Initial Story Until Adjutant Reported To Police: Requests Journalist's Video To Be Deleted When Recording Maluku Governor Rises In Anger Invites Students To Fight

Maluku Police Chief Inspector General of Police Lotharia Latif/ ANTARA

MALUKU - The Maluku Regional Police stated that they are still following up on reports from the Indonesian Television Journalists Association (IJTI) regarding allegations of intimidation of journalists by aide to the Governor of Maluku.

"Yes, the Regional Police will definitely continue to take action according to the existing procedures," said Maluku Police Chief Inspector General Lotharia Latif in Ambon, as reported by Antara, Friday, July 15.

According to him, the report has been received and has been processed directly by the Maluku Regional Police. "We'll see how it goes in the future, will there be mediation or what will we see later," he also said.

IJTI Maluku reported that the aide to the Maluku Governor, I Ketut Ardana, was suspected of intimidating one of the Molucca TV journalists at the Maluku Regional Police Integrated Police Service Center (SPKT), last Tuesday.

The chronology of the incident began with the arrival of Governor Murad Ismail with the Chairman of the Maluku PKK Widya Pratiwi and his entourage at the Red and White Port, Namlea at around 13.40 WIT.

At the same time, dozens of students from the Batabual sub-district protested against Governor Murad Ismail, but this demonstration was not accepted by the Governor of Maluku, who immediately issued harsh words by inviting students to beat and scold them.

Molucca TV correspondent Sofyan Muhammadia who was currently covering the incident captured the incident, including Governor Murad's call for a fight, for the coverage material using his cell phone.

However, Sofyan was later blocked by the Maluku Governor's aide. The governor's aide also asked him to delete the recorded video, even though Sofyan had introduced himself as a journalist for Molucca TV who served in Buru Regency, but was ignored.

The governor's aide then took Sofyan's cell phone and then sent a video of the incident to his cellphone via the WhatsApp application, then deleted it from Sofyan's cellphone.

A few moments later the governor's aide again sent the video to Sofyan via the WhatsApp application, but it turned out that upon inspection the video was not complete and had been cut, especially at the moment when Murad called for a fight.

The actions taken by the Maluku Governor's aide were considered as a way to hinder press freedom.

Although the aide to the Governor of Maluku has apologized through a video that was distributed to all journalists in Maluku, IJTI remains committed to overseeing Molucca TV's complaint report to the Maluku Police. For IJTI, this step needs to be appreciated because it is part of educating the public to know about journalistic work.

This is because the actions of I Ketut Ardana, an aide to the Governor of Maluku Murad Ismail, were judged by the local IJTI to be contrary to Law Number 40 concerning Press Freedom and the Criminal Code.