More thuggery against media

JAKARTA: A hotel security guard physically assaulted a cameraman from SCTV television station Tuesday when he was covering a special shareholders' meeting held by Bank Lippo at the Hotel Dharmawangsa in Central Jakarta.

The guard, identified as Amin, hit Agung Nugroho's left ear with his radio handset, and yanked Agung's ID card from around his neck, according to Bayu Wicaksono of the Alliance of Independence Journalists (AJI).

About 100 journalists were crowded in front of the Ballroom entrance, where the event was taking place, but they were not allowed to enter.

AJI condemned the wanton violence by the guard, and termed it harassment of the press and a violation of the principle of freedom of information as mentioned in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Press Law No. 40/1999.

The organization also called upon the city police to pay serious attention to the incident and investigate the case by questioning the security guard and the hotel management. --JP