Chris Brummitt, Jakarta – The government on Monday stood by its decision to ban an Australian journalist whose reports on rights abuses included an article alleging that Indonesian soldiers poured boiling water over a baby.

Lindsay Murdoch, 48, who writes for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age newspapers, has been unable to report from Indonesia since authorities rejected a routine request to renew his journalist visa, which expired March 10.

Indonesia's Foreign Ministry has refused to disclose the reasons behind the rejection – the first time a foreign reporter has been barred from working in the country since the fall of longtime dictator Suharto in 1998.

His employers say his reporting is to blame. The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age said in a statement that "the decision had been taken in reaction to the authoritative reporting of Mr. Murdoch on human rights and related issues."

Authorities are believed to have been angered by two of Murdoch's reports. One quoted witnesses saying Indonesian troops poured boiling water over a baby in the violence-wracked province of Aceh. The second focused on refugees from East Timor who had been allegedly kidnapped by a Jakarta-based nationalist organization.

Murdoch, now staying in Indonesia on a business visa, reported from the country for three years and has won two awards for his coverage. In a statement Sunday he said he was "appalled" by the ban which he described as a "serious blow to press freedom in Indonesia." He said that he would leave "politely."

Wahid Supriadi, a foreign ministry spokesman, said Monday the government had no plans to reconsider the ban on Murdoch but no other journalists had cause to worry. "We are still committed to the freedom of the press," he said.

Reporters San Frontiers, an international media watchdog, said it was surprised by the ban and suggested it was "the first evidence" that elements of the military were pressuring the government to crack down on press freedom. "We hope it will be the first and the last case," said Vincent Brossel of the Paris-based group.

In recent weeks, Indonesia's military have complained that journalists, particular foreigners, have been biased in their reporting of the rights trials of officers accused of abuses in East Timor in 1999.

During the 32-year Suharto regime, the Information Ministry shackled both the domestic and foreign press. Journalists were routinely harassed. Since Suharto's fall, the press has flourished into one of the freest in Southeast Asia.