Don't Spread Photos Of Suicide Bombing Bodies In Medan Carelessly

Illustration of a suicide bomb in Medan (Ilham / VOI)

JAKARTA - A suicide bomb explosion occurred at the Medan Police, North Sumatra, this morning. Six people, including members of the national police and civilians, were injured as a result of being hit by the splinters of the explosion.

Social media was immediately boisterous, displaying photos of the atmosphere and pictures of the bodies of the suicide bombers. Apart from photographs, netizens also distributed video footage showing panic when the suicide bombing took place at the Medan Police.

"I urge all people to refrain from distributing photos or videos of the action. In addition to preventing the public from having horrific pictures or visuals, distributing photos and videos only helps achieve the goals of terror itself," said the Chairman of Commission III of the DPR, Herman. Herry, Wednesday, November 13.

The Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (Kominfo) has also appealed to the public not to disseminate content related to events related to acts of terrorism. It is feared that the content aims to make people panic and frightened.

Photos and videos containing acts of violence constitute content that violates Law Number 19 of 2016 concerning Amendments to Law No 11 of 2008 concerning Electronic Information and Transactions. It reads as follows:

Article 29

Every person knowingly and without authority sends electronic information and / or electronic documents that contain threats of violence or scare aimed personally.

"Anyone who knowingly and without rights sends electronic information and / or electronic documents containing threats of violence or intimidation aimed at personally, will be punished with imprisonment of up to 4 (four) years and / or a maximum fine of Rp. 750,000. 000.00 (seven hundred and fifty million rupiah), "quoted VOI from Article 45B of the ITE Law.

The explosion at the Medan Police Station took place at 08.45 WIB. The police admitted that they had already searched the perpetrators when they were about to enter Polrestabes because of their suspicious actions.

In the first stage of the search, the police found nothing. In the information collected, the perpetrator was carrying a backpack. There is a strong suspicion that the police only examined the contents of the bag which was found to contain books.

Once inside, the perpetrators also mingled with other residents who wanted to take care of the SKCK. Another policeman then asked the perpetrator to take off his jacket again. Not long after, an explosion occurred.