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Attacks against journos on the rise

Jakarta Post - December 29, 2014

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Hans Nicholas Jong – Violence against journalists is on the rise thanks to the way the police handle journalists in the country, a year-end report from the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) says.

The report, released on Tuesday, showed how the severity of violence against journalists increased throughout the year, even though the frequency remained the same as last year.

"Throughout 2014, there were 40 case of violence and 2013 also had 40 cases. But the cases were much more severe because we saw extraordinary violence [this year]," AJI chairman Suwarjono told a press conference at the association's headquarters in Kwitang, Central Jakarta.

He singled out the police among perpetrators of violence against journalists in the country. From 40 cases, six were committed by the police. Civilians, however, committed more violence, with eight cases.

"The worst case was in Makassar, South Sulawesi, where 10 journalists were assaulted, threatened and intimidated [by the police]. In the end, four journalists reported the case to the police but so far there have not been any serious measures taken [by the police]," said Suwarjono.

The violence happened during a student rally at Makassar State University (UNM) on Nov. 13, when journalists were covering a police attack on students.

The police felt provoked by the journalists and assaulted them, seizing camera memory cards from journalists covering the incident. Makassar MetroTV correspondent Vincent Waldy, for example, suffered injuries after being hit by a police officer with a shield.

"AJI Indonesia would like to point out how bad the police's performance was in 2014. The worst thing is, not a single case of violence committed by the police has been brought to court using the press law, while other law enforcers, such as the military, have been brought to court," Suwarjono said.

He said that the association urged the police to bring these cases to court to provide a deterrent in the future. "If the perpetrators are only tried on ethic codes' violations, then these cases will keep going on and on," said Suwarjono.

Other cases of police violence against journalists also took place in Surabaya, Jayapura, Medan and Jakarta.

AJI Indonesia also criticized the police's handling of blasphemy in the media reported by the public.

"Reports from the public related to the media that should have been handled by the Indonesia Press Council are being handled by the police using the blasphemy law and the Criminal Code [KUHP]," Suwarjono said, citing The Jakarta Post as an example.

Earlier this month, the Jakarta Police decided to name the Post's editor-in-chief, Meidyatama Suryodiningrat, as a suspect for publishing a syndicated caricature criticizing the Islamic State (IS) movement.

The council had already said that naming a suspect was unnecessary as it was within the domain of journalism.

"This case is pretty serious because if it is being followed up by the police, it will suppress the press freedom that we have long been fighting for and will set a bad precedent for all media in Indonesia," said Suwarjono.

He also lamented how the police had failed to solve the murder of journalists in the country.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/12/29/attacks-against-journos-rise.html.