Pluralisme Dialog dan Keadilan: tantangan berdemokrasi dalam negara republik Indonesia

iii, 139 hal : 21 c

Indonesia : A Press Council with Exceptional Powers

Indonesia’s Press Council holds outstanding powers to draft and ratify regulations about media accountability, to arbitrate complaints against journalists, to cultivate media professionalism and to safeguard press freedom. The Press Council’s role as a lynchpin for community and professional regulation of journalism stems from political turbulence in the late 20th century, when there was substantive emphasis on protecting journalism from external interference. This led to the passing of a powerful Press Law that enshrined the rights of journalists and defined the Press Council as the main instrument for assuring the accountability, professionalism and independence of journalists from print, broadcast, online and other media forms. The Press Council's nine Members are drawn from journalism and the community, and they formulate regulations regarding journalism freedom and accountability, administer the code of ethics, and arbitrate grievances. Community input also occurs through complaints, advocacy, research and educational activities of media watch agencies and non-government organizations. Outside interference remains possible, however, due to a patchwork of conflicting laws that can be used against journalists, such as defamation laws and the Criminal Code. Powerful figures also damage journalistic autonomy by taking legal action instead of using the Press Council's mediation systems, their rights of reply or rights of correction. Further evolution of the framework and systems of media accountability is needed to amend contradictory laws that affect journalists, counter attempts by powerful actors to manipulate the media for factional or self-serving goals, and to accommodate ongoing technological change

Aceh: The Role of Democracy for Peace and Reconstruction

While the aftermath of the December 2004 tsunami added to the problems of civil war in Sri Lanka, a miraculous transition from conflict and disaster to peace and new development evolved in Aceh, the rebellious Indonesian province on the northern tip of Sumatra. Most remarkably, as shown in this book, the miracle was largely due to democratization. For once, the combination of international intervention and local popular engagement paid off. Why was this possible? How can the process be sustained? In this book, senior scholars and grounded researchers provide answers in comparative and theoretical perspectives. The promising changes in Aceh fly in the face of conventional wisdom and theoretical predictions. The dynamics refute the increasingly common conclusion by experts, donors, and politicians such as the former Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla, that there is a need to constrain democracy because too many freedoms and elections are likely to generate more conflict and abuses of power. Yet this does not mean that Aceh provides unconditional support for the converse idea of peace by liberal democracy and markets. This book shows instead that peace was social democratic in character, based as it was on strong politics, regulation of big business, the transformation of conflict within a democratic framework, and people's capacity to use and improve the new institutions. This book also shows, however, that it is difficult to sustain these positive dynamics. As in so many other post-colonial processes, the transitional arrangments often breed special privileges for the well connected rather than democratic control of public affairs. Profitable instead of democratic peace is thus gaining ground. And the 2009 elections have de facto fostered a power-sharing agreement between Jakarta and the old rebel leaders at the expense of the inclusive democracy that was negotiated by Ahtisaari. Can the latter be resurrected