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Komnas HAM investigates ban on student magazine

Jakarta Post - October 26, 2015

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Suherdjoko, Semarang – National Commission on Human Rights' (Komnas HAM) deputy chairperson Roichatul Aswidah visited Salatiga, Central Java, on Friday to collect information regarding a ban on a student magazine for publishing reports on the massacre of alleged members of the defunct Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) in 1965.

During her visit, Roichatul met with the rector of Satya Wacana Christian University (UKSW) and the Salatiga mayor, as well as with the local police and military commands.

The chairman of the Alliance of Independent Journalists' (AJI) Semarang branch, Rofiuddin, who met with Roichatul, said that the rights body worked independently in collecting information about the ban of the Lentera magazine published by UKSW's School of Social and Communication Sciences' student publishing institution (LPM).

"We hope Komnas HAM will convey the information they collect to the public along with its recommendations. We consider the ban was a violation against human rights," Rofiuddin said on Sunday. As of Sunday Roichatul was not available for comment.

Rofiuddin said the AJI defended Lentera's editorial staff, contending they had not violated any administrative matters. Distribution outside the campus, he said, was also unavoidable because all publications today could be read by anyone anywhere.

He also said that the editorial staff members were very persistent in digging up information from their sources by interviewing them four or five times each. The magazine revealed some plots of land that were believed to have been killing fields for PKI supporters in Salatiga.

Separately, some 80 students from Central Java and Yogyakarta grouped under the Indonesian Student Press Association (PPMI) staged a free forum at Raden Saleh Cultural Park in Semarang, Central Java, on Friday afternoon until evening, protesting the ban of Lentera magazine.

PPMI chairman Abdus Somad led the forum by introducing LPM Lentera general manager Arista Ayu Nanda and Lentera chief editor Bima Satria Putra, who were earlier interrogated by police regarding the content of the magazine.

Bima said 500 copies of the magazine were printed, 300 of which were sold. The rest were withdrawn from the market because the UKSW ordered it. "There was no burning of the magazine, but all the withdrawn copies are now kept by the campus," Arista said.

She said the magazine's crew on Friday last week was summoned by the UKSW rector who told them that the content of the magazine had caused tension in the community and therefore had to be withdrawn from the market.

Arista and Bima, who were presented as guest stars in a seminar of freedom of expression in Central Java universities in Semarang on Saturday, also told the seminar that there had been efforts by some parties to make use of civilians to pressure Lentera staff members.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/10/26/komnas-ham-investigates-ban-student-magazine.html.