Ni Kadek Trisna Cintya Dewi, Jakarta – Professor Ni Made Anggita Sastri Mahadewi, a Sociology lecturer at Udayana University, referred to the pig's head terror against Tempo media office as a form of coercive social control.
"I see it in terms of social control," Anggita said in a written message to Tempo on Friday, March 21, 2025.
Anggita explained that in this case, the control was aimed at Tempo journalists. "According to Bruce J. Cohen, social control is the ways or methods used to encourage someone to behave in line with the wishes of certain groups or the wider community. In this case, social control occurs between the party that sent the pig's head and Tempo journalists," she said.
Furthermore, she explained that in this case, the perpetrator carried out coercive social control, characterized by attempts of physical or psychological coercion or violence.
She also interpreted the sending of the pig's head as a symbol of threat. "In this case, it's psychological because the sending of the pig's head is a symbol of threat," she said.
She added that this is often done by authorities or opponents when they have no other way to alert or attack the other party.
As reported earlier, Tempo's office received a package containing a pig's head on Wednesday, March 19, 2025. The box containing the pig's head was addressed to 'Cica'.
At Tempo, Cica is the nickname of Francisca Christy Rosana, a political desk journalist and host of the Bocor Alus Politik podcast.
Initially, the package was received by the Tempo security unit on Wednesday at around 16:15 WIB (Western Indonesian Time). However, Cica only received it on Thursday, March 20, 2025 at 15:00. Upon returning to the office after coverage with Hussein Abri Yusuf Muda Dongoran, a fellow political desk journalist and host of the Bocor Alus Politik podcast.Hussein opened the box. 'The stench was already evident when the box was opened,' he said. He was suspicious and realized it was a terror package because there was no sender's name.
When the styrofoam was opened, Hussein saw the pig's head inside. 'The smell became even stronger and it was still bloody,' he said.
Hussein and several journalists then took the cardboard box out of the building. Once the box was fully opened, the pig's head was revealed. "Both of its ears were cut off," Hussein said.
Tempo's Deputy Editor-in-Chief, Bagja Hidayat, revealed that Tempo reported the terror to the Indonesian National Police Headquarters on Friday, March 21, 2025, accompanied by the Committee for Journalist Safety (KKJ). "This is a terror against journalistic work and press freedom as a whole," he said.
He also mentioned that Cica is fine and continues to work as usual. "She is receiving protection to prevent unwanted incidents," he said.
Meanwhile, the Coordinator of the KKJ, Erick Tanjung, stated that this act of terror and intimidation is a form of obstruction of journalistic work regulated in Article 18 of Law Number 40 Year 1999 concerning the Press. "Obstructing journalistic work is a criminal act with a penalty of up to two years' imprisonment," Erick said to journalists at the Headquarters of the Indonesian National Police in South Jakarta on Friday, March 21, 2025.
In addition to threatening press freedom, Erick also stated that this pig's head terror is a threat to the lives of journalists. Therefore, the KKJ also reported this terror using Article 336 of the Criminal Code concerning the threat of murder. This article stipulates a maximum penalty of 2 years and 8 months for the perpetrator of a murder threat. "We see the sending of the pig's head as a symbol of a murder threat," Erick said.
– Nandito Putra and M. Rayhan Muzzaki contributed for this article.
Source: https://en.tempo.co/read/1989619/expert-says-terror-against-tempo-is-coercive-social-contro