July 5, 2024
JAKARTA – Authorities are facing increasing pressure to thoroughly investigate the cause and any circumstances behind a fire that killed a journalist and his family in North Sumatra, amid reports that the incident may relate to his reporting on a local gambling incident.
Forty-seven-year-old Sempurna Pasaribu, who worked as a journalist for the police’s Tribarata TV, died in a fire at his home in Tanah Karo regency, North Sumatra, in the early hours of June 27. He was killed in the fire alongside his wife Elfrida Boru Ginting, 48, their 12-year-old child and a 3-year-old grandchild.
The cause of the fire that killed Sempurna and his family remains unclear, but his colleagues flagged events surrounding the incident as suspicious, particularly since it occurred following the journalist’s reporting of a gambling incident taking place in the regency that allegedly involved Indonesian Military (TNI) personnel.
The information was found following a probe by an independent fact-finding team from the North Sumatra Journalist Safety Commission (KKJ), a coalition consisting of professional groups such as the Medan chapter of the Association of Independent Journalists (AJI).
Meanwhile, several witnesses claimed that the fire was triggered by spilled gasoline at the victim’s house, where the family used to sell gasoline from a kiosk.
“The Press Council is urging the National Police and North Sumatra Police chiefs to form a team to investigate the case fairly and impartially,” the council said in a statement issued on Monday.
Aside from the police, the council also pushed the TNI, the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) and the Witness and Victim Protection Agency (LPSK) to form their own respective investigation teams. It also called for the protection of the victim’s family.
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Should the investigation find the involvement of any military personnel in the incident, they should be punished as they violated the Press Law that guarantees protection of journalists working in the country.
“The Press Council believes that journalistic activities, including those done by the Tribarata TV journalist, shouldn’t be a justification to commit an act of violence against him, despite his alleged wrongdoing,” the council added, stopping short of naming the allegation against the late journalist.
The council urged journalists and media companies to work professionally and adhere to the Journalists’ Code of Ethics and other prevailing regulations, while expressing their hope that similar incidents do not happen in the future.
The Indonesia Police Watch (IPW) has also piled pressure on authorities to thoroughly investigate the incident, which may fall into the category of acts of violence against journalists.
“Whoever the perpetrators are, whether the executors on the ground or the masterminds, they should be arrested and answer to the law,” IPW head Sugeng Teguh Santoso said in a statement on Tuesday.
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As of Wednesday, investigators from the North Sumatra Police, alongside personnel of Tanah Karo Police, had questioned a total of 16 people, including several key witnesses.
“The key witnesses are people who truly know about the events surrounding the fire,” North Sumatra Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Hadi Wahyudi said on Wednesday.
He added that investigators were using scientific criminal investigation methods to conclude the cause of the fire based on various perspectives, which would reveal the answer conclusively.
“We want to solve this case based on science and facts.”
Hadi declined to comment when asked by reporters on the possibility of a soldier involved in the incident, asserting that the investigation was still ongoing. He added that the police were working based on facts, not on opinions or assumptions.
TNI spokesperson Maj. Gen. Nugraha Gumilar called on the public to reserve their judgment and wait until investigators finished their work on the case.
“Let’s wait until everything is cleared up,” he said in Jakarta on Wednesday, as quoted by tempo.co. “We [need to] maintain the presumption of innocence until proven otherwise.”
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However, the spokesperson said that the military would not hesitate to impose stern punishments to any soldiers found guilty of involvement in Sempurna’s death.
“We will definitely punish them,” Nugraha continued. “What’s clear is that we have the military law for any disciplinary infractions.”