Camelia Pasandaran, Markus Junianto Sihaloho & Anita Rachman – Bogor – Very few among the nation's leaders seem to share Cabinet Secretary Dipo Alam's views of media organizations critical of the government.

Government officials and lawmakers were quick to denounce his call to restrict interview access and implement an advertising boycott for media that he said spread lies and incite hatred of the government.

Lashing out at the media on Monday, Dipo said the government was open to criticism but not criticism that was misleading and overstepped the boundaries of press freedom. "Therefore I said that we need to boycott them," he said. "The media needs to be improved."

He said he had also advised government officials to decline requests for interviews with the offending media outlets.

Constitutional Court Chief Mahfud M.D. said if that order ever reached his office, he would instruct his staff to reject it because it was against the 1945 Constitution, which guaranteed press freedom.

"Dipo may have reasons to get angry, but calling for a boycott of the press is just pushing it," he told reporters on the sidelines of a justice seminar in Jakarta.

"The Constitutional Court is also being continuously criticized by a newspaper, while other newspapers don't do that. But the court can take that and we continue to maintain a friendship with the leader of that particular newspaper."

Lawmakers from both sides of the political divide also agreed that Dipo's statement was uncalled for.

Tjahjo Kumolo, the secretary general of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), said the government should respect all criticism. "If the government has any objections against criticism of it in mass media, the Press Law provides it with the right to reply," he said.

Government officials should accept the fact that Indonesia has transformed into a democracy, said Idrus Marham, secretary general of the Golkar Party. "If we want to remain on this path, there should be no boycott and threatening of each other," Idrus added.

Ahmad Muzani, the secretary general of the Great Indonesia Movement party (Gerindra), even called Dipo's statement "dangerous."

Ramadhan Pohan, the deputy secretary general of the ruling Democratic Party, said Dipo's repressive approach was not very democratic. "But please, separate the president from his helpers. Don't see the statement as the president's official stance," Ramadhan said.

Akbar Faisal from the People Conscience Party (Hanura) said the president should re-evaluate Dipo's position as a close aide. "The president will be most affected by the backlash to this statement," he said. "I now understand why the president often complains that his helpers never back him up."

Dipo singled out TVOne, Metro TV and Media Indonesia as outlets that relentlessly painted a negative image of the government.

[Additional reporting from Heru Andriyanto and Amir Tejo.]