publicly confirm their affiliation with any political party, media conglomerate Hary Tanoesoedibjo, the president of MNC Group joined the Nasdem Party as chairman of the party’s board of experts.

Hary, whose group controls, among others, RCTI, Global TV, MNC TV and Seputar Indonesia daily joined forces with fellow media owner Surya Paloh, whose National Democrat mass organization was behind the Nasdem Party. Surya owns Media Group, which controls, among others, Media Indonesia daily and Metro TV.

Nasdem has rapidly acquired public recognition through Metro TV and MNC-linked television stations intensively airing the party’s commercials.

To many media observers and political analysts, Hary’s decision to join the three-month-old party was unexpected due to his long track record as a business professional with close ties to Yudhoyono.

These new players in politics will be in a head-to-head fight against established politicians who already control media businesses, notably the Bakrie family, whose patron Aburizal Bakrie is chairman of the Golkar Party, the country’s second largest after the Democratic Party, and a 2014 presidential hopeful.

The Bakries control publicly listed PT Visi Media Asia (VIVA), which controls TV One, ANTV and news portal vivanews.com.

With so many media tycoons forging alliances with political parties, questions are being asked about the independence of their newsrooms.

Press Council member Wina Armada Sukardi said since such trends were inevitable, media organizations would need to have internal rules to maintain their journalism standards and independence.

“Media organizations must require their chief editors to have the highest professional certification [from the Press Council] in order to ensure owners cannot assign a politician or someone else without a journalism background to lead newsrooms,” he said.

Media Group’s editorial board executive Suryopratomo said media institutions could not prevent any Indonesian citizen, including media owners, from establishing or being part of a political party.

However to prevent any conflicts of interest, he said, media institutions had to secure commitments from their owners not to meddle or politically interfere in newsrooms.

Surya, according to Suryopratomo, had never intervened in the decision-making process in the newsroom or personally requested journalists to report the Nasdem Party’s activities.

Vivanews.com managing editor Nezar Patria ensures all Bakrie-linked media newsrooms are free from shareholder intervention.

“From the first day of Vivanews operations, Aburizal has granted our newsroom full authority to produce news content of the highest standard because as he is fully aware of the viability of a media outlet relies heavily on its credibility,” said Nezar.

When asked why Bakrie-linked media refers to the mudflow disaster in Sidoarjo, East Java, as the “Sidoarjo mudflow” instead of “Lapindo mudflow” like other media, Nezar said it was a matter of wording.

Lapindo refers to PT Lapindo Brantas, a Bakrie-run company that allegedly triggered the disaster.Many political analysts regard the mudflow issue as Aburizal’s biggest hurdle in contesting the upcoming election. “No matter what we call it, we are still talking about the same mud, right?” said Nezar.

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Media moguls' political map

Opinion | Mon, Dec 12 2011 | page: 7

The Jakarta Post,

Dear Editor,

I have been reading The Jakarta Post for the past 30 years and have recently noticed a decline in the quality of the reporting.

I am particularly deeply disappointed in a report in your Sunday edition, Dec. 11, 2011, on page 3 titled "Death knell for media independence?".

You mention that "Fikri and Gunawan", who are "prominent figures" in the Tempo media group, "are close to SRI Party that supports former finance minister Sri Mulyani". By implication, your reporter suggests that Koran Tempo, Tempo Magazine and tempo.co are parts of the SRI's political agenda -- not quite different from the other media you mention, e.g. Suara Karya, the Golkar Party's official newspaper.

Obviously, yours is a grossly misleading report. To put Koran Tempo and Tempo Magazine on the same list as Suara Karya is outrageous.

You do not even do the basic journalistic work, i.e., checking the facts. Not only did your reporter misspell my name ("Gunawan Muhammad"), but he has not looked into Tempo's current "line of command". I am no longer in charge of Tempo's newsroom and retired from my job as chief editor more than 10 years ago. I do not even have a space in Tempo's office and have not attended Tempo's editorial meetings since 2002.

My formal position is "senior editor"; so are several other retirees. I write a weekly column for the magazine, "Catatan Pinggir" (in the English edition: "Sidelines") and, like a normal contributor, receive a honorarium for it.

In short, you should know that Tempo, run by younger and more capable persons, receive political directives neither from me nor from Fikri Jufri (who is, incidentally, one of the two members of your Editorial Advisory Board).

Another note: I support the idea of Sri Mulyani for president, but I am not close to the SRI Party.

Goenawan Mohamad,
Writer


Thank you for your clarification -- The Editor

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Letter to the Editor: Clarification from Tempo Media Group