Indonesia

The youngest son of Indonesia’s former President Suharto - Hutomo Mandala Putra was awarded on May 24 damages worth 12.5 billion Rupiah ($1.46 million) for a magazine article which described him as a “convicted murderer.” Also known as “Tommy Suharto,” the description in the article was a reference to his 2002 conviction for ordering the murder of a Supreme Court judge. “It is very disturbing that...

Gatot Machali, the manager of Radio Era Baru, a radio station based in Batam (in Riau province), appeared before a Jakarta administrative court Tuesday on a charge of “broadcasting without authorisation and disrupting neighbouring frequencies” under the Telecommunications Law He could be sentenced to six years in jail if found guilty. The court has not yet issued a verdict. Paris-based press...

The Committee to Protect Journalists has expressed dismay at a provincial court's decision in Indonesia to acquit three accused killers of TV journalist Ridwan Salamun. On Wednesday, a panel of judges in the Tual District Court in Maluku declared the three men not guilty of the reduced charge of "persecution" in the mob violence in which Salamun was killed while covering a community clash in...

Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has condemned Wednesday’s decision by a court in Tual, in the eastern province of Maluku, to acquit three men of the murder of Sun TV cameraman Ridwan Salamun, who was killed on August 21, 2010 while covering a clash between the inhabitants of neighbouring villages. The press freedom organisation called for a judicial review of the...

The stabbing of Banjir Ambarita, a freelance reporter who frequently contributes to Indonesia's English-language daily the Jakarta Globe, appears to be related to his reporting linking police to a prisoner sex abuse scandal, New York-based press freedom group Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has said. According to Globe staff and news reports, Banjir was stabbed in the chest and stomach by...

For the most part, women in Indonesia only ever seem to make the headlines for their role as a famous person’s relative, a victim or a criminal, a reporters’ guild says. In a study carried out between July and September last year, the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) looked for mention of female news sources in seven Indonesian-language dailies. “These are the three types of women who...

Alfrets Mirulewan, the editor of Pelangi Weekly, a newspaper published in the eastern Indonesian province of Maluku, has been killed. His body was found on a beach on December 17, three days after he disappeared while investigating illegal gasoline trading in the Maluku archipelago, according to Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). Many of his colleagues believe he was...

Alfrets Mirulewan, chief editor of Pelangi Weekly in Maluku, was found dead with bruises on a large part of his body on Thursday evening, the Jakarta Globe reported. “The body was discovered by locals on the beach of Kisar Island. There were bruises and wounds on his body,” Insany Syahbarwaty, coordinator of the Maluku Media Center, was quoted as saying by news portal Detik.com. The details: [...

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has expressed concern at an Indonesian Supreme Court ruling against Erwin Arnada, editor of the now-dormant Playboy Indonesia. Arnada faces up to two years in jail after prosecutors said recently that they would enforce a 2009 Supreme Court ruling that found the magazine's editor guilty of public indecency, according to news reports. Defence attorneys...

Ridwan Salamun, a cameraman working for SUN TV, was hacked to death in Tual, in the eastern Indonesian province of Maluku, on August 21 by a group of villagers who did not welcome his attempt to cover a clash with residents of a neighbouring village, Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. “A thorough investigation is urgently needed so that those responsible...