Tempo
Interactive - May 1, 2009
Bibin
Bintariadi, Malang – Commemorating International Labour Day on May 1, the
Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) demanded that media employers provide
journalists with a decent wage.
According to
AJI advocacy division coordinator Heru Triatmojo, many media owners are yet to
pay journalists a decent wage. “There are even some who pay wages below the
minimum regional wage,” said Triatmojo.
The AJI
demonstrators held the action at the Malang City Monument Square along with
labour organisations from the Malang People’s Alliance (ARM).
Triatmojo
said that paying journalists a reasonable wage would have a positive impact on
advancing the companies. A reasonable wage would influence journalists not to
want to or be able to avoid “envelopes” and other forms of bribery, so in the
end they would be to act more independently.
Based upon a
survey by AJI Malang, a reasonable wage for journalists in Malang would be as
much as 2.4 million rupiah a month.
[Translated
by James Balowski.]
