V

ice President Jusuf Kalla has reiterated his stance that the media should provide support to the government and the community because they needed each other, adding that media reports seeking to undermine the nation were not healthy for democracy.

Kalla expressed the sentiment in a keynote speech at the opening of the 24th Newspaper Publishers Union (SPS) Congress, as well as at the first ASEAN Summit for State-Owned Enterprises and Media in Batam, Riau Islands, on Friday.

'€œThe media obviously needs the community to become a partner in mutual progress, without which the media would not progress economically. Who wants to place advertisements [in newspapers] if the economy is unstable, or return to the 1960s when the media was subsidized? [...] The media should support society. It may criticize society as long as it does not harm the nation '€” that is a democracy that is healthy,'€ Kalla said.

In other words, Kalla says that as the nation goes, so goes the media, so the media should mutually support the business world and society.

'€œA good society wants to read and place advertisements that support the media,'€ said Kalla, who was accompanied by Communications and Information Minister Rudiantara and Tourism Minister Arief Yahya.

Kalla said the arrival of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), which will be a market of some 600 million people, would open markets further, leading to big inflows of goods and services. Competition will thus rely on being '€œbetter, faster and cheaper'€.

'€œWith services and human resources, many fear that human resources will enter too easily, but it won'€™t happen quite like that. [...] It'€™s impossible that workers in Malaysia and Singapore will wish to go to Indonesia. Like our doctors, it is not possible for doctors in Malaysia and Singapore to go to Indonesia, but on the contrary many of our doctors will wish to work there,'€ Kalla said.

Rudiantara told The Jakarta Post that the biggest challenge currently facing the Indonesian media was how to reposition the publishing industry given the arrival of digital wave-ICT technology, such as remote printing, online media and social media.

Separately, SPS head Dahlan Iskan said Indonesia ranked at the top globally in rankings of press freedom. Publishing a newspaper or media in Indonesia, he said, was even easier than in the US.

'€œOur media is the most critical and free. Previously, in Asia, the Philippines and Thailand ranked at the top in terms of press freedom. But now it'€™s our turn, as those who wish to publish a newspaper do not need a permit. In the US, those who wish to open a newspaper must register at the post office,'€ said Dahlan.

According to Dahlan, the 24th SPS Congress will select a new SPS chairman for the 2015-2020 period. He has served as chairman for the past two terms.

'€œI refuse to be nominated again. SPS is the only organization where a chairman can be elected cheaply, as campaign teams and money are not needed. No one has yet been nominated,'€ Dahlan said.