Police told to act on missing journo

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Press Council and the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) have urged the police to quickly investigate and solve a case of alleged violence against a Medan-based journalist who disappeared almost two months ago after running stories on irregularities in a local election.

The council said in a statement that according to witnesses, 50-year-old Elyuddin Telaumbanua, who works for the Berita Sore evening daily, went missing on Aug. 24 while covering an election dispute in South Nias regency, where he was based. One witness said that Elyuddin was attacked and kidnapped by a group of thugs that included a village head named Sama Gaho, possibly at the request of local officials who were offended by his published articles.

"Even though the incident was reported to the police, there has been no action taken against the perpetrators. On the contrary, those who reported it have been threatened. It is very worrisome," the council said over the weekend.

"Therefore, we urged the National Police chief to immediately look into the case. The Nias and North Sumatra police offices must be pressured into working harder to solve the case. The police must not try to cover up the case even if it involves local high-ranking officials," it added.

Meanwhile, AJI said in a statement that there was a possibility that the journalist had been killed.

The journalists association said that before leaving home to pursue a story in South Nias' Teluk Dalam district on that fateful day, Elyuddin showed a picture of a local politician to his wife and told her that "If anything happens to me, find this man".

"This information should be treated as a fact that must be used by the police to investigate the case," AJI said.

It said that the case was another example of the threats journalists faced, and would undermine the country's nascent press freedom and democracy.

It also said that the 1996 killing of Yogyakarta-based Harian Bernas daily journalist Mohammad Syafrudin had not been solved as the police had not apprehended the murderers.

AJI urged the public not to take the law into their own hands when dealing with press disputes, but to avail of the legal system.