Reporters take officials hostage<\/p>\n
The Secretary of the Tangerang branch of the Indonesian Council
\nof Ulemas, Rasna Dachlan, and two officials from the regency's
\nsocial affairs agency, Saroji and Achmad, were kept hostage for
\nabout six hours in a car by a group of men claiming to be
\nreporters for local magazines.<\/p>\n
\"I was kept hostage inside my car by about 60 magazine
\nreporters. They wouldn't let me get out of the car until I gave
\nthem money,\" Rasna was quoted by Antara as saying in Tangerang on
\nWednesday.<\/p>\n
He said that the incident occurred after he attended a
\nceremony marking the revelation of the Koran (Nuzulul Qur'an) on
\nTuesday night in the Tangerang administration offices, at which
\nTangerang Regent Agus Djunara and Banten Governor Djoko Munandar
\nwere also present.<\/p>\n
The incident started at 10 p.m. on Tuesday and ended at 3 a.m.
\non Wednesday morning.<\/p>\n
According to Rasna, the \"journalists\" forced him and the other
\ntwo officials to pay money to them before they would allow the
\ntrio to leave.<\/p>\n
Achmad had at first tried to offer them Rp 500,000 (US$60) of
\nhis own money but they refused, saying that it was not enough for
\n60 of them.<\/p>\n
Rasna said that he had asked security guards to deal with the
\nproblem, but as there were only three of them on duty they were
\nunable to do anything.<\/p>\n
Tangerang's public relations chief, Maman Soetoyo, regretted
\nthe incident, saying that he doubted that those involved were
\nreal reporters. \"They work for magazines that have no clear
\nstatus. I think if they were really journalists, they wouldn't do
\nsuch a thing,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Many con artists or extortionists in the city claim to work as
\njournalists for publications whose actual existence is uncertain,
\nor even for publications that have closed down. Their primary
\ngoal is blackmail, especially of government officials, by
\nthreatening to publish damaging stories. --JP<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/reporters-take-officials-hostage-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}