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)