He said before leading a plenary cabinet meeting here on Thursday that all the criticisms had to be used for introspection.
"I think we had better listen to them. We must not always blame the media just because we think they have been discriminative, choosing only certainly people their talk show program or publications, and have only criticized the government and not sufficiently accommodated the government`s views," he said.
He said during the current fasting month he had met with a number of figures that have so far been critical towards the government. Without mentioning their names he said that they had conveyed their views openly and objectively towards the government`s performance.
He said they had expressed criticisms with various examples but they had actually also expressed appreciation to some of the government`s achievements.
"In the interaction I accepted their criticism with a big heart. One of the criticisms is that we have been considered not persevering or diligent enough in explaining our policies or quick enough sometimes only after a few days or weeks in the media, the public knowledge before response to issues was made," he said.
In view of that President Yudhoyono appealed to his ministers to introspect to see whether they given enough explanation and information to match with criticisms in the media.
"Let us introspect to see whether we have been persevering enough to meet (the criticisms). People will digest and try to understand all the criticisms and explanations and information," he said.
The people who are smart and have conscience will then be able to make correct judgement if enough interaction has occurred between the government and the media.
In case there is a wrong policy, he said, the government certainly has to big heartedly admit and conduct corrections.
(T.D013*P008/H-YH)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
