May 5, 2025
JAKARTA – The press is facing mounting repression, with journalists reporting growing intimidation and attacks, sparking concerns over the state of media freedom as the country transitions into President Prabowo Subianto’s administration.
According to Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) secretary-general Bayu Wardhana, press freedom and journalist safety in the country this year has reached a “concerning” level.
“The media are often obstructed when seeking information, directed to cover only what those in power want, banned from covering violent acts of law enforcement when dispersing protesters and pushed to act as a public relations tool for the government,” Bayu told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
National news magazine Tempo has emerged as one of the most targeted media outlets this year. On May 2, a Tempo journalist documenting a police crackdown on May Day demonstrators in Semarang, Central Java, was grabbed by an officer who was attempting to seize his phone.
Tempo’s website suffered from a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks in April following the publication of an investigative report on an online gambling network in Cambodia, allegedly linked to Indonesian political and business elites.
But clearer intimidation occurred earlier in March, when the Tempo office in Jakarta received a pig’s head and decapitated rats in separate incidents, both addressed to the magazine’s political journalists. These cases have been reported to the police, but no visible progress has been made in the investigation.
Read also: Police investigate intimidation of ‘Tempo’ journalists
These incidents, according to Tempo editor-in-chief Setri Yasra, could discourage other outlets. “There is a real concern that media outlets will begin self-censorship. These are clearly acts of terror to stop [media outlets] from reporting,” he said on Tuesday, drawing comparisons to the New Order era, when critical publications were shuttered by the state.
Escalating number
AJI recorded 38 cases of violence against journalists in the first five months of the year, more than half of the 73 incidents reported throughout last year.
“We are not even halfway through the year, yet the number has already surpassed more than half of last year’s total. It speaks volumes [about the state of press freedom this year],” Bayu said.
Police were the leading perpetrators of violence against the press in 2024, responsible for 19 incidents, followed by members of the Indonesian Military (TNI) and civilians, with 11 cases each, according to AJI.
Read also: Prosecutors seek death for suspects of fatal arson attack against journalist
Among last year’s most notable incidents was the fatal arson attack that killed Karo-based journalist Rico Sempurna Pasaribu in North Sumatra, who had received threats following his coverage of a gambling ring in the regency that was allegedly tied to local military personnel.
Financial problems
The issue of press freedom is not the only growing concern, as the media industry is also grappling with sustainability and financial problems. A wave of mass layoffs has sparked conversations on social media after many journalists and media workers shared posts on their last day. One closure of note was the recent shuttering of the national television channel Kompas TV’s program called Kompas Sport Pagi (Kompas Morning Sport), which was announced by its anchor on Thursday.
Layoffs across the beleaguered industry, coupled with low wages, were described by the AJI as a form of “economic violence” that harms those working as journalists.
Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) placed Indonesia in the 127th spot out of 180 countries assessed in the Press Freedom Index that was published on Friday, down 16 spots from the previous year thanks to a significant decline in journalist safety and deteriorating economic fragility. In the index, Indonesia scored 44.13, indicating a “difficult” situation for press freedom.
While the latest report was based on last year’s data on violence against journalists as well as analysis of the political, legal, economic and sociocultural situation of each country, RSF said it was a reflection of the situation at the time of publication.
Amnesty International secretary-general Agnès Callamard described the regressing state of press freedom in Indonesia as a hallmark of authoritarianism that infringed not only on journalists’ human rights but also on the public’s fundamental right to access information.
“Authoritarians often begin by weakening the media, making it financially unsustainable for independent outlets to survive, and progressively silencing them,” she said on Tuesday.