INDONESIA: Journalists Plan Local ‘WikiLeaks’ to Escape Big Media Censorship

By Anita Rachman

Seeking a media outlet free of the chains of corporate ownership, a group of journalists is planning to develop a Web site that will carry stories conventional news organisations dare not touch.

Wahyu Dhyatmika, chairman of the Jakarta chapter of the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI), said he hoped the site could provide an alternative outlet for journalists to post sensitive documents or evidence deemed too “dangerous” to be published in their own media.

“In short, it would be similar to WikiLeaks,” he told the 'Jakarta Globe' on Thursday, referring to the Sweden-based organisation that publishes sensitive material and protects the anonymity of its sources. “We hope that in the future, all Indonesian journalists can engage and really benefit from this Web site and that will eventually strengthen our independent journalism.”

The Web site, which AJI Jakarta plans to launch in early August to coincide with its anniversary, is supported by the group’s chapters in Denpasar, Semarang, Surabaya, Malang and Pekanbaru.

Wahyu and 17 other AJI members recently completed a three-week course at the Radio Netherlands Training Center on how new media can support independent journalism.

He said that although Indonesia’s media had enjoyed 12 years of relative freedom since President Suharto stepped down on May 21, 1998, it did not mean that the threat was gone.

AJI Jakarta sees editorial interference by media owners as the new threat to press freedom. In a discussion the group organised in March, media analyst Ignatius Haryanto said “media conglomerate owners have become a threat because they now exercise the control that the government had in the old days.” 

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