Indonesian Journalist Not Yet Properly Protected

Dion DB Putra

Kupang, E Nusa Tenggara, Jan 2, 2011 (ANTARA) - Protecting journalists remained a lip service because it had yet to become part of the government's concrete agenda items, a senior journalist said.

Instead of decreasing, the number of cases of violence against journalists in Indonesia tended to increase, Chairman of the Association of Indonesian Journalists (PWI)-East Nusa Tenggara provincial chapter, Dion DB Putra, said here Sunday.

He referred to the fact that the number of violence cases increased from 37 in 2009 to 47 in 2010.

The last act of violence that a number of working journalists in the country underwent was the attack on the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) office in Palu, Central Sulawesi, on December 30.

Dion, currently editor-in-chief of Pos Kupang Daily, further said that the increasing acts of violence against media workers reflected the growing disrespect to law and outlaw mentality in society.

"The protection of journalists in the country is only a lip service because it is not part of the nation's agenda," he said.

However, a number of journalists in the country had yet to work professionally by ignoring the code of ethics and law, he said. For those whose credibility might have been damaged by media reports, Dion suggested that they use their rights to reply.

Therefore, it was necessary to support a sustainable campaign to enable the people to know their rights to complain and reply to media reports that might have damaged their credibility, he said. The attack on the AJI office in the Central Sulawesi city of Palu happened about 38 hours ahead of the new year 2011.

A group of unidentified men stormed the AJI office on Thursday at 10.30 AM local time and beat up two journalists who were in the building. They were the chairman of AJI-Palu Chapter M.Ridwan Lapasere and TV-One contributor Muhammad Sharfin. Ridwan was hurt in the head and Mohammad in the back of his head.

Two other journalists named Riski Maruto of ANTARA News Agency and Jafar G.Bua of Trans TV were kicked by the attackers but they did not sustain injuries.

The attack was believed to have been triggered by a news story titled "FPK Serang Graha KNPI Sulteng" (FPK Attacks Central Sulawesi's KNPI office) the AJI-Palu Chapter's secretariat had released in its online media www.beritapalu.com on December 28, 2010.

The news item was about damages of the National Indonesian Youth Committee (KNPI) building following the defeat of a youth figure in the organization's leadership election at a congress on December 28.

The youth figure and his men of the Kaili Youth Front (FPK) might have been disturbed by that news item but, instead of filing their complaint through legal means, they chose the violent way by attacking the AJI office.

As revealed in its official website, AJI condemned the incident and urged the police to immediately arrest and bring all suspects to court. "The police's immediate actions are so important that the journalist attackers are not able to perish evidence or escape," AJI said.

The attack was a sort of pressure on the press and potentially terrorized media workers who attempted to serve the public with information under the protection of Law Number 40/1990 on the press, AJI said.(T.SYS/A/R013/A011) 02-01-2011 09:31:50