BBC Journalist Expulsion from Asmat Threatens Press Freedom

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Executive Director of Amnesty International Indonesia, Usman Hamid, said that the expulsion of BBC journalists and contributors who were doing coverage about health crisis in Asmat, Papua, was an attack on press freedom.

They are Rebecca Henschke, an Australian journalist, and two contributors, Dwiki and Affan, Indonesian citizens.

“The expulsion of these media workers is clearly a violation of rights to the freedom of expression,” said Usman Hamid, on Sunday, February 4.

“So embarrassing, BBC staff members were asked to leave Papua just because of a tweet that expresses their opinions on how authorities are handling health crisis in Asmat,” he said.

According to Usman, the international coverage of the measles and malnutrition epidemic in Asmat, which had killed at least 71 children so far, is very important for the world. "The world needs to know about it; the authorities should accept that as a criticism and input,” he said.

According to the information compiled by the Advocacy Alliance of the Indonesia Independent Journalist (AJI), the three BBC journalists were initially questioned by police in Agats.

After being questioned on Friday, February 2, Dwiki flew to Jakarta. Affan and Rebecca were examined at Mimika Immigration until Saturday, February 3.

After the examination, Rebecca and Affan could not continue the coverage. Both were escorted by security forces to Timika Airport.

AJI regretted that the tweet was the basis for blocking journalist coverage activity.

AJI Advocacy Chairman, Hesthi Murthi, said that the case also showed that the state apparatus did not understand the function of the press as a tool of social control, as mentioned in Law No. 40/1999 on Press.

“Criticisms submitted by the media based on facts on the ground should be addressed wisely as inputs, rather than being used as a pretext to restrict access to journalists,” he said.

DEWI NURITA