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Ban bans: Shooting in Indonesia exposes report risks | Freedom of the Press

Medan, Indonesia – A few days before the thigh injury, Indonesian journalist Mara Salem Harahap, also known as Marsal, took his wife and two children on a trip to Medan in North Sumatra, two hours before leaving home. During the trip, he took a photo of one family and Marsal shared the photo on television.

“This was very unusual,” a colleague and fellow journalist, Rencana Siregar, told Al Jazeera. “During the 12 years that we’ve been friends, she hasn’t posted pictures of me. He wanted to protect his family. ”

Marsal, editor-in-chief of Lasser News Today, an online website in Pematangsiantar, a city of about a quarter of a million people in central Sumatra, had every reason to be cautious.

A few months ago, a 46-year-old player had filed a lawsuit in the city center stating that he was involved in crime, gambling, and drug abuse. In addition to writing about the nightclub, Marsal also posted about this on his Facebook account.

“He was like my birth brother,” Rencana said. “Two weeks before his death, he came to see me and we talked about their job of finding a place to hang out. We talked for a long time, maybe five hours. He was very persuasive when he told me it had to be investigated and he was a difficult journalist. He didn’t look scared. ”

It was Rencana’s last time seeing Marsal.

On the evening of June 18, Marsal was shot and killed in his car about 300 meters (984 feet) from his home.

Six days later, North Sumatra police chief Inspector General Panca Putra has announced the suspicion of two arrests – the owner of a nightclub under investigation by Marsal and an unnamed military commander.

According to the police chief, Marsal met with the owner of a nightclub in the past, who complained about the publication of unflattering news.

The motive for the killings was “to teach the victim a lesson,” Panca said at a press conference last week, although it was not immediately clear if the army chief and nightclub owner wanted to kill Marsal or simply threaten him.

“The assassination of Mara Salem Harahap is the fourth criminal case against journalists in North Sumatra last month,” Liston Damanik, chief of the Indonesian Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) in Medan, told Al Jazeera. “Cases like this and harassment of journalists are on the rise, probably because the police have no legal guarantee in this regard.”

Liston added that, on May 29, unidentified robbers tried to set fire to the home of a journalist living in Pematangsiantar, and that, on May 31, a Metro TV journalist’s car was set on fire. On June 13, Molotov’s cocktails were thrown into the home of the parents of a third journalist in Binjai city outside Medan.

While the AJI is unaware of the recent spate of violence against journalists in North Sumatra due to inadequate reporting and lack of lawsuits, Liston said the recent demonstrations highlight the dangers faced by local journalists. This could include violence, as well as legal issues, such as litigation in accordance with the Indonesian International Information and Transaction Law (UUITE).

Malaysiakini paid earlier this year for comments left by readers on their page [File: Lim Huey Teng/Reuters]

The law has been used extensively against the media in recent years in place of the Indonesian Media Act, which provides journalists with a measure of protection against false and defamatory allegations, which often take place in an initial Indonesian Press Council, rather than with the police there directly.

“Journalists in North Sumatra are not under threat of ITE Law, but now their homes are being bombarded with Molotov’s cocktails, saying they are people who are not happy with their journalism work,” Liston said.

The Right to Burn

In neighboring Malaysia, journalists also faced difficulties, including Tashny Sukumaran, who is now a senior investigator at the ISIS Malaysia tank.

The 10-year-old journalist previously worked for Malawi’s The Star and Hong Kong South Africa Morning Post.

“I participated in a number of events last year related to my reports and writing, including a book on elections that I helped to prevent,” he told Al Jazeera. “On May Day, I mentioned the arrival of newcomers to the COVID-19 ‘red area’ in the center of Kuala Lumpur and they both posted a message on Twitter and wrote a story.”

A few days later, Tashny was informed that police wanted to cross-examine him under the Communications and Multimedia Act and Section 504 of the Malaysian Constitution. Her phone was confiscated and was not returned to her, and she encountered about five pages of questions related to her reports. Al Jazeera was also present he investigated inscriptions on refugee assistance the first time the country was closed.

“Cultural rights have been declining under the Perikatan Nasional government since March 2020,” Nalini Elumalai, Malaysia’s top program manager for Article 19, which promotes the enactment of laws that prohibit free speech and documents violating freedom of speech in Malaysia, told Al Jazeera.

“The government has criticized the government and the public sector, hindered the important work of public accountability, and sent out inconsistent messages. Journalists are the biggest threat. “

Nalini added that Malaysian officials have tortured, investigated, prosecuted and denied access to the media and said that, “the government’s attitude towards the media itself is very insulting, journalists are often harassed and intimidated.”

In 2021, a Malaysian newspaper in Malaysian paid 500,000 Malaysian ringgit ($ 120,328) for comments from readers on his page, and five journalists were summoned for questioning, Wathshlah G Naidu, director of the Center for Independent Journalism (CIJ) in Malaysia, told Al Jazeera.

Other publications including China Press and Free Malaysia Today also included journalists who are being asked by the police to report, this year and 2020.

“The oppressive and outdated laws were used against journalists and journalists last year,” Wathshlah said. “These laws include Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia (CMA) Act 1998, Sedition Act 1948, Section 504 of the Penal Code, Section 505 of the Penal Code and Printing Presses and Publications (PPPA) Act 1984. Other laws include Section 203A of the Penal Code. and Section 114A of the Evidence Act 1950. This practice often intimidates and intimidates the media by applying these rules when the government misrepresents them. ”

Perikatan Nasional’s caretaker Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin came to power in March 2020 in a government coup that was elected two years ago.

In January this year, Muhyddin announced an “emergency” in conjunction with the suspension of Parliament, in response to the coronavirus epidemic. In March, the government used its emergency power to enforce “False Stories”The law, which the first government had removed.

“We are deeply concerned about the right to media coverage in Malaysia and what is happening to reduce access to, harassment and intimidation of journalists and officials,” said Wathshlah, acknowledging Malaysia’s role in Reporters Without Border (RSF). freedom of the press had left 18 to 119 places (in the 180 countries selected). A year ago, he wrote on the 101st best list.

Self-control

In the same area, Indonesia was slightly higher than Malaysia in 113 places, although the report added, “Many journalists claim to be defending themselves under the threat of anti-corruption law and the ‘Informasi dan Transaksi Electronic Law’ (Computer and Law of Wholesale Sales).

“In 2020, the government took advantage of the Covid-19 crisis to intensify its crackdown on journalists, who are now banned from publishing only” false “coronavirus-related allegations and” any allegations against the president or the government “, the report continued.

Rencana says officials need to provide more support to journalists, so that they can carry out their duties without fear.

“We need the police to help us, especially during the epidemic when our work is more difficult than ever,” he said. “How can we be professional when we face all of these problems at once, and worry about being shot or arrested while just trying to do our job?”

“This is democracy, but how can democracy work in a place like this?”




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