Jakarta (ANTARA News) - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said the media in Indonesia should give the public balanced information on the government by reporting not only its failures but also its successes so as not to disorient the people.

"Saying that the government has totally failed, is bad and should resign and nothing it has done is good, that is poison. On the other hand, picturing the government as always flawless, that is not good either," the President told a private radio station in Jakarta on Wednesday.

The president gave the interview on the occasion of the completion of the first year of his second term in office. He was reelected by a landslide last year and took his oath of office on October 20, 2010.

Certain civil society elements have been critical of his government, saying that he had not achieved anything good during the first year of his second term.

Yudhoyono said the government accepted whatever criticisms the public levels at the government as long as the reports about it were balanced so that the government could take further action to correcst its shortcomings or to strive to accomplish the improvements it had yet to make.

Replying to a question what he thought about the criticisms of his government in the media, Yudhoyono said kstressed that such a thing was quite normal and was being n faced by all the governments before his own, from Soekarno to Megawati Soekarnoputri.

"What is important for the sake of political education, is that the truth should be conveyed in a balanced manner, if it is good, say so and what is not yet good, say it is not yet good. In this way we will enable the real truth to emerge," Yudhoyono said.

He said the Press Council could definitely play an important role in this regard.(*)

Editor: Heru

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