Censorship in
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
has varied since the country declared its independence in 1945. For most of its history the government of Indonesia has not fully allowed free speech and has censored controversial, critical, or minority viewpoints, and during periods of crackdown it imprisoned writers and political activists. However, partly due to the weakness of the state and cultural factors, it has never been a country with full censorship where no critical voices were able to be printed or voiced.
Indonesia inherited a number of strict press censorship laws from their former Dutch rulers which remained on the books until the 1950s. These included potential criminal charges for journalists who disturbed the peace or defamed government officials. During the early independence years and the
Liberal democracy period in Indonesia
The Liberal Democracy period in Indonesia (Indonesian: ''Demokrasi Liberal''), also known as the Era of Parliamentary Democracy, was a period in Indonesian political history, when Indonesia was under a liberal democracy system which began on ...
there was a relative lack of censorship; it was only in the second half of the 1950s, during the transition to
Guided Democracy in Indonesia
Guided Democracy () was the political system in place in Indonesia from 1959 until the New Order began in 1966. It was the brainchild of President Sukarno, and was an attempt to bring about political stability. Sukarno believed that the parl ...
, that journalists began to be imprisoned again and editorial policies were forced to be integrated with the interests of the state. That policy of integration and repression continued into the
New Order period which lasted from 1966 to 1998; during that era the total number of news publications were severely limited and could have their licenses pulled for printing materials the government did not like. During that period films and books were also heavily censored, with novelists and journalists imprisoned in internment camps. After 1998 and the fall of the New Order, Indonesia has seen a period of liberalization of the press, publishing and filmmaking, although there have still been local efforts to censor some materials.
Background
Dutch East Indies and Japanese occupation
Before the Twentieth century, censorship in the Dutch East Indies was mostly focused on the European-language press and books and ensuring that trade or military facts did not fall into the hands of enemy nations, or in protecting the reputation of government officials.
Printed matter had to be inspected by censors before they could be distributed, and presses were often permanently closed by the state, or their publishers were subjected to endless court cases.
It was only in the 1910s, with the rise of
Indonesian nationalism
Indonesian nationalism is an ideology that arose during the Dutch colonial era in the Dutch East Indies which called for the colony's independence and unification as an independent and sovereign nation. This period of nationalist development und ...
, that Dutch authorities began to focus on the colony's growing vernacular press, which was printed mainly in
Malay
Malay may refer to:
Languages
* Malay language or Bahasa Melayu, a major Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore
** History of the Malay language, the Malay language from the 4th to the 14th century
** Indonesi ...
but also in
Javanese,
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...
, and other languages. In 1914 it passed the so-called "Hate-sowing articles" () which attached criminal consequences to any speech which was deemed to disturb the peace between races; this often included criticism of colonial officials or European rule.
The "hate-sowing articles" were often used as the legal pretext to punish native journalists who printed articles critical of wartime policy or political repression.
In the 1930s, censorship and political repression, especially of Indonesians, escalated to the point of operating essentially as a police state, with regular intimidation, extralegal detention, and exile of journalists and intellectuals. A new Press Curbing Ordinance () was passed in 1931 which gave the Governor General extreme powers to detain, blacklist, censor or imprison editors.
In the five years after it was passed, around 27 Indonesian nationalist newspapers were shut down, as well as 5 Dutch ones; whereas previous regulations had targeted journalists, these new ones allowed for the shuttering of publications as well.
During the
Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies
The Empire of Japan occupied the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) during World War II from March 1942 until after the end of the war in September 1945. It was one of the most crucial and important periods in modern Indonesian history.
In May ...
which began in 1942, a new kind of strict censorship was enacted by the
Kenpeitai
The , also known as Kempeitai, was the military police arm of the Imperial Japanese Army from 1881 to 1945 that also served as a secret police force. In addition, in Japanese-occupied territories, the Kenpeitai arrested or killed those suspecte ...
and civilian police. The European press was completely closed down, and other press was spied on and subject to controls, but the Indonesian nationalist press and politicians were given some room to publish and make speeches.
European editors and journalists at mixed publications were fired, and Indonesians promoted; the Indonesian language replaced Dutch almost immediately across the entire sector. The teaching of European history was banned.
Indonesians were also mobilized or forced to support the Japanese effort and many artists and intellectuals were recruited to create propaganda or art that met strict constraints.
Films were also censored, including pre-approval of scripts before production.
War for independence (1945–49)
After the Japanese withdrawal, the former territory of the Dutch East Indies was divided between the Dutch and the Indonesian nationalists during the period known as the
Indonesian National Revolution
The Indonesian National Revolution, or the Indonesian War of Independence, was an armed conflict and diplomatic struggle between the Republic of Indonesia and the Dutch Empire and an internal social revolution during Aftermath of WWII, postw ...
. During this wartime situation, the developing Indonesian state did not have the ability or desire to censor systematically, and they were very aware that Indonesians were experiencing free expression after several years of Japanese repression.
The 1945
Constitution of Indonesia
The 1945 State Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia ( id, Undang-Undang Dasar Negara Republik Indonesia Tahun 1945, commonly abbreviated as ''UUD 1945'' or ''UUD '45'') is the supreme law and basis for all laws of Indonesia.
The constitu ...
guaranteed freedom of expression and assembly, but theoretically the colonial-era censorship laws were still in force.
The republic established the
Ministry of Information and a government radio station
Radio Republik Indonesia
''Radio Republik Indonesia'' (Radio of the Republic of Indonesia, abbreviated as RRI), legally ''Lembaga Penyiaran Publik (LPP) Radio Republik Indonesia'' ( Public Broadcasting Institution Radio of the Republic of Indonesia), is a public radio ...
in September 1945; that same month in
Yogyakarta
Yogyakarta (; jv, ꦔꦪꦺꦴꦒꦾꦏꦂꦠ ; pey, Jogjakarta) is the capital city of Special Region of Yogyakarta in Indonesia, in the south-central part of the island of Java. As the only Indonesian royal city still ruled by a monarchy, ...
they established a Censorship Agency limited to the city itself which aspired to control inflammatory broadcasts and publications.
Meanwhile the Dutch side (the
Netherlands Indies Civil Administration
The Netherlands Indies Civil Administration (abbreviated NICA; nl, Nederlandsch-Indische Civiele Administratie) was a semi-military organisation, established April 1944, tasked with the restoration of civil administration and law of Dutch colonia ...
) also stated their support for freedom of the press and that they did not want to return to the strict censorship of the 1930s.
But during the military occupation in Dutch zones, which included the capital Jakarta, Indonesian journalists and publications were often persecuted and forced to censor their reports, especially on military actions.
Some pro-republic journalists fled to rural areas with their presses rather than continue to operate on the Dutch side.
Nonetheless, the pro-republican newspapers remained the dominant force even in Dutch-held areas.
The republican government also published (Indonesian Republic News) and encouraged its officially-sanctioned contents to be quoted and reprinted in private newspapers, and hired celebrity journalists such as
Parada Harahap to build public trust in their official publications.
Liberal democracy era (1950–59)
Following the departure of the Dutch from most of Indonesia after the 1949
Dutch–Indonesian Round Table Conference
The Dutch–Indonesian Round Table Conference was held in The Hague from 23 August to 2 November 1949, between representatives of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Republic of Indonesia and the Federal Consultative Assembly, representing va ...
, the Indonesian Republic began a period of
Liberal democracy
Liberal democracy is the combination of a liberal political ideology that operates under an indirect democratic form of government. It is characterized by elections between multiple distinct political parties, a separation of powers into diff ...
which initially had few forms of official censorship.
The rapid turnover in governments during this period, and the general weakness of the new state also made a coherent policy of censorship impossible.
There was also a general desire to avoid applying the Dutch legal regulations, which had been used aggressively against the Indonesian nationalists before the war, against the population, although they were occasionally applied, as in 1953 when incendiary political speeches were banned from publication under the old regulations.
It was only in 1954 that the 1930s press regulations were actually repealed, and were replaced by new regulations in the 1955 Penal Code which nonetheless drew heavily on their predecessors.
For example, ambiguous regulations allowed journalists to be held responsible by local authorities for printing inaccurate facts which could cause public disorder.
Another issue was the granting or withholding of resources and support to newspapers depending on their political loyalty; troublesome newspapers were often denied access to bank loans or printing paper.
Dutch-language newspapers, of which a handful remained in the early independence era, also suffered unofficial forms of persecution and declined gradually in the first half of the 1950s.
In 1956 a new period of repression of the press and political repression began. In the fall of that year, the military issued a decree forbidding criticism of any official, or for printing anything which may confuse or agitate the population.
The effect of these regulations was similar to the "Hate-sowing articles" of the late colonial era. Dutch schoolteachers began to be fired in 1956 as well.
The situation for the press deteriorated in 1957 after Martial Law was declared, making it one of the worst years for censorship of the entire Sukarno era.
In March 1957 the army was given expanded rights to ban newspapers and to imprison journalists or political activists.
Local military commanders used this new authority very aggressively and arbitrarily; the army commander in Jakarta temporarily closed almost all of the city's daily papers in September, including
Harian Rakjat
(EYD: , 'People's Daily') was an Indonesian newspaper published by the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI) from 1951-1965. The motto was ('For the people there is only one daily, Harian Rakjat!'). Harian Rakyat was managed by Njoto as a member ...
, ''Pedoman'' and
Bintang Timur
''Bintang Timur'' ( Indonesian: ''"Star of the East"''), also spelled Bintang Timoer before 1947, was a popular daily newspaper published in the Dutch East Indies and Indonesia.
History
The newspaper was launched in September 1926 by Parada Har ...
; only four newspapers were excluded.
The Dutch-language press, which had already dwindled in importance, was a major target as punishment over the
West New Guinea dispute
The West New Guinea dispute (1950–1962), also known as the West Irian dispute, was a diplomatic and political conflict between the Netherlands and Indonesia over the territory of Dutch New Guinea. While the Netherlands had ceded sovereignty ov ...
; editors were replaced or fired by government decree, some Dutch journalists who had been military veterans were deported, and editors were arrested by military police. Finally on 1 December 1957 a decree was issued completely banning Dutch-language publications; this affected all the remaining major dailies, including Dutch-owned papers like ''De Java-bode'' in Jakarta and
De Preangerbode in
Bandung
Bandung ( su, ᮘᮔ᮪ᮓᮥᮀ, Bandung, ; ) is the capital city of the Indonesian province of West Java. It has a population of 2,452,943 within its city limits according to the official estimates as at mid 2021, making it the fourth most ...
, as well as Indonesian-owned papers ''De Nieuwsgier'' in Jakarta and ''De Vrije Pers'' in Surabaya.
Because the law also affected other "foreign" languages, Chinese and English-language publications now needed a special license to publish.
Guided Democracy era (1959–66)
![Mochtar Lubis Kesusastraan Modern Indonesia p216](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Mochtar_Lubis_Kesusastraan_Modern_Indonesia_p216.jpg)
By the late 1950s, with the advent of a more centralized and undemocratic political system termed
Guided Democracy
Guided democracy, also called managed democracy, is a formally democratic government that functions as a ''de facto'' authoritarian government or in some cases, as an autocratic government. Such hybrid regimes are legitimized by elections tha ...
, this new era of stricter censorship was enshrined in the political system.
Despite this, Indonesia continued to have a vibrant press culture with dozens of newspapers and magazines representing a wide spectrum of viewpoints.
In 1959 a Press-Military Contact Bureau was established with the goal of ensuring conformity among editors; and a 1960 presidential regulation banned criticism of the government without a license.
Overly critical publications had their circulation or number of pages limited by decree, even if they were allowed to continue operating.
The two largest opposition political parties,
Masyumi Party
The Council of Indonesian Muslim Associations ( id, Partai Majelis Syuro Muslimin Indonesia), better known as the Masyumi Party, was a major Islamic political party in Indonesia during the Liberal Democracy Era in Indonesia. It was banned in ...
and the
Communist Party
A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...
, were initially large enough to maintain their influence and even expand it; although the communist daily ''
Harian Rakjat
(EYD: , 'People's Daily') was an Indonesian newspaper published by the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI) from 1951-1965. The motto was ('For the people there is only one daily, Harian Rakjat!'). Harian Rakyat was managed by Njoto as a member ...
'' was regularly persecuted by military authorities and had dozens of issues pulled by censors in 1960, other communist publications rose in readership during the same period.
Smaller parties such as the
Socialist Party of Indonesia
The Socialist Party of Indonesia ( id, Partai Sosialis Indonesia) was a political party in Indonesia from 1948 until 1960, when it was banned by President Sukarno.
Origins
In December 1945 Amir Sjarifoeddin's Socialist Party of Indonesia (Pa ...
and affiliated newspapers such as ''
Keng Po'', ''
Star Weekly
The ''Star Weekly'' magazine was a Canadian periodical published from 1910 until 1973. The publication was read widely in rural Canada where delivery of daily newspapers was infrequent.
History Formation
The newspaper was founded as the ''Toronto ...
'' and ''
Indonesia Raya
"" (; "Great Indonesia") is the national anthem of Indonesia. It has been the national anthem since the Proclamation of Indonesian Independence on 17 August 1945. The song was introduced by its composer, Wage Rudolf Supratman, on 28 October 19 ...
'' were hit hardest by the wave of repression; when ''Masyumi'' was banned in 1960 its publications also suffered.
Other newspapers, such as ''Abadi'' and ''Pedoman'', refused to comply with the new system of political control over the press and were shut down; others simply closed of their own accord.
Books were also censored; the leftist novelist and historian
Pramoedya Ananta Toer
Pramoedya Ananta Toer ( EYD: Pramudya Ananta Tur) (6 February 1925 – 30 April 2006) was an Indonesian author of novels, short stories, essays, polemics and histories of his homeland and its people. His works span the colonial period under Dutc ...
's 1960 book (overseas Chinese in Indonesia), which defended the Indonesian Chinese and criticized government discrimination at the height of an
anti-Chinese campaign, was banned and he himself was imprisoned without charge for nine months by military authorities. Other academic works were also pressured and censored, as historians and journalists were expected to portray history in a way that matched the official ideology.
![Hoa Kiau di Indonesia 1960 edition cover](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/Hoa_Kiau_di_Indonesia_1960_edition_cover.jpg)
New regulations continued to be introduced; a 1963 presidential decree by Sukarno (PP. No. 4/1963) also required book publishers to send copies of their book to local prosecutors within 48 hours of publication.
The Attorney General was given new centralized powers to criminalize or seize printed works which were thought to disrupt public order or work against the Indonesian state.
Ownership of banned materials was also covered in this decree, so that academics and writers could fear arrest for mere possession of targeted books.
Resurgent anti-Western sentiment, shared by both Sukarno and his allies in the Communist Party, caused censorship and unofficial suppression of Western books, films and music as well.
In early 1965, Sukarno also intervened repeatedly on behalf of the communists, closing many anti-communist newspapers and others which were affiliated with anti-communist groups.
After that wave of closures the army, fearing a media landscape which was dominated by the communist press, opened new publications of its own, such as ''
Berita Yudha'', which was launched in February 1965.
''
Kompas
''Kompas'' () is an Indonesian national newspaper from Jakarta which was founded on 28 June 1965. The paper is published by PT Kompas Media Nusantara, which is a part of Kompas Gramedia Group. Its head office is located at the Kompas Multimed ...
'' was founded as a magazine during this period by anti-communist Catholics.
New Order era (1966–98)
The fall of Sukarno and the
Transition to the New Order
Indonesia's transition to the New Order in the mid-1960s ousted the country's first president, Sukarno, after 22 years in the position. One of the most tumultuous periods in the country's modern history, it was the commencement of Suharto's ...
in 1966–67 ushered in a new period of political repression and censorship, especially against leftists, communists, or perceived enemies of the
Suharto
Suharto (; ; 8 June 1921 – 27 January 2008) was an Indonesian army officer and politician, who served as the second and the longest serving president of Indonesia. Widely regarded as a military dictator by international observers, Suharto ...
regime.
During this period the trends that had begun in the late 1950s, where the press was forced to closely collaborate with the military, continued to be developed.
Following the failed
30 September Movement
The Thirtieth of September Movement ( id, Gerakan 30 September, abbreviated as G30S, also known by the acronym Gestapu for ''Gerakan September Tiga Puluh'', Thirtieth of September Movement) was a self-proclaimed organization of Indonesian Na ...
in 1965, the army immediately took revenge on the Communist Party and anyone remotely associated with them. In November 1965, while Sukarno was still technically in power, the
Minister of Elementary Education and Culture for Technical Education banned a list of seventy books, and the army closed down more than 160 newspapers.
The 1963 decree continued to be used to criminalize and censor printed works in the New Order.
Any books associated with the Communist Party were soon banned, as well as anything by a list of 87 authors who were associated with the party; 31 newspapers, including the national press agency, were closed down.
On the other hand, anti-communist, right-wing, Islamic, and even Liberal newspapers and writers were given more space to publish openly than they had under the Sukarno era.
Nonetheless these remaining publications heavily self-censored and continued to work closely with the military and government.
A new Basic Press Law (No. 11) passed in 1966 claimed to affirm freedom of the press, but also explicitly tied journalism to the interests of the state.
Following this law, many regulations and ministerial decrees were put in place which gave the government strong powers to suppress or censor almost any printed materials it found objectionable, although the Press Council needed to be consulted before newspapers could be banned.
Another 1966 law forbade the teaching of
Marxism–Leninism
Marxism–Leninism is a communist ideology which was the main communist movement throughout the 20th century. Developed by the Bolsheviks, it was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, its satellite states in the Eastern Bloc, and various co ...
. The state claimed to guarantee press freedom and framed closures as being about licensing; and the number of licenses issued to press organizations was limited to 289, meaning that the overall size of the press industry in the country declined to less than half of its pre-1965 size.
To publish, newspapers or magazines actually had to secure two difference licenses; one from the Ministry of Information and another from the military security organization
Kopkamtib
The Operational Command for the Restoration of Security and Order ( id, Komando Operasi Pemulihan Keamanan dan Ketertiban), or Kopkamtib, was a military body established to deal with the 1965 coup attempt operation in Indonesia, and was subsequen ...
. The publication of fiction and a rich cultural life continued during this period; however, novelists and writers often self-censored to fit with government regulations and ideology, or else remained quite marginal. As in the colonial era, publishers were required to send two copies of books to government censors within 48 hours of publication, and if they were found to be unfit they could be arbitrarily banned.
Topics which were taboo for books or news publications included ethnicity, inter-group relations, politicized religion, the 1945 Indonesian constitution, the family of president Suharto, military activities, and many other thing which could be said to disturb social order.
Bans on printed materials, which could be highly arbitrary and without judicial review, would be publicized widely to ensure they were enforced by local authorities.
By the early 1970s, the Indonesian press had recovered somewhat despite the strict control and regulations, and included a range of viewpoints including left-wing, conservative, military, religious, and apolitical popular magazines. Some events during this time, such as student demonstrations in 1973, and the
Malari incident in 1974 caused new waves of censorship and repression, with licenses revoked and editors jailed; almost all the of the left-wing student newspapers disappeared during this crackdown, and many journalists were blacklisted.
Allegations of fraud in the
1977 Indonesian legislative election were also strictly censored, and in 1978 some newspapers including
Kompas
''Kompas'' () is an Indonesian national newspaper from Jakarta which was founded on 28 June 1965. The paper is published by PT Kompas Media Nusantara, which is a part of Kompas Gramedia Group. Its head office is located at the Kompas Multimed ...
and
Sinar Harapan
''Sinar Harapan'' (''Rays of Hope'') was an Indonesian evening daily newspaper published by PT Sinar Harapan Persada and currently an online-only portal. First published on 27 April 1961, ''Sinar Harapan'' underwent several bans during both Old ...
were temporarily closed for coverage of student protests.
Nonetheless, with an expanding middle class readership and developing economy, some large news organizations (such as ''
Tempo
In musical terminology, tempo (Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (often ...
'') grew too large and respected for the government to easily close.
There were no major periods of press repression in the 1980s, although some individual publications were still punished or closed for printing things the government objected to. The government also continued to be hostile to foreign or domestic scholars who researched or spoke publicly about taboo subjects;
Benedict Anderson
Benedict Richard O'Gorman Anderson (August 26, 1936 – December 13, 2015) was an Anglo-Irish political scientist and historian who lived and taught in the United States. Anderson is best known for his 1983 book '' Imagined Communities'', which e ...
was blacklisted in the 1970s and was repeatedly expelled from Indonesia during the following decades;
Audrey Kahin was also blacklisted until 1991.
The academic Slametmuljana also had a book about the history of Islam in Indonesia banned by the government in 1971; because it of its thesis that Islam may have been introduced via China, it was thought to be inflammatory.
Likewise
Deliar Noer Deliar Noer (9 February 1926 – 17 June 2008) was an Indonesian Muslim scholar, politician, and lecturer, who was a former rector of the State University of Jakarta.
Biography
Early life
Noer was born in Medan, North Sumatra on 9 February 1926. H ...
was blacklisted from teaching in 1974 for his historical writings, and in the 1980s a book of oral history on the 1948 and 1965 coup attempts written by
Siauw Giok Tjhan
Siauw Giok Tjhan (; March 23, 1914 – November 20, 1981) was a Chinese Indonesian activist and politician. Born in Kapasan, Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia, he was a cabinet minister under Indonesia president Sukarno and was imprisoned for 12 year ...
was banned.
Novels published in the 1980s continued to attract the attention of censors. Pramoedya Ananta Toer's anti-colonial epic series Buru Tetralogy, starting with
This Earth of Mankind
''This Earth of Mankind'' is the first book in Pramoedya Ananta Toer's epic quartet called '' Buru Quartet'', first published by Hasta Mitra in 1980. The story is set at the end of the Dutch colonial rule and was written while Pramoedya was im ...
(written while imprisoned in the 1970s and published in 1980), was banned by the Attorney General in 1981, although other similar novels such a
Y. B. Mangunwijaya's ''The Weaverbirds'' (), published in 1981, was not banned.
It was forbidden for Pramoedya's novels to even be reviewed or held by university libraries, and Pramoedya and his publisher were arrested and interrogated.
Films were also censored; in 1973 the Japanese film ''Romusha'' was banned after pressure from the Japanese government, and in 1977 a Dutch-Indonesian film ''Saija dan Adinda'', which was based on the novel
Max Havelaar
''Max Havelaar; or, The Coffee Auctions of the Dutch Trading Company'' ( nl, Max Havelaar; of, De koffi-veilingen der Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappy) is an 1860 novel by Multatuli (the pen name of Eduard Douwes Dekker), which played a key role ...
, was banned for portraying colonialism too positively.
In 1982 the Australian film ''
The Year of Living Dangerously'' was banned; it would not be shown in Indonesia until 2000.
The Basic Press Law was revised again in 1982, this time replacing the revolutionary language of the 1960s with new terminology focusing on stability and development.
During the 1980s the press continued to be censored, often in order to protect the state and its leaders from being exposed to foreign criticism.
Academic works and foreign books or textbooks continue to be banned as well, especially if they were deemed to contain criticism of the Suharto regime or other banned topics.
In the 1990s, the final decade of the New Order, the government's repressive policies around film and print materials became increasingly at odds with the expectations of the growing middle class. The government still banned academic works which contradicted official accounts or which made any mention of the communist party.
One of the most dramatic examples of official censorship of the late New Order period took place in 1994, when the government pulled the licenses of ''Tempo'', ''Editor'', and ''Detik''; this was the first major banning of publications since the 1970s.
These closures spurred a surprisingly strong public reaction and international pressure; there were roughly 170 public protests around Indonesia over this matter.
The government initially backtracked and promised to reverse the canceling of the licenses, although it did not do so once the public lost interest.
''Tempo'' journalists sued the government and won, although the ruling was overturned by the
Supreme Court of Indonesia
The Supreme Court of the Republic of Indonesia ( id, Mahkamah Agung Republik Indonesia) is the independent judicial arm of the state. It maintains a system of courts and sits above the other courts and is the final court of appeal. It can also ...
.
Other publications continued to be censored occasionally; in 1995 the student newspaper ''Sintesa'' from
Gadjah Mada University
Gadjah Mada University ( jv, ꦈꦤꦶꦥ꦳ꦼꦂꦱꦶꦠꦱ꧀ꦓꦗꦃꦩꦢ; id, Universitas Gadjah Mada, abbreviated as UGM) is a Public university, public research university located in Sleman Regency, Sleman, Yogyakarta (special region) ...
was shut down for printing an article about the 1965 coup attempt.
In 1994 the film ''
Schindler's List
''Schindler's List'' is a 1993 American epic historical drama film directed and produced by Steven Spielberg and written by Steven Zaillian. It is based on the 1982 novel ''Schindler's Ark'' by Australian novelist Thomas Keneally. The film fo ...
'' was also banned for its scenes of nudity and violence.
The government was also more careful about book censorship in the second half of the 1990s; a new novel by Pramoedya Ananta Toer was allowed to be sold for several months in 1995 until the Attorney General finally banned it.
Reform era (1998–present)
During the period of liberalization following the fall of the Suharto dictatorship, commonly known by its Indonesian name ''
Reformasi'', most forms of official censorship were abolished and there was a rapid expansion of new book publishing and news media.
In May 1998, only two weeks after the fall of Suharto, the previous licensing system for the press was drastically simplified; from the previous limit of 289, new licenses were issued for more than 700 new media outlets over the following year.
The
Ministry of Information, which had been responsible for many forms of censorship, was abolished by President
Abdurrahman Wahid
Abdurrahman Wahid ( ; born Abdurrahman ad-Dakhil; 7 September 1940 – 30 December 2009), though more colloquially known as Gus Dur (), was an Indonesian politician and Islamic religious leader who served as the 4th president of Indonesia, from ...
in 1999, although it was reestablished in 2001 as the
Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (or Kominfo) by President
Megawati Sukarnoputri
Diah Permata Megawati Setiawati Sukarnoputri (; born 23 January 1947) is an Indonesian politician who served as the fifth president of Indonesia from 2001 to 2004. She previously served as the eighth Vice President of Indonesia, vice president f ...
.
Books
Books, both fiction and nonfiction, saw a rapid expansion in publication following 1998 and for several years there was very little official, centralized censorship. A large number of new small presses opened in cities with vibrant university presences, including
Yogyakarta
Yogyakarta (; jv, ꦔꦪꦺꦴꦒꦾꦏꦂꦠ ; pey, Jogjakarta) is the capital city of Special Region of Yogyakarta in Indonesia, in the south-central part of the island of Java. As the only Indonesian royal city still ruled by a monarchy, ...
, Jakarta,
Bandung
Bandung ( su, ᮘᮔ᮪ᮓᮥᮀ, Bandung, ; ) is the capital city of the Indonesian province of West Java. It has a population of 2,452,943 within its city limits according to the official estimates as at mid 2021, making it the fourth most ...
and
Medan
Medan (; English: ) is the capital and largest city of the Indonesian province of North Sumatra, as well as a regional hub and financial centre of Sumatra. According to the National Development Planning Agency, Medan is one of the four main ...
; the turnover in the industry was also influenced by the
1997 Asian financial crisis
The Asian financial crisis was a period of financial crisis that gripped much of East Asia and Southeast Asia beginning in July 1997 and raised fears of a worldwide economic meltdown due to financial contagion. However, the recovery in 1998–1 ...
which had hit major publishers hard.
The novels and nonfiction works of Pramoedya Ananta Toer and other left-wing writers, which had been banned for decades, were published in new editions in the early 2000s.
Likewise the novels of
Ahmad Tohari
Ahmad Tohari (born 13 June 1948) is an Indonesian author.
Early life
Ahmad Tohari was born in the village of Tinggarjaya, Jatilawang, Banyumas, the fourth of twelve children. Although Tohari's parents were both from farming backgrounds, his fath ...
, which had been in print but heavily self-censored by the publisher
Gramedia
Toko Buku Gramedia (''Gramedia Bookstore'') is an Indonesian bookstore owned by Kompas Gramedia. Established in 1970, Gramedia Asri Media has contributed to give inspiration through knowledge, endeavor and direct participation to society for mo ...
because of its sympathetic portrayal of communists, were re-released in their original form.
A new generation of emancipated fiction writers emerged, including
Ayu Utami
Ayu Utami (born 21 November 1968) is an Indonesian writer who has written novels, short-stories, and articles. '' Saman'' (1998) is widely considered her masterpiece. It was translated into English by Pamela Allen in 2005. By writing about sex ...
,
Dewi Lestari
Dewi "Dee" Lestari Simangunsong (born 20 January 1976, in Bandung, West Java) is an Indonesian writer, singer, and songwriter.
Biography
Dee was born in Bandung, West Java on 20 January 1976; she was the fourth of five children born to a reli ...
and
Djenar Maesa Ayu.
Former leftists or political prisoners who had been imprisoned during the New Order released new memoirs as well.
Imported foreign books, and Indonesian translations of Western works, became more commonplace and popular.
Even books about taboo topics such as
Marxism
Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...
were being published, although bookstores selling them were subject to local police raids in the early 2000s.
Such raids were banned by the
Ministry of Justice A Ministry of Justice is a common type of government department that serves as a justice ministry.
Lists of current ministries of justice
Named "Ministry"
* Ministry of Justice (Abkhazia)
* Ministry of Justice (Afghanistan)
* Ministry of Just ...
in May 2001, but regional governments or authorities continued to censor works.
During the first decade of the Reform-era, some books continued to be banned by the
Attorney General's Office of Indonesia
The Office of the Attorney General of the Republic of Indonesia ( Indonesian: ''Kejaksaan Agung Republik Indonesia'') is the competent authority to advise the Government of Indonesia on matters of law. It serves as the central organization for th ...
and the Deputy Attorney General for Intelligence ().
These include history textbooks banned in 2004 and 2007, and a set of five books dealing with the Communist Party, the anti-Communist massacres of the 1960s, or religious minorities, in 2009.
The banning of these books has been criticized for their reliance on the 1963 censorship law, which was supposed to be superseded by the Press Law No.40 of 1999.
Film, technology and video games
Unlike in the book publishing industry, films continued to be censored in the Reform era as regulated by Law No. 33/2009 on Film. Film censorship is conducted by Film Censorship Board under
Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology
The Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology (Indonesian: ''Kementerian Pendidikan, Kebudayaan, Riset, dan Teknologi,'' abbreviated ''Kemdikbudristek'') is a government ministry of the Indonesian government responsible for educat ...
.
In 2020, the Kominfo Director General Semuel Abrijani Pangerapan and
Johnny G. Plate introduced a law that requires foreign companies to register under the Electronic System Operator list which could give the government access to the citizen's personal info and threaten the company to block access from the country if the company did not register. The law was revised and passed in 2021. In July 2022, a ban was implemented for several notable websites such as
PayPal
PayPal Holdings, Inc. is an American multinational financial technology company operating an online payments system in the majority of countries that support online money transfers, and serves as an electronic alternative to traditional paper ...
,
Epic Games
Epic Games, Inc. is an American video game and software developer and publisher based in Cary, North Carolina. The company was founded by Tim Sweeney as Potomac Computer Systems in 1991, originally located in his parents' house in Potomac, M ...
,
Steam
Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...
,
Origin
Origin(s) or The Origin may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
Comics and manga
* Origin (comics), ''Origin'' (comics), a Wolverine comic book mini-series published by Marvel Comics in 2002
* The Origin (Buffy comic), ''The Origin'' (Bu ...
, and
Yahoo
Yahoo! (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web services provider. It is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California and operated by the namesake company Yahoo! Inc. (2017–present), Yahoo Inc., which is 90% owned by investment funds ma ...
, and games such as ''
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'' and ''
Dota 2
''Dota 2'' is a 2013 multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game by Valve. The game is a sequel to ''Defense of the Ancients'' (''DotA''), a community-created mod for Blizzard Entertainment's '' Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos.'' ''Dota 2' ...
'' as they did not register under the ministry's new law.
Internet and press freedom
''
Tempo
In musical terminology, tempo (Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (often ...
'', which had still been refused the right to publish since 1994, resumed publication in October 1998 and revised its editorial style to match the new, more open era.
The number of journalists increased rapidly in the country, from an estimated five thousand in 1997 to more than fifteen thousand in 2003, with approximately 1300 news licensed news organizations.
Without centralized state censorship, opponents of free expression turned to libel lawsuits and civil court to silence critical coverage.
Nonetheless, previously taboo topics such as human rights abuses were now openly covered in the press.
The 2002 broadcasting law did put some limits on the free speech of broadcasters, including news broadcasters; it directed them to "maintain and enhance the morality and religious values and national identity" and required television stations to obtain certificates from censors and adhere to their rules.
The internet is also widely and arbitrarily censored in Indonesia; the Kominfo, which is responsible for it, bans or shuts down websites and services with no due process if they are deemed to be illegal, provocative, or even critical of the government. Reform-era news organizations sometimes self-censor, especially when the topic may impact the business interests of the owner, or when it relates to sensitive political topics such as the independence movement in
Papua.
Protests and freedom of expression
On 10 June 2020, Human Rights Watch urged the Indonesian authorities to drop all charges against seven Papuan activists and students, who are on trial for their involvement in anti-racism protests last year in August. On 2 December 2019, four students along with the other 50 students, peacefully protested against the human rights abuses in Papua and West Papua, asking the Indonesian government to release the Papuan political prisoners. A civil lawsuit was filed against 4 student activists following their expulsion from their university. On 13 July 2020, the police charged one of the four students with "treason" and "public provocation."
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...
urged the Indonesia's
Khairun University to reinstate the four students who were expelled and support academic freedom and free expression.
On 6 December 2022, the
People's Representative Council
The People's Representative Council of the Republic of Indonesia ( id, Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat Republik Indonesia, DPR-RI), also known as the House of Representatives, is one of two elected chambers of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), ...
unanimously passed
a new criminal code that placed heavy restrictions on
freedom of speech
Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recogni ...
and the
right to protest, a move that was widely condemned by activists and human rights organizations. Before it was passed, the Press Council of Indonesia attempted to convince President
Joko Widodo
Joko Widodo (; born 21 June 1961), popularly known as Jokowi, is an Indonesian politician and businessman who is the 7th and current president of Indonesia. Elected in July 2014, he was the first Indonesian president not to come from an elite ...
to halt it's enactment. The law reintroduced a ban against insulting the president, vice president,
Indonesian flag
The Flag of Indonesia is a simple bicolor with two horizontal bands, red (top) and white (bottom) with an overall ratio of 2:3. It was introduced and hoisted in public during the proclamation of independence on 17 August 1945 at 56 Proklamasi ...
, government institutions, or ''
Pancasila'' (the official state ideology of the country). It instituted requirements that protesters receive permission to protest from the police, or else face imprisonment for up to 6 months. It also introduced major restrictions to
abortion rights
Abortion-rights movements, also referred to as pro-choice movements, advocate for the right to have legal access to induced abortion services including elective abortion. They seek to represent and support women who wish to terminate their pre ...
, criminalized consensual
sex outside of marriage, and created
apostasy
Apostasy (; grc-gre, ἀποστασία , 'a defection or revolt') is the formal disaffiliation from, abandonment of, or renunciation of a religion by a person. It can also be defined within the broader context of embracing an opinion that i ...
laws that made leaving a religion a jailable offense.
References
{{Indonesia topics
Censorship in Indonesia
Mass media in Indonesia
History of Indonesia