Violence against RI press continue

Violence against RI press continue

Yogita Tahilramani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Security personnel in the country are reluctant to arrest or
take legal action against their colleagues involved in brutality
against journalists, according to two prominent press
associations.

The Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI), a member of the
Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA), has unveiled that 30 of
118 recorded attacks on the press over the past year have
involved police and military officers. Only one police officer
has been brought to justice so far for such acts of violence.

"The security forces deal with incidents by attacking
journalists or newspaper offices they deem problematic. They
can't be bothered with legal issues," Aji's secretary-general
Solahudin stated in a paper presented at Friday's seminar hosted
by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
organization (UNESCO), held in commemoration of World Press
Freedom Day 2002.

"I know this because AJI has tried reasoning with them
(officers). They don't budge."

A letter written by SEAPA Jakarta director Lukas Luwarso and
SEAPA advocacy coordinator Solahudin, to National Police chief
Gen. Da'i Bachtiar recently stated that Medan Police deputy chief
Ishak Robinson Sampe had, "apologized but refused to detain his
men" in connection with the third police assault this January
against the Indonesian media.

The third assault occurred on the offices of Waspada daily in
Medan, North Sumatra on Jan. 23, when officers ransacked the
building, destroying office equipment and injuring a reporter
Setia Budi Siregar.

This year, the first incident involving police occurred on
Jan. 3, when plainclothes officers punched and kicked two Metro
reporters in Bandung, West Java. The journalists were reporting
on a gang fight when police officers, knowing they were from the
media, assaulted them.

The second police attack occurred in Kediri, East Java, on
Jan. 8, when Radio Suara Andika reporter Tantowi Jauhari was
assaulted by police officer Bagus Setiawan during a random motor
vehicle check.

Solahudin said on Friday that even though Indonesia has
introduced Press Law No. 40/1999, which prohibits censorship, a
revision of this by the government would prove detrimental.

Moves to control the media have been made evident from the
cooperation between Minister of Information Syamsul Muarif with
the legislature, especially when he attempted to include clauses
in the Criminal Code, which means the members of the media could
be put on trial.

This was disclosed following a working meeting between
legislators of Commission I of the House of Representative (DPR)
and the minister on December 7 last year. On Friday, Syamsul told
the seminar that it was not he who initiated the revision of the
1999 press law, but the House of Representatives (DPR).

A draft law on broadcasting formulated by the DPR was
submitted to the government on Feb. 20 this year, raising concern
amongst broadcasters, many of whom feared potential threats to
their newly found freedom.