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.