Ismira Lutfia – The Press Council is appealing to media companies to better champion the safety of their journalists covering risky beats in the wake of what it deemed was injustice in the handling of the murder case of a Maluku journalist.

The council on Friday criticized the light imprisonment the district attorney demanded for three defendants in the murder of Ridwan Salamun, a contributor for Jakarta-based Sun TV who was killed on the job last year while covering a clash between residents of Fiditan village in Tual, southeast Maluku.

The prosecution demanded only an eight-month sentence for the defendants, which according to Insany Syahbarwati from the Maluku Media Center put the punishment for Ridwan's murder on a par with petty thief.

"The prosecutor's demand has devastated the press community and Ridwan's family's sense of justice," Insany said in a press conference at the Press Council office on Friday.

Press Council deputy chairman Bambang Harymurti said handing down such a short sentence would have no deterrent on those trying to obstruct a journalist's work.

"We are disappointed that the prosecutor demanded such a light sentence for the defendants," Bambang said, adding that the manner in which law enforcers were handling cases involving attacks on or even the deaths of working journalists was creating unease for those carrying out investigative reporting.

One council member, Agus Sudibyo, said media outlets employing journalists bore the main responsibility for ensuring the safety of staff assigned to cover risky beats.

He added that he found it odd that the burden of protecting journalists was falling on advocacy groups such as the Press Council and the Legal Aid Foundation for the Press (LBH Pers) when the safety of the reporters was mainly the responsibility of the media organizations that employed them.

"We call on media outlets whose journalists are attacked or killed in the line of duty to be more tenacious in fighting for justice for them," Agus said.

Insany said the prosecutor's light demand for defendants in Ridwan's murder would set a precedent in the case of Alfrets Mirulewan, another Maluku journalist. Alfrets was found dead on a beach on Maluku's Kisar Island after he tailed a truck allegedly transporting illegal gasoline distribution as part of an investigative report he had been working on.

Insany alleged that the local mafia consisted of a network of rogue authorities and law enforcers who were trying to protect illegal logging, fishing and gasoline distribution operations within the province by interfering with journalists' efforts to uncover them.

"Maluku is not a safe place for journalists and the Maluku Media Center is being intimidated on daily basis by the local mafia, and this is a fact," she said.