TV media hands in assault footage

TV media hands in assault footage

Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Representatives of the Association of Indonesian Television
Journalists (IJTI) handed the police a recording on Tuesday that
apparently showed three of the association's members being
assaulted last week, and urged the police to immediately start an
investigation.

"The recording, which is in compact disc format, should help
the police identify the assailants and, therefore, they should be
able to start questioning them soon," IJTI secretary-general
Syaefurrahman Al-Banjary said at Jakarta Police Headquarters.

He said the attackers had violated the Criminal Code and the
Press Law for preventing journalists from doing their jobs during
a raid by officers of the West Jakarta municipality on Oct. 28.

Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Tjiptono said the police were
investigating the case.

"We have questioned several witnesses, including the three
cameramen who were beaten up," he said.

Invited print and broadcast journalists joined in a raid held
by the West Jakarta Tourism Agency and Public Order Office on a
number of nightspots that were allegedly violating a bylaw
stipulating the opening hours of places of entertainment.

The bylaw allows entertainment venues in hotels to open until
2:30 a.m.

The group arrived at a pub inside Hotel Omni Batavia at about
1 a.m.

Despite an apparent lack of legal grounds for barging into the
pub, the group nevertheless went inside as the duty manager gave
them permission to do so. It was then that the cameramen started
filming.

A number of customers panicked, triggering some of the pub's
security guards to step in. Cameramen from TPI, TV7 and Lativi
were assaulted, while the camera of a TPI cameraman was smashed.

The West Jakarta officials fled the scene amid the chaos.

Besides reporting the assault to the police, the IJTI also
questioned what happened to the officials who had brought the
journalists to the pub in the first place.

Some of the TV stations aired the recording of the raid on
Oct. 28, showing pub customers trying to cover their faces with
their hands.

So far, none of the customers who were shown on TV without
their consent have filed a complaint with the police.