Police Series

February 22, 2002
Source: ALERT Magazine Dec 2001 - Jan 2002

For the past three years, police has stayed amongst the most sensible enemies of press freedom in Indonesia.

In 1999, 20 police attack on journalists were recorded. The number rose to 28 in 2000, while 20 cases were again recorded in 2001. Police also dominated two recent cases - in December 2001 and January 2002.

Gang Bang

Teunom/ACEH (December 22): Mobile Brigade (Brimob) officers assaulted Serambi Indonesia reporter Zahrial in a police sweeping of passengers of public transports in the Teunom district in West Aceh.

The journalist was amongst passengers in a minibus. He was travelling to Banda Aceh to attend his paper’s year-end meeting. He too was told to step out of the minibus.

Brimob officers and police went through All ID cards, interrogating the passengers one by one. When it was the journalist’s turn, the Brimob officers noticed “Staff Member of Serambi Indonesia” printed in his ID.

The officers immediately searched Zahrial’s bag. They found an Indonesian Press Association (PWI) press pass belonging to Zahrial, who is also the head of the West Aceh Serambi bureau. They also found an invitation letter to attend the paper’s yearend meeting.

But the officers were not happy when they found out that all the papers were true. They started to tear the card. They also told accused the journalist for writing articles that have discredited police and the armed forces (TNI).

A number of officers later joined and punched Zahrial in the forehead and kicked his back. The journalist fell face down. Soon, the others joined the thumping.

Fortunately, one Brimob officer was reportedly calm and stopped his colleagues.

But as the journalist was about to hop on his minibus, another officer managed to throw a last punch. The journalist fell once again.

One officer spoke to the journalist before the minibus left the place.

“You tell one soul and I’ll kill you,” he said.

Fatally Swept

Bandung/WEST JAVA (January 3): Plain-clothed police assaulted two Metro Bandung reporters as they were covering a street fight between Sasak II community members and Pajagalan members in the Banjaran Square.

Reporter Rudianto Pangaribuan and photographer Gani Kurniawan arrived at the scene at 2.30am, a short while before police arrived. They said both community members did not have a problem with their presence.

At 3.00am, Bandung Riot Police started to appear, into the sky. The journalists jumped into the scene.

Out of the blue, two plain-clothed men approached Kurniawan. “Who are you, where are you from?” the photographer recalled their questions.

As the men tried to grab his camera, Kurniawan stepped away, holding his camera high above his head.

“I’m a journalist, sir,” he said. “Here’s my ID,” flashing his press card.

Shortly, other plain-clothed men joined in and one officer hit Kurniawan’s back with the butt of his rifle.

Seeing his colleague being attacked, Pangaribuan came close, yelling that they were journalists. But the men then turned their assault on him, one officer pushing him to the ground. One officer fired his rifle just centimetres from the journalist’s ear.

Pangaribuan kept yelling they were journalists, urging another Metro reporter, Kader Turnip, to show his press cards also.

Finished with the onslaughts, the officers at once left the three journalists.

Pangaribuan suffered hearing difficulty from the blast of the gunshot. Kurniawan had bruises all over his body.