In an era of rampant misinformation and fake news, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has received a Press Freedom Award for his administration’s commitment to protecting the freedom of the press.

Press Council chairman Yosep Adi Prasetyo presented the award to the President at the peak of an event in celebration of the 2019 National Press Day in Surabaya, East Java, on Saturday.

Yosep said the award was presented to the President as a token of appreciation for his contribution to protecting the spirit of press freedom over the last five years.

“Jokowi’s administration has never interfered with press freedom and he always allows all problems related to the press to be handled by the Press Council,” Yosep told The Jakarta Post on the sidelines of the event.

Awards were a tradition of National Press Day commemorations, Yosep said, adding that former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was also bestowed one. Yudhoyono received the Friend of the Press Award on the last National Press Day celebration he attended during his second and final term in 2014.

After accepting the award, Jokowi, who is currently in the fifth year of his first term as head of state and is seeking reelection in April, said the government was committed to upholding press freedom, adding that it would be maintained through moral responsibility and ethics, “in line with the Press Law and the Broadcasting Law”.

He also called for journalists to carry out “communication of hope” amid the proliferation of pessimistic narratives and false information that caused unrest in society.

“We need mainstream media to act as a clearing house for verified information and to perform the communication of hope, meaning to provide this nation with optimism,” Jokowi said in his speech on Saturday.

The award, however, was criticized by the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI), which questioned the indicators used to determine that Jokowi should receive it.

“We have to admit there have been several measures taken by Jokowi’s administration to support press freedom, such as requiring the government to provide access to data through an open government mechanism,” AJI chairman Abdul Manan said on Sunday.

“However, I think those efforts are not enough for Jokowi to be called a defender of press freedom. There are still lots of cases of violence against journalists that remain unsolved,” he added.

The alliance recorded at least 223 cases of violence against journalists between 2015 and 2018, with the largest number of cases, 81, recorded in 2016. In addition to physical attacks, some cases took the form of restrictions on journalists covering certain topics and issues, most of which surrounded the alleged actions of state and law enforcement officials.

In February 2018, the Timika Immigration Agency seized the passport of an Australian journalist working for BBC Indonesia, Rebecca Alice Henschke, because of her tweets criticizing the provision of aid for a measles and malnutrition outbreak in Asmat, Papua. One of the tweets in question was published on her private account and said the food supplies given by the government consisted only of instant noodles, sweet soft drinks and biscuits.

The immigration office said the tweets were offensive not only to the government, but also to Indonesian people and marred journalism as a profession. Henschke was later put under investigation and surveillance of the Foreigners Watch Team.

Abdul added the country’s current legal environment was yet to be fully supportive of press freedom.

“We still have the old Criminal Code and the Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) Law, which have been deemed to be threats not only to press freedom, but also to freedom of expression,” he said.

Both laws have recently been used by law enforcement officials to intensify measures to curb misinformation, distributed mainly via social media, especially ahead of the 2019 elections.

According to the latest data from the Indonesian Anti-Slander Society (Mafindo), at least 290 cases of misinformation had been found between July and October last year, most of which were about politics. The majority of the false information was distributed via social media platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter and YouTube.

The war on misinformation faced backlash, however, after law enforcement officials arrested several critics of the government on suspicions of producing and distributing misinformation that allegedly incited social unrest. Among the arrested were actress Ratna Sarumpaet and singer Ahmad Dhani, who have declared their support for Jokowi’s opponent Prabowo Subianto in the upcoming presidential election.

Yosep said the ITE Law did not pose a threat to press freedom because the police consulted with the Press Council before pressing charges using the law, meaning no journalists or media outlets have been charged under the law.

“Most cases implicating press organizations are dismissed thanks to our coordination,” Yosep said.

Popular

Kadin urges stability after Constitutional Court ruling

Jokowi says transition to new government to begi

BCA loan disbursement surges 17.1 percent yoy in first quarter