TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Tempo photojournalist Subekti, was forced to strip off the shirt he was wearing after conducting Friday prayer on March 17, 2017. The shirt bears the symbol of Russian airliner Aeroflot. "I wore the shirt during the Friday prayers. I could hear a couple of people behind me commenting on the shirt that I wore," Subekti said on Friday, March 17, 2017.

After the prayers ended, Subekti was suddenly approached by an unknown man wearing a Nike shirt and a white head cover. "Remove that shirt," said Subekti, quoting the man.

Subekti had asked what he did wrong, but the unknown man continues to force Subekti to remove the shirt. The unknown man pointed out that the shirt Subekti contained images of a hammer and sickle, which many consider as a symbol of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI).

"That's the symbol of PKI," the man said, as Subekti quoted.

Subekti continued to defend himself by refusing to do what the man had told him to while also explaining about the shirt that he wore. "I told him that it was a shirt of a Russian airliner. It does contain an image of a hammer and sickle, but it is not [a representation of] PKI," Subekti explained.

The man however, keeps on insisting for Subekti to remove the shirt. Subekti later complied and gave the shirt to the unknown man. "I decided to just hand it to him," Subekti said. Subekti then contacted his colleague and approached the man again.

Subekti said that his colleague had asked the unknown man to return the shirt that belonged to Subekti and explained once more that the symbol of Aeroflot had nothing to do with PKI. But the unknown man was persistent. "I told him that I was from the media. But he was persistent," Subekti said.

JULI