TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Indonesian Journalists Association (PWI) lamented the raid against Radar Bogor newspaper office done by cadres and supporters of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P). PWI assessed the protest over the news report should not be done by a vigilante.
“The attack was unproductive and a bad precedent in the history of the national press,” said the acting head of Central PWI Sasongko Tedjo in a written statement on Friday, June 1.
The mass calling themselves on behalf of PDI-P Bogor raided Radar Bogor office on May 30. They protested the report mentioning the allowance of the party chair Megawati Soekarnoputri as chief adviser of Pancasila Ideology Development Agency (BPIP).
The head of Branch Executive Board (DPC) at PDI-P Bogor Dadang Iskandar Danubrata confirmed the participants were his cadres and supporters. The raid aimed at demanding clarification on the report. However, Radar Bogor editorial staff stated the mass intimidated and destroyed the properties.
Sasongko said the complaint about the news should have gone through a democratic and procedural system as ruled in Law No. 40 of 1999 on Press. “The work of press could be ethically and legally disputed based on the law,” he added.
Furthermore, PWI suggested Radar Bogor file a complaint to Press Council in a bid to solve the matter based on the law. PWI also appealed to the newspaper agency to learn from the raid to do introspection.
SYAFIUL HADI | MUHAMMAD SIDIK PERMANA
