press releases & Protests

Sept. 26, 2007

National Police Chief Gen. Sutanto
Jl. Trunojoyo No. 3 Kebayoran Baru
Jakarta, Indonesia

Dear Gen. Sutanto:

On behalf of the World Press Freedom Committee —an organization representing 45 press freedom groups from five continents— I express our total rejection of the actions of the organization under your command, with the cooperation of the P.T. Telkom communications company, to illegally spy on Tempo Magazine’s reporter Metta Dharmasaputra.

P.T. Telkom has already acknowledged that it has released a number of cell phone records belonging to Mr. Dharmasaputra at the request of the police and without the consent of the journalist.

Ostensibly, this act of espionage against a law-abiding journalist who was fulfilling his duty to keep the public informed comes in response to one of his investigative reports published by his publication about a tax-fraud case involving tens of millions of US dollars allegedly perpetrated by PT Asian Agri, one of the companies controlled by communications baron Sukanto Tanoto.

We find it shocking that instead of investigating the alleged crime of fraud, your police force are harassing Mr. Dharmasaputra over the case. In fact, his text messages and personal conversations with his sources have been leaked to the press in an effort to damage his reputation and good name.

These actions constitute a bold attack on Mr. Dharmasaputra’s human rights, which are consecrated not only in your own country’s constitution, but also in the world’s most important human rights treaties and declarations.

This official harassment of Mr. Dharmasaputra directly contravenes the most widely embraced press freedom and freedom of expression postulate, Article 19 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which your country has endorsed and reads as follows:

Everyone has the right to freedom of expression and opinion; this right includes the freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

Such an attempt to silence Mr. Dharmasaputra sends a disturbing message to all press freedom forces both in your country and abroad. The members of a free press are part of a critical component to Indonesia’s democracy. These actions do nothing but curtail a free and independent media, without which, government officials and corporations cannot be kept accountable and responsive to the rest of society. Without this essential ingredient, transparency and good governance become impossible to achieve.

This violation to Mr. Dharmasaputra’s right to keep his sources confidential constitute a frontal attack on the very press freedom principles whose respect is essential for the functioning of a democratic society. Therefore, I urge you to immediately investigate this case and to take legal action against those among your subordinates who are found responsible for requesting the tapping of Mr. Dharmasaputra's telephone calls and other communications and the leaking of those to the public.

Respectfully,

E. Markham Bench
Executive Director
World Press Freedom Committee