SBY Named ‘Best Friend of the Press’

Jakarta Globe, February 9, 2014

A handout photo released on Dec. 2, 2013 shows Indonesia’s President Susilo
 Bambang Yudhoyono delivering a speech during the opening of the 9th WTO
Ministerial meeting in Nusa Dua, Bali on Nov. 3, 2013. (AFP Photo/Abroro
Rizki/Office of the Indonesian President)

Bengkulu. The Indonesian Journalists Union (PWI) named President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono the “Best Friend of the Press” during an event observing National Press Day in Bengkulu on Sunday.

The award was handed over by PWI chairman Margiono and Press Council chairman Bagir Manan.

Margiono said the PWI had decided to grant the honor to the president because of his stellar communication with the country’s press during his two terms in office.

Margiono jokingly suggested that Yudhoyono actively run a news publication after leaving the presidential office in October, although the president is known to already have a stake in the local daily Jurnal Nasional.

“Led by common people like us, [the Indonesian press] has developed,” Margiono said in his speech during the National Press Day commemoration in Bengkulu. “Imagine if the president takes charge.”

Yudhoyono, though, insinuated in his speech that the press had been rather unfriendly to him during his tenure in office. He said, though, that scrutiny helped him make more careful decisions during his nearly 10 years in office.

“Thank God I’ve survived,” the president said.

He reminded the press, though, to be responsible in their reporting.

“A free and responsible press is the guardian of democracy, as well as a watchdog for good governance,” Yudhoyono said. “To me, press freedom is a fertilizer of democracy. Libel, insults and defamation, meanwhile, are the pests of democracy.”