The street in front of the Bone Regency office in South Sulawesi is littered with debris on Tuesday night, Aug. 19, after a property tax protest turned violent hours earlier. - Kompas.com via The Jakarta Post/ANN
JAKARTA: Two separate attacks on journalists in Bone, South Sulawesi and Grobogan, Central Java, have raised fresh concerns about the state of press freedom in the country.
Security apparatus attacked a journalist from CNN Indonesia, Zulkifli Natsir when he was covering a rally against the increase in Land and Building Tax-Rural and Urban (PBB-P2) in Bone regency on Tuesday (Aug 19).
The incident took place at about 8:30 p.m. local time at the Bone regent office yard which became the place of the rally. The protestors managed to breach the office gate.
Joint security personnel from the police and military retaliated by shooting tear gas and water cannons at the protestors. Zulkifli was exposed to tear gas, his eyes were irritated and he felt dizzy. He then looked for a toilet to wash his face.
“When my dizziness and eye irritation were gone, I continued walking and got through to the office lobby,” he said on Wednesday, as quoted by tempo.com. At the regent's office lobby, Zulkifli saw an injured soldier after being hit by stones. He took pictures of the soldier using his cellphone camera.
Zulkifli then saw the security officer grabbing an arrested protestor and he tried to record the action. “About five to six people in camouflage then came forward and held me. Some of them also manhandled me,” he said.
He added that he was choked and dragged by the security personnel. “The soldier in camouflage grabbed my handphone and forcibly erased my entire reporting materials,” he said.
A soldier then handed over the phone to Zulkifli after erasing all his reporting videos. He was also forced to erase all remaining videos in the phone's trash bin.
Currently, Zulkifli says he no longer feels intimidated after the incident. He said he was not hurt although he is still depressed psychologically.
Meanwhile, the 1407/Bone Military District Command (Kodim) commander, Lt. Col. La Ode Muhammad Idrus denied there was violence from his soldiers during the rally to protest the hike of PBB-P2 in Bone. He asked the victim to file a report on the violence so that the military could investigate the case.
Residents in Bone regency staged the rally on Tuesday after the regency administration hiked the PBB-P2 by 300 per cent. The clash happened after Bone Regent Asman Sulaiman refused to meet the protestors and only sent the Regency Revenue Agency head to talk to the protestors on his behalf.
Separately, head of the Press Council’s Legal and Regulatory Commission, Abdul Manan, conveyed his concerns on the violent action against iNews Media Group (IMG) journalist, Manik Priyo Prabowo, in Grobogan regency, saying violence against media workers is a serious threat against press freedom in Indonesia.
“We are conducting clarification and internal verification whether the violence was related to reporting or if there were any other factors” he said on Wednesday, as quoted by sindonews.com. “We must make sure of the case before we can issue an official stance.” However, Manan said there was no justification for violence against journalists.
“The state has provided a resolution mechanism if there is any party who objects to any journalism products through rights of reply and the press law channel,” he said. Manan said that attacks on journalists not only hurt the victims personally but also risk eroding the principles of democracy.
“The press is a democratic pillar. If a journalist is attacked, then the public’s rights for information is also threatened,” he said.
Two unknown assailants attacked Manik at the early hours of Friday in Tanggungharjo village, Tanggungharjo district in Grobogan regency, kompas.com reported. Manik suffered serious injuries on his head and had to be rushed to Sultan Fatah General Hospital in nearby Karangwen, Demak regency, for intensive treatment.
He said that the attack was not a robbery because none of his belongings were missing. “There was never any robbery at the crime scene. I know because I am a local there,” he said, adding that he did not recognise the two assailants. - The Jakarta Post/ANN
