Journalists in Indonesia are being killed, threatened and jailed. A new draft law could make things even worse

At dawn on June 27, a journalist for Indonesia’s Tribrata TV, Rico Sempurna Pasaribu, was killed in a suspected arson attack at his home, along with his wife, son and grandchild.

Before his death, Rico investigated and reported on a gambling business in North Sumatra, which he alleged was backed by a member of the military. The police have arrested two suspects.

The incident is not the first suspected arson involving journalists in North Sumatra. On March 21, the house of Junaidi Marpaung, a journalist from Utama News, was also burned down by unknown individuals. Junaidi and his family narrowly escaped.

The attack happened after Junaidi reported on drug trafficking in the region and received several threats via social media.

Press freedom is increasingly under attack in Indonesia. The Indonesian Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) has recorded more than 1,000 cases of violence against journalists since 2006, with the single highest year coming in 2023 (87 incidents).

AJI’s 2023 report found that the journalists who were targeted largely reported on issues of public accountability, corruption, social and criminal issues, and environmental issues. And the attacks included verbal and physical threats (including torture, confinement and kidnappings), gender-based sexual harassment and assaults, terror and intimidation.

Police reports were only filed in 20 of the 87 incidents, and just seven cases were followed up. Two of those ended with convictions in a court, while four others led to arrests. One closed case was reopened for further investigation.

Given this, it should come as no surprise that Indonesia sits at a lowly number 111 out of 180 countries in Reporters Without Borders’ press freedom index this year.

Digital attacks and confiscated devices

Beyond this disturbing rise in violence and intimidation, journalists are also frequently forced by the authorities or sometimes even angry members of the public to delete their interview recordings, photos and videos, particularly when covering a highly controversial story or case in court.

Computers and cameras are often confiscated or destroyed. And journalists are routinely kicked out of the scenes of breaking news, or denied entry to facilities to cover the news.

Digital attacks against journalists are on the rise in Indonesia, too.

Those reporting on extremely sensitive topics, such as Indonesia’s oligarchs, often experience doxing, online harassment and the hacking of their social media accounts and electronic devices.

Media outlets are similarly targeted with malware attacks. Their websites have been defaced and had articles disappear, and their social media accounts have been hacked.

Two of the most prominent investigative media outlets in Indonesia, Tempo and Tirto, for example, were subject to such attacks during the height of the COVID pandemic. On one day in 2020, Tempo’s homepage was replaced with a black screen and the word “hoax”.

Concerning legal restrictions

In addition, media outlets are increasingly being targeted through legal channels.

In 1999, Indonesia passed a Press Law at the start of the post-Suharto “Reformasi” era that guaranteed the protection of the media, as well as citizens’ right to information.

Press freedom advocates say, however, that this law has been disregarded as journalists have been targeted through other laws, namely the Electronic Information and Transactions Law (ITE Law) and the criminal code.

Both the criminal code and ITE Law contain provisions that have been used to bring journalists and media outlets to court to face allegations of blasphemy, defamation, hate speech or spreading fake news. The definitions of these offences under the laws are vague and ambiguous, making them easy to deploy against critics.

The website SemuaBisaKena.jaring.id (Anyone Can Be Targeted), a joint initiative of civil society organisations to push back against the ITE Law, recorded 27 cases of journalists being targeted through this law from 2013 to 2024. In the last five years alone, three journalists have been sentenced to jail time.

In addition, Indonesia’s parliament has been considering concerning revisions to the country’s Broadcast Law.

Not only has the revision process been hidden from the public, therefore lacking transparency and meaningful public participation, the draft bill also contains provisions that could be very damaging to press freedom if it passes.

Perhaps the most onerous one would be a ban on broadcasting exclusive investigative journalism, which the country’s Press Council chairman said would “result in our press not being free and independent”. Reporting on the LGBTQI+ community would also be restricted.

The revision process has been halted for the moment amid widespread media and public condemnation. However, this is not the first time legislators have attempted to weaken the press – and it certainly will not be the last.

Why this matters

With democracy increasingly under threat in Indonesia, the role of an independent media has become even more crucial and pressing. Journalists are needed now more than ever to monitor a government that has adopted increasingly authoritarian practices, in addition to rising corruption and human rights violations.

And with the shrinking of civic space in Indonesia, the media is necessary as a platform to broadcast the voices of critics from civil society and academia.

Without them, the demise of Indonesian democracy would be imminent. As Nelson Mandela once said,

A critical, independent and investigative press is the lifeblood of any democracy […] It must enjoy the protection of the constitution, so that it can protect our rights as citizens.