Antara News, Wednesday, October 6, 2010 21:10 WIB
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur in cooperation with the Foreign Affairs Ministry held a seminar on the media`s role in enhancing Indonesia-Malaysia relations here Wednesday.
"Through this seminar, we would like to invite all stakeholders - the government, the private sector, NGOs and academics - to exchange ideas on strengthening and finding a better formula for bilateral cooperation between Indonesia and Malaysia in the media as a place to share all information," Indonesian ambassador to Malaysia Da`i Bachtiar said in remarks at the seminar`s opening.
He said the media played an important role in bilateral cooperation between Indonesia and Malaysia. The two countries had been maintaining unique relations for a long time ago and the emergence of problems from time to time in those relations was a normal thing, he said.
"We realize the two countries have many bilatera; problems that need to be tackled and solved but they actually complement each other. This fact should be reported by all of the media, not only in Indonesia but also in Malaysia," he said.
Meanwhile, Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Triyono Wibowo said on the same occasion, all of the seminar participants would get complete knowledge and information about the conditions of the media in both countries.
ANTARA News Agency chief Ahmad Mukhlis Yusuf said Indonesian media , both electronic and print, should increase and improve their capability and capacity to disseminate ideas, facts and information in a wise way.
"There is a gap between the young generation and old generation so that the media has an important role to play in narrowing this gap, especially in their reporting on bilateral issues between Indonesia and Malaysia," Muklis said.
He said in the globalization era, the media were playing an important role as they influenced public opinion and the decisions made by the state.
Tarman Azam, chairman of honorary board of the Indonesian Journalist Association (PWI), said the Indonesian media sometimes played up issues to discredit Malaysia such as illegal logging, treatment of Indonesian migrant workers etc. Malaysian media on the other hand at times launch stories damaging Indonesia`s image so that Malaysian people deceloped a negative perception of Indonesians.
He said the Indonesian government should increase the role of the media so that they would be able to obtain and distribute correct and factual information relating to Malaysia so it would not disturb bilateral cooperation.
"The important things is to build good cooperation in strengthening the role of the media and try to communicate with the Malaysian government about it because conditions in Indonesia are different from those in Malaysia," he said.
He added in Malaysia, there was little transparency in the media and press while in Indonesia the press has freedom to deliver the facts and information so that both countries need to communicate on these media issues to strengthen the bilateral cooperation between the two both countries.
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