Molotov cocktail attack on Jakarta-based magazine Tempo

Reporters Without Borders is very worried for the safety of the Jakarta-based magazine Tempo after a Molotov cocktail attack on its headquarters in the early hours of today. The press freedom organisation also urges the police chief not to file a lawsuit accusing the weekly of insulting the force in a cover drawing so that the Press Council can help to negotiate settlement as quickly as possible. “This well-known weekly is again at the centre of a storm, this time because of an investigative report on the highly sensitive issue of police corruption,” Reporters Without Borders said. “Even if it is still too early to link today’s attack to Tempo’s sensational allegations about the police, the tension must be defused. Without taking a position on the cover drawing, we urge the police to refer their complaint to the Press Council.” Three home-made fire bombs were thrown at the Tempo building by two men on a motor-cycle before dawn today but failed to damage the building. “This is an act of terror against press freedom,” Tempo editor Wahyu Murayadi said. “I call on the police to carry out a thorough investigation.” While promising an exhaustive investigation, National police chief Bambang Hendarso Danuri ruled out any link with the lawsuit that the police is planning to file against Tempo. The suit was prompted by the cover of last week’s issue showing a policeman holding pigs on a leash. Although the pig is regarded as an “impure” animal in Muslim, the magazine chose this drawing to illustrate its allegations about a vast network of police corruption because the Javanese word “celengan” (piggy bank) is so close to the word “celeng” (wild pig). “Big pig-shaped piggy banks have long been a symbol of fat bank accounts,” Murayadi said. “We did not intend to insult the police with this illustration.” Thousands of copies of the issue were bought by a few individuals alleged to be plain-clothes policemen in the first few days after its publication. National police spokesman Edward Aritonang announced on 2 July that a complaint will be brought against the magazine under articles 207 and 208 of the Indonesian criminal code. Although Indonesia has a fairly liberal media law, press offences such as defamation are still punishable by imprisonment. The Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) said the proposed police lawsuit shows that the press law is not sufficiently respected as it empowers the Press Council to resolve this kind of dispute.