Newspaper lodges protest against police brutality
Newspaper lodges protest against police brutality
Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan
Some 30 staff and security guards of the daily Waspada
have lodged a complaint alleging police brutality with the North
Sumatra Provincial Police Headquarters.
The complaint concerned an assault that was allegedly
perpetrated by police officers at the newspaper's offices on Jl.
Brigadir Jenderal Katamso in the city on Wednesday.
The newspaper's editorial staffers and security guards who
were received by the Medan City Police chief, Adj. Sr. Comr.
Ishak Robinson, called on the police to take strict measures
against five police officers who assaulted a member of the
daily's editorial staff for unclear reasons.
Setia Budi Siregar, the victim of the assault, said five armed
men wearing police jackets and helmets entered the office and
beat him repeatedly as he was climbing from the third to the
fourth floor of the building.
He said he appealed to the policemen to stop hitting him as he
was a journalist, but the officers ignored his pleas.
"They only stopped after I managed to take out my press card
and show it to them," he said.
Aswir Thaher, the managing editor of the daily, said he
witnessed the incident and tried to intervene, but was also
attacked by the officers.
Syaiful, a security guard who was on duty at the time of the
incident, said the policemen ignored him when he asked them not
to go up the stairs.
The incident occurred when the police were searching for
youths who were involved in a brawl near the daily's offices. The
police suspected that some of the youths involved in the brawl
had taken refuge in the daily's offices.
Robinson apologized to the newspaper and the staff members who
were assaulted during the incident, and pledged to take strict
action against the officers responsible.
I don't wish to merely defend them for the sake of defending
them. We will punish those responsible for this brutal attack,"
he pledged.
Muchyan A.A., the chairman of the local chapter of the
Indonesian Journalists Association (PWI), regretted the incident
and called on the police to investigate the case thoroughly.
"We will check on whether the police are taking this example
of police brutality further. We will sue the police if no action
is taken," he asserted.
He said the police should be professional and abide by the law
in performing their duties as they were not gangsters but rather
law enforcers.