Hasan Nasbi's Response To The Tempo Terror Is A Form Of Nirempati And Meremization

JAKARTA - Head of the Presidential Communication Office Hasan Nasbi is said to have no empathy because he is considered to have succeeded in the terror received by Tempo journalists.

In less than a week, Tempo's editorial office received two packages containing animal carcasses. The first package was received by Tempo on Wednesday (19/3/2025).

This package was delivered by a courier with a attribute of goods delivery application and addressed to Francisca Rosana or who is familiarly called Cica. He is a political journalist and presenter of the Bocor Alus Politik podcast. When opened, the package contains a earless pig's head.

Meanwhile, the second package was sent on Saturday (22/3) in the morning WIB. This time the package was found by Agus, a janitor at the Tempo editorial office.

When opened, the package wrapped in a red rose-motivated gift paper contained six rat carcasses with the condition of the head that had been clamped.

"The sender deliberately terrorized the work of journalists," said the Chief Editor of Tempo, Setri Yasa in a written statement.

The public has been busy criticizing the terror it addressed to Tempo. This terror is seen as an attempt to silence press freedom. The demand that this case be thoroughly investigated echoed on social media.

However, amid netizens' criticism of acts of terror against journalists, Head of the Presidential Communication Office (PCO) Hasan Nasbi issued a statement sparking increasingly public anger.

When asked what he thought about the pig's head terror, Hasan Nasbi answered briefly, "Just cook it, cook it."

This expression drew strong reactions from various circles, including political observer Adi Prayitno. He considered Hasan Nasbi to belittled the problem.

"How is it possible for a public official who is synonymous with the authorities to issue a statement that is not actually conducive, and seems unsympathized with the threats that have occurred to journalists," said Adi Prayitno.

"That speech (cooked only) is a form of disrespect, has no sympathy for media freedom, freedom of expression," he said.

Adi added that terror, as experienced recently, is common for a long time, especially in the New Order era. The public is well aware that this is a terror, a threat that should be supported by a spokesman who has been close to power.

Therefore, it is not surprising that this makes many parties furious, because this is considered an underestimate, considering the issue of terror as trivial.

"It is feared that a presidential spokesman considers terror a trivial matter to be considered a joke, not important. This is inappropriate for the head of PCO to convey," said Adi.

In the future, he hopes that no matter how hard the protests and criticism from the civil society, including the media, public officials must respond with sympathy.

"Indonesia will not be destroyed, Indonesia will not be battered just because of the critical attitude of the media and other civil society movements," Adi said again.

Terror using animal carcasses or animal organs has its own meaning, according to Anthropology Lecturer at the University of Indonesia, Geger Riyanto.

He said these objects were intended so that those who had been fighting stopped talking critically. Otherwise, bad things can happen.

"That's the message. Because the pig's head is a very negative thing and leads to bad things," explained Geger Riyanto.

"Because the pig's head is very negative and leads to bad things. If this is a very universal form of terror because it is not difficult to get the animal's head, just look for it in the market," he added.

Despite its meaning, the message that terrorists want to convey is to intimidate press freedom, which means journalists or the media will no longer criticize the government's wrong policies.

The forms of terror or threats experienced by journalists vary. But the most common thing is doxing or the act of opening someone's personal data and sharing it in a public space without consent.

But there are also those that lead to acts of violence and even loss of life.

Therefore, Geger Riyanto urged the police to reveal and arrest the perpetrators.

"The main perpetrator must have used someone else's hand extension. It was done so that we had trouble getting where and who. We can only guess who has an interest in committing this terror," he said.

The same thing was also revealed by Institute for Security and Strategic Studies (ISEESS) researcher Bambang Rukminto. He urged the police to seriously investigate the terror of the pig head aimed at Tempo.

This is so that there is no suspicion that the perpetrator has the power that makes him untouched by the law.

"What has happened so far, including terror against me, there is almost no significant follow-up to the police. Only normative procedural," said Bambang.

The failure to uncover this case, according to Bambang, will lead to the assumption that this kind of terror is carried out by those who have power and are above the law.

"If it cannot be investigated thoroughly, the impact will arise which will justify that the 'terror' or intimidation is carried out by those who are anti-criticism and have power so that the police cannot touch," he said.