Jakarta – The Indonesian Committee for the Safety of Journalists (KKJ) has reported the recent firebomb attack on the Jubi media editorial offices in Jayapura, Papua, to the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM). The KKJ wants Komnas HAM to take part in monitoring the case.
"The Indonesian Committee for the Safety of Journalists reported the case of the Molotov bomb attack on the Jubi editorial office to Komnas HAM, we reported it so that Komnas HAM would monitor the case", said KKJ Coordinator Erick Tanjung at the Komnas HAM Office in Jakarta on Tuesday October 29.
Tanjung also urged law enforcement officials to take the case seriously saying that many cases of violence against journalists have been reported by KKJ but have not been pursued by the police.
"Throughout 2024, we recorded 56 cases of attacks on journalists and the media, and in all the cases we reported where the victims were willing to be accompanied to the police, there were many cases that experienced undue delay, cases that got stuck at the police", he said.
He explained that CCTV footage shows two people who are suspected of being the perpetrators of the attack. KKJ Indonesia, he said, is still waiting for the police investigation to find the perpetrators.
Furthermore, Tanjung suspects that the attack on the Jubi editorial office was related to the media's reporting over the past month.
"The work of our Jubi's friends over the past month has indeed seen Jubi reporting a lot of humanitarian issues, issues of human rights violations and including national strategic projects that have an impact on indigenous peoples in Papua, especially the food estate in Merauke", said Tanjung.
"We cannot draw a conclusion yet, but indeed, there has been a lot of news from our Jubi's friends that criticises government policies, so we see that it could be one of them, our preliminary suspicion is that it's related to their journalistic work", he added.
Komnas HAM Commissioner Uli Parulian Sihombing said that Komnas HAM would follow up on the complaint. Sihombing explained that the Komnas HAM's representative Office in Papua is currently investigating the firebomb attack.
"We at the representative office are actually conducting an in-depth investigation, monitoring the case of violence against the Jubi journalists. Of course we pushing for a resolution [of cases] related to journalism to be resolved in accordance with the Press Law, with the right to reply and so on", said Sihombing.
Earlier on Wednesday morning October 16 at around 3.15 am, a Molotov bomb was thrown at the Jubi office located on Jalan SPG Taruna Waena in Jayapura. Two operational cars parked in front of the office were burned and damaged.
Quoting from the state-owned news agency Antara, Jubi chief editor Jean Bisay said that when the incident occurred, two staff members who were in the office heard the sound of an explosion. Upon hearing the explosion, the two came out and put out the fire with the help of local residents.
The bomb is believed to have thrown from the side of the road in front of the office and caused a fire to break out between two Jubi operational cars parked in the media company's front yard. The two perpetrators who allegedly threw the Molotov were riding a motorbike, wearing black jackets, masks and helmets.
According to eyewitnesses, prior to the incident the two perpetrators passed in front of the Jubi editorial office several times. Witnesses stated that the two perpetrators had been hanging around the area since midnight on Tuesday October 15. (yoa/tsa)
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Komite Jurnalis Laporkan Serangan Molotov di Kantor Jubi ke Komnas HAM".]
