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.