Journalist association members detained

Journalist association members detained

JAKARTA (JP): City police have detained for questioning five
members of the Alliance of Independent Journalists for the
alleged production, distribution and marketing of an unlicensed
publication.

"We're still questioning all of them and making an in-depth
study of the contents of their unlicensed bulletin," the head of
the City Police Crime Investigation Directorate, Col. Nurfauzi,
said yesterday.

The five detainees have been identified as Ahmad Taufik, Eko
Mariyadi, Danang, Jimmy Sahir and Abdul Haris.

Nurfauzi said police held strong suspicions that the five had
played a part in the publication, distribution and sale of the
Independen bulletin, a publication of the Alliance of Independent
Journalists (AJI).

The alliance, which was founded last year after the banning of
three Indonesian newsweeklies in June, has not been recognized by
the government.

A reliable AJI source said yesterday that Taufik and Eko had
been, respectively, former reporter and staff member of the now
defunct Tempo magazine, before they joined the alliance. Dagang
was a member of the AJI's office staff, the source said.

"We do not know the two other persons but we are sure that
they are not AJI members; nor do they have anything to do with
the bulletin," the source, who requested anonymity, told The
Jakarta Post.

According to Nurfauzi, all of the five people were arrested by
police detectives at the three-star Wisata International Hotel in
Central Jakarta on Thursday evening after an Halal bi Halal
(Moslem gathering after the Idul Fitri) party held by the
journalists' alliance.

"We have laws in this country which all of us have to obey,"
said the colonel.

He said one such law required all news media to have a
government-issued publishing permit, known as an SIUPP.

"We, therefore, carried out our operation last night on the
basis of the available written law," said Nurfauzi, who was
accompanied at the press conference by City Police spokesman Lt.
Col. Bambang Haryoko. Nurfauzi said that similar arrests had been
carried out recently against a number of members of the Pijar
foundation. The Pijar foundation is a non-government human rights
group.

A statement released by the AJI yesterday said that Taufik,
the group's secretary general, had been arrested along with AJI's
treasurer, Liston P. Siregar. The statement said that Danang, an
AJI clerical worker and Fitri, a university student, neither of
whom were members of the AJI, had been arrested. Outspoken
legislator Sri Bintang Pamungkas of the United Development Party
had also been held in police custody for several hours, the
statement said.

The statement, signed by AJI chairman Dhea Prekasha Yoedha,
said that the five had been seized from the front of the hotel at
about 9:30 p.m., or half an hour after the conclusion of the
gathering, by about 30 police officers.

Bintang was among many noted figures attending the gathering.
Other guests included lawyer Adnan Buyung Nasution; human rights
activist, H.J.C. Princen; and Asmara Nababan, a member of the
government-sponsored National Commission on Human Rights.

According to Nurfauzi, police had not arrested Bintang but the
legislator had "asked the officers to be allowed to accompany the
other (arrested) persons."

Bintang told a separate press conference yesterday that he had
been trying to mediate between the police officers and the
detainees and had asked to accompanied those arrested to police
headquarters.

The legislator said that they had all left the police
headquarters at about 2 a.m. when there were no police officers
in the interrogation room.

Nurfauzi said: "They should have waited us because,
coincidentally, we had a lot of things to do last night."

Three hours later, Taufik was picked up again by police
officers from his home, after a warrant for his arrest had been
presented to his wife, according to the AJI statement.

"There will be more information soon after we have completed
our study of this case, later," Nurfauzi said.

Director of the Jakarta Chapter of the Legal Aid Institute,
Luhut M.P. Pangaribuan, said yesterday that he had sent a letter
to the national police chief protesting against the arrest of the
five people. (bsr/imn)