Rahel Narda Chaterine, Jakarta – The Semarang Legal Aid Foundation (LBH) Director Eti Oktaviani says that a joint screening of the film The End Game was disrupted by people claiming to be "intel" (police intelligence) and had to be cancelled.
The incident, according to Oktaviani, took place when LBH Semarang along with the People's Challenge Movement (Geram) was holding a joint screening of the film last week.
"Indeed when the film was being shown there were distractions, yeah, which came from intel. Because the people concerned claimed to be intel, they then pressured us so that the screening and discussion of the film End Game not be held at that time", said Oktaviani during a virtual press conference on Sunday June 13.
Oktaviani explained that the main pretext for closing down the screening was Covid-19 health protocols. Because of the huge amount of pressure to close down the event, eventually LBH Semarang decided to stop the screening.
"Through quite a long process and then pressure by police until around 10 to 15 minutes before the film was to end, finally under a great deal of pressure we stopped it, because the situation had become quite heated", she said.
Yet, if the police were concerned about health protocols, Oktaviani said that they did not need to go as far as closing down the film screening. According to Oktaviani the police could have just monitored the screening to ensure that Covid-10 health protocols were maintained.
"Now, here the issue which should be very apparent or that was concretely shown, yes, that what they wanted to achieve was indeed not just preventing the spread of Covid-19 but there was another issue which was indeed that the discussion or film showing not be held at that time", she said.
Oktaviani asserted that they have committed to holding 10 more joint film screenings after being closed down by police. According to Oktaviani, many students and non-government organisations want to take part in the film screenings.
"With this closure, friends responded by saying if they close down a joint screening once, then we will commit to organising them 10 more times, whether it be indoor or outdoor joint screenings of the film End Game", she said.
As has been reported, a public polemic has emerged after 75 Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) employees failed a civics knowledge or nationalism test (TWK) required for their employment status to be converted to state civil servants.
As a form of resistance and an effort to save the KPK, the film production company WatchDoc has released a documentary film titled The End Game.
The film portrays the testimonies of KPK employees who were declared to have failed the TWK. Since its release, the two trailers of the film have been watch by tens of thousands of people on YouTube.
The first trailer portrays the testimonies of those who failed the TWK who come from a number of different groups and religious backgrounds.
The second film trailer meanwhile shows testimonies by 16 KPK investigators and criminal investigators speaking about the cases that they have handled at the KPK.
They include, among others, senior investigator Novel Baswedan, KPK Investigations Task Force Head Harun Al Rasyid and KPK Employees Association Chairperson Yudi Purnomo.
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Cerita LBH Semarang Sempat Alami Gangguan 'Intel' Saat Nobar Film 'The End Game' KPK".]
