Activists in Indonesia have demanded an analysis and the protection of press freedom after a newspaper that attacked the government sent a chicken’s head and decapitated rats.
Since the 1970s, the best Indonesian release Tempo, known as Weekly, has criticised the policies of former general and former president Prabowo Subianto, who rights groups accuse of abusing the regime under soon tyrant Suharto.
The magazine reported in a statement that cleaners at Tempo’s office discovered a box of six rats with their heads cut off on Saturday ( Mar 22 ).
On Thursday, a chicken’s head without its ears was discovered there, intended for distribution to a writer.
Beh Lih Yi, head of the Asia program at the Committee to Protect Journalists, stated to AFP late on Saturday that” this is a dangerous and intentional act of intimidation.”
Reporters in Indonesia may be able to perform their work widely and in a secure manner without fear of reprisal.
Being a columnist in Indonesia could lead to “like a dying word,” according to Amnesty International Indonesia’s senior director Usman Hamid, who told AFP on Saturday.
Tempo editor-in-chief Setri Yasra stated that the sales were intended to destroy the paper’s work but that it would continue to support its goal.
” If the objective is to fear, we are never deterred, but we must cease this cowardly behavior,” Setri said in a speech.