Cement company sued for harassing journalists

Cement company sued for harassing journalists

Nana Rukmana, The Jakarta Post, Cirebon

Three journalists of two major newspapers and a private TV
station have filed a lawsuit against publicly listed cement
producer PT Indocement Tunggal Prakarsa (ITP) with Cirebon Police
for harassment.

Dahono Fitrianto of Kompas daily, Rohlani Mawardi of Poskota
daily and Ridwan Pamungkas of SCTV TV station lodged the lawsuit
with Adj. Sr. Comr. Musyafak, chief of the Cirebon Police at his
office, on Thursday.

Dahono regretted the incident and pledged to process the case
in accordance with the law.

According to inquiries made by The Jakarta Post, the incident
occurred when the three journalists entered the company's
laboratory in Paliaman, filmed and took photographs of the
laboratory facilities, an action, which according to a senior
executive in the company, was prohibited for fear of revealing
company secrets.

The three reporters who, along with other media workers, were
invited to a media conference on the use of electrostatic
precipitator (EP) facilities in the factory, entered the
laboratory and took the same pictures in it after securing
permission from the company's human relations department.

Gunawan Setijanto, the factory's supporting division manager,
got angry with the reporters and forced them to destroy all the
photographs taken at the factory.

"I do not want our secrets to be exposed to the public and to
our competitors. You, as journalists, should know the company's
internal rules and should knock at the door to ask for permission
to enter the laboratory," he said.

Gunawan ignored the reporters' apologies and added: "If
necessary, let me buy your cassette and negatives. How much do
they cost?"

He asked the reporters to show their identity cards to prove
they were journalists and to sign the company's guest book.

The three reporters finally handed over their video cassette
and negatives to Gunawan.

Some reporters boycotted the media conference to express their
solidarity with the three and, instead, went to the local police
station to sue the factory.

Meanwhile, Iwa Kartiwa, president of ITP, regretted the
incident and made an apology to the three journalists, asking
them to solve the case peacefully.

He said he could understand what was required of journalists
and that his subordinate had not intended to harass them.