Kompas daily proceeds with legal process on assault case<\/p>\n
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja
\nThe Jakarta Post
\nJakarta<\/p>\n
As part of the campaign to put an end to the long list of
\nassaults against the Indonesian media, Kompas daily vowed on
\nThursday to proceed with the legal process against the police for
\nbeating one of its reporters while reporting the Maspion worker
\nstrike in Sidoarjo, East Java.<\/p>\n
The daily's Deputy Managing Editor, Taufik H. Mihardja, said
\non Thursday that Kompas would not be satisfied with an apology
\nfrom the police and somebody had to be legally punished for the
\nincident.<\/p>\n
\"We have reported the incident to Sidoarjo police and are
\nstudying further possible legal steps for the assault,\" Taufik
\ntold The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
Journalist Wisnu Dewabrata was beaten up by officers from the
\nSidoarjo police force, while covering a strike on Wednesday
\ninvolving thousands of Maspion workers.<\/p>\n
As the strike heated up, the police started to chase down the
\nworkers and a clash broke out, leaving at least five workers
\ninjured.<\/p>\n
Wisnu, who was among the crowd, was also hit by a police billy
\nclub, and his press identity card and camera were taken away by
\nthe officers.<\/p>\n
Taufik said Wisnu only suffered minor injuries and continued
\nto work and report on the strike.<\/p>\n
He asserted that it was not a matter of how serious the
\ninjuries were, but the rights of the press to report certain
\nevents safely and without threats from security officers.<\/p>\n
\"We do not want the case to be settled with an apologetic
\nstatement, we want the perpetrators to be brought to justice for
\nthe incident. These kinds of assaults should be stopped,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Assaults against the press are not something new in Indonesia,
\nand unfortunately during Megawati's administration, violent
\nattacks against the press and its freedom has increased.<\/p>\n
Many have feared the country would suffer a setback in press
\nfreedom, as aside from the increasing number of assaults, the
\ngovernment has drafted regulations to curb the media.<\/p>\n
Ati Nurbaiti, chairwoman of the Alliance of Independent
\nJournalists (AJI), said Wisnu's case followed another 58 recorded
\ncases of physical assaults on members of the press from May 3,
\n2001 (international press freedom day) to May 3 this year.<\/p>\n
\"If this goes on, we'll have to present the police force with
\nour annual 'Enemy of the Press' award,\" she told the Post.<\/p>\n
She said that in some cases police had claimed ignorance of
\nthe press laws and asked AJI to send them a copy of the document.<\/p>\n
\"It is inconceivable that a police chief does not know the
\nuniversal rule against assaulting neutral parties in a conflict
\nsituation such as journalists and humanitarian workers, and that
\nsuch officers never instruct their subordinates on this matter,\"
\nshe remarked.<\/p>\n
Separately, National Police Spokesman Insp. Gen. Saleh Saaf
\nvowed that the police would follow up with the case and punish
\nthe officers involved.<\/p>\n
\"The police never have the intention to block press freedom.
\nWe fully understand that the press is our partner, but please be
\npatient as we are still trying to reform ourselves in respecting
\nthe media,\" Saleh told the Post.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/ikompasi-daily-proceeds-with-legal-process-on-assault-case-1447893297",
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