For Housing Developers Staff, Action Allegedly Your Persekusi To Journalists Has Been Handled By The NTB Police

Head of Public Relations of the NTB Police, Kombes Mohammad Kholid. (ANTARA/HO-Polda NTB)

A journalist in NTB is suspected of being a victim of persecution by housing development staff from PT Meka Asia with the initials DBP. The victim's initials YD has reported this incident to the authorities.

Allegations of persecution took place when YD came to the developer office in Mataram City. He wanted to confirm the protests of residents of the housing that were victims of the flood.

Head of Public Relations of the NTB Police, Kombes Mohammad Kholid, confirmed that investigators would investigate this case.

"We consider all forms of intimidation against journalists to be serious violations, which cannot be left alone. We make sure that this case will follow up in accordance with the applicable law," Kholid said in Mataram as quoted by Antara, Thursday, February 13.

The report was received by the police on Wednesday, February 12 yesterday. Investigators are currently gathering information and processing the crime scene. The NTB Police are committed to providing information from every development of the case to the public.

"We also invite all parties to support the ongoing legal process in order to create a conducive atmosphere and respect press freedom in this area," he said.

For this report, the Coordinator of the Journalist Safety Committee (KKJ) NTB Haris Mahtul, who also accompanied YD's reporting, emphasized that his party was ready to oversee the handling of the case at the Mataram Police by providing assistance to the YD reporter.

He admitted that he had heard the beginning of the incident so that the complainant received treatment for persecution from the reported party.

"The victim was intimidated, resulting in shock. There was also physical violence experienced by the victim," he said.

Haris hopes that the police can see this issue from the point of view of Law Number 40 of 1999 concerning the Press.

"We ask that it be processed using a press offense in accordance with Article 18 paragraph (1). This rule states that anyone who tries to obstruct the work of the journalist profession, so that he cannot write news, is threatened with a sentence of four years in prison and a fine of Rp. 500 million," he said.

KKJ and a number of representatives of journalists' organizations in NTB and several fellow journalists were also present to accompany YD to make a report at the Mataram Police.