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.