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The Press Council and the National Police are in the midst of finalizing a draft agreement on the settlement of disputes arising from press reports, an officer said on Wednesday.

The National Police spokesman for general affairs, Sr. Comr. Boy Rafli Amar, said the Memorandum of Understanding was expected to be signed during a ceremony to mark National Press Day in Jambi today.

Boy said that at present, there remained a dualism in handling press disputes. The press community wants disputes to be settled under the 1999 Press Law, while other parties prefer that cases be settled using the penal code and the Code of Procedural Law.

“The draft is about a spirit of cooperation,” Boy said, adding that complaints related to journalistic works would be addressed through the Press Law.

National Police spokesman, Brig. Gen. Muhammad Taufik said the agreement would be signed by the National Police chief, Gen. Timur Pradopo, and the chairman of the Press Council, Bagir Manan.

“We will always coordinate each incoming report first with the Press Council to see the background of the [offending article and to determine] whether it is extortion or a pure press issue,” he said, adding that extortion or blackmail cases would be dealt with under the criminal code.

“If it concerns news reporting, of course we will prioritize the Press Law. I also hope that media will always prioritize check-and-recheck and cover both sides so that there are no such disputes,” Taufik said.

He said that both sides would promote the content of the agreement to the public after it was signed.

The agreement has been in the works since the tenure of former National Police chief Sutanto, who headed the force from 2005 to 2008. It was first supposed to be signed by Timur and Bagir in December 2010, but it was postponed because of disagreements on some of the clauses.

Each camp came to the table with their own draft, and efforts have been made since to merge the two so that the expectations of both sides are accommodated in the agreement.

In an earlier version of the draft agreement, the Press Council wanted to become the receiver of public complaints about news reports. The council would then mediate and seek to settle the case first, and only if they failed to reach an agreement would the case then be handed over to the police.

Another condition negotiated during the earlier drafting was that the council comply with the 2008 Freedom of Information Law on not leaking classified documents pertaining to legal investigations.

An additional source of contention was that some refused to recognize the Press Law as the applicable law for press disputes. Numerous are the instances of police officers and officials who have been criticized by press reports taking reporters or media outlets to court for libel.

Opponents of using of the Press Law in dealing with disputes said police were afforded no discretion with incoming complaints against news reports and had to follow all of them up.