Anita Rachman – The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle on Tuesday promised that it would take a serious look into cases of violence against journalists, stating that the party would question the National Police chief on the poor follow-up given to such cases.

Eva Kusuma Sundari and M. Nurdin, PDI-P lawmakers at the House Commission III overseeing legal affairs, met with the Indonesian Human Rights Monitor (Imparsial) and the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) on Tuesday, along with Banjir Ambarita, a Papua-based contributor to the Jakarta Globe who was stabbed by an unknown assailant in March after uncovering a high-profile case of police abuse.

Due to a worsening trend of violence against journalists, Imparsial and the AJI sought support from the House to push for better protection for journalists in the course of their job and better law enforcement in cases of violence.

Asep Komarudin, a general program officer at AJI, said the organization's data showed that 46 cases of violence against journalists had occurred in the country in the past year, with three cases resulting in death. "None of the 46 cases were resolved or well-handled by police," Asep said.

Both groups predicted that the trend would get uglier in the future, especially at the regional level, if nothing was done to push law enforcement institutions to seriously follow through on such cases. Bharata Ibu Reza from Imparsial said it was important to stop the trend of violence in its tracks.

"We want serious law enforcement for cases that have already occurred, but we also want to ensure that journalists are protected in the future," he said.

Eva recognized that the trend toward violence was worsening and that there had been no improvement by police in better handling such cases. She vowed to write an official letter to the police detailing the journalists' complaints.

"The trend is getting worse," she said. "We will urge the National Police chief to take a serious look at these cases [of violence against journalists]. I will ask him directly about the issue when we meet in the commission hearing. This issue, among others, is of high priority [in the hearing]."

Eva added that lawmakers could also play a role in protecting journalists when the House deliberates the bill on Human Rights Defenders. She said journalists could be included as defenders of human rights, thereby providing them with protection in carrying out their jobs.

However, she also recommended that Imparsial and the AJI should file a separate request for journalists' inclusion in the bill at the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights.