Indonesia press freedom fears after magazine sent rats, pig's head

JAKARTA: Activists have called for press freedom to be protected in Indonesia and demanded an investigation after a magazine critical of the government was sent a pig’s head and decapitated rats.

Weekly magazine Tempo, a top Indonesian publication since the 1970s, has been critical of the policies of President Prabowo Subianto, an ex-general whom rights groups accuse of abuses under late dictator Suharto.

Cleaners at Tempo’s office found a box of six rats with their heads cut off on Saturday, the magazine said in a statement.

A pig’s head without its ears was also found there on Thursday, intended for delivery to a reporter.

“This is a dangerous and deliberate act of intimidation,” Beh Lih Yi, head of the Asia program at the Committee to Protect Journalists, told AFP late on Saturday.

“Journalists in Indonesia must be able to do their work freely and safely without fear of retaliation.”

Amnesty International Indonesia executive director Usman Hamid told AFP on Saturday an investigation must be opened, saying there was a risk that being a journalist in Indonesia would become “like a death sentence”.

Tempo editor-in-chief Setri Yasra said the deliveries sought to undermine the publication’s work but added it would remain committed to its mission.

“If the intention is to scare, we are not deterred, but stop this cowardly act,” Setri said in a statement.

There was no indication who sent the items, but presidential spokesman Hasan Nasbi played down the incident, telling reporters on Friday the magazine should “just cook” the pig’s head, Indonesian media reported.

He later clarified his remark, telling news site Kompas on Saturday that press freedom must be upheld and such acts taken “seriously”.

He did not respond to an AFP request for comment.

Setri reported the first package to police and officers visited the magazine’s office after the second package was delivered.

The magazine has published in recent weeks stories criticising Prabowo’s policies, including widespread budget cuts that stoked protests last month.

Tempo was banned twice — lastly in 1994 — under Suharto, who ruled Indonesia with an iron fist for more than three decades. It resumed publication after his downfall in the late 1990s.

Prabowo was once married to Suharto’s daughter and is accused of ordering the disappearance of democracy activists near the end of his rule, which he denies.