Killing the Messenger

Abstract

This article examines the political significance of the Indonesian government's banning of three leading weekly publications (Tempo, DeTik, and Editor) in 1994. It argues that the bannings illustrated a loss of focus and direction on the part of the aging New Order regime of then-President Suharto and were part of a crude attempt to balance rival interest groups and suppress political dissent. Suharto's unwillingness to allow the press to evolve from passively legitimating state power to restraining and monitoring the excesses of his regime was shortsighted. Suharto lost power in May 1998 partly as a result of his failure to listen to criticism and his intolerance of dissenting voices. The policy of “killing the messenger” seen in the 1994 bannings marked the beginning of the end for Suharto and the New Order.