Arghea Desafti Hapsari, Jakarta – A report released Wednesday said hostile mass organizations were the leading enemy of press freedom and documented threats and violence directed at journalists.
The Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) said it had recorded 40 cases of violence directed at journalists and media workers over the last year, adding that most of the perpetrators acted as part of mass organizations.
AJI chairman Nezar Patria said that hostile mass organizations were "the leading enemy" of press freedom in 2010. Margiyono, AJI's coordinator for advocacy, said there were 10 cases of assault committed by violent mass organizations against journalists.
He said this year saw a shift in who had perpetrated violence against media workers.
"Last year we noted that the police had done most of the oppression committed against journalists, but this year, violent mass organizations have smashed that record," he said, adding that 38 cases of violence were documented last year.
Some incidents involved Islam Defenders Front (FPI) members, who were alleged to have assaulted Lampu Hijau reporter Octabryan Purwo during a liquor raid in the Petamburan, Central Jakarta, in 2009.
The FPI and the Anti-Communist Front allegedly collaborated to intimidated reporters of the Jawa Pos after the newspaper published a biography of Soemarsono, a former Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) member and a key figure in the Battle of Surabaya during the Indonesian National Revolution.
Members of the Hisbullah group from Sunan Bonang division were alleged to have intimidated a Solo Radio crew in Surakarta in September 2009, according to AJI.
Another mass organization prohibited journalists from TVOne from reporting on a terrorist-related incident in Jatiasih, Bekasi, last August, the report said.
Margiyono said the growing number of assaults on journalists perpetrated by mass organizations stemmed from the nation's dysfunctional system of law enforcement.
"We reported all these cases to the police, but they never took action against the perpetrators. It seems as if the law is weak and thus members of mass organizations act as if they are above the law," he added.
According to the report, assault was the most brutal violence perpetrated against journalists. AJI recorded 12 assaults in the 12-month period ending in August 2010: five incidents of mob assaults, three perpetrated by mass organizations and one case of assault by university students.
AJI said that mass organizations, politicians, mobs and unknown individuals have threatened or attempted to intimidate members of the Indonesian media and that there were eight such cases to date this year.
The institute also said that censors also attempted to control the press, adding that there were six of such instances to date this year, all committed by local government officials, including personnel from local hospitals.
Journalists have also been subjected to legal repression via criminal or civil defamation suits or witness subpoena requests. The police were involved in three cases, while politicians and private citizens each filed one case.
Confiscation of equipment occurred four times, AJI says, with bureaucrats, private security guards, mass organization members and an unknown individual as perpetrators.
Most of the cases took place in Jakarta. North Sumatra, East Java and Yogyakarta each recorded four incidents or press violence and Papua and West Nusa Tenggara each recorded three cases.