Logging Firms Accused of Intimidating Journalists

Jakarta Globe, Fidelis E Satriastanti& Ismira Lutfia, June 04, 2010

Journalists reporting on environmental damage within logging concessions are often bullied by the companies’ security teams, who hold sway over the scant police presence in such areas. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim, File)

Ineffective law enforcement and heavy-handed tactics by logging companies are the main causes of the intimidation suffered by journalists when reporting on logging in remote areas, press activists said on Friday.

Margiyono, advocacy coordinator for the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI), told the Jakarta Globe that journalists reporting on environmental damage within logging concessions were often bullied by the companies’ security teams, who held sway over the scant police presence in such areas.

“The police have virtually no authority there,” which leaves the logging companies in effective control of security, he said.

Hendrayana, chairman of the Jakarta-based Legal Aid Foundation for the Press (LBH Pers), told the Globe his group had received seven reports so far this year of intimidation of journalists reporting on deforestation, mostly in Sumatra.

In a statement released on Thursday to mark World Environment Day, Paris-based media watchdog Reporters Without Borders said: “Attacks on journalists and bloggers who try to cover any kind of environmental damage are growing steadily all over the world, but those who investigate industrial pollution or the destruction of forests are particularly exposed.”

It released an investigative report on such incidents in Indonesia, Argentina, El Salvador, Gabon, India, Azerbaijan, China and Morocco.

In the latest incident in Indonesia, Ahmadi, a reporter for the Harian Aceh newspaper, was allegedly assaulted on May 21 by an intelligence officer from the Simeuleu District Military Command. Ahmadi had previously reported on allegations that military personnel were complicit in illegal logging in the area.

Mukhtaruddin Yakub, chairman of AJI Banda Aceh, told the Globe that Ahmadi had been scheduled to testify before the Military Police on Friday but was “traumatized about having to seeing the soldiers” and had requested a postponement of the hearing. He said Ahmadi would undergo counseling before testifying.

Hendrayana said local police were unresponsive to journalists’ complaints about such treatment, and only investigated if there was pressure from the public or advocates. “It’s not just a case of one journalist; it’s about ensuring journalists’ safety in doing their work,” he said.

Reporters Without Borders said: “Behind each of these threats and attacks there were big corporations, criminal gangs or government officials who had been corrupted by money from mining or logging.”

The group’s report cited journalists in Sumatra, Jambi and Riau who said that “leading companies managed to suppress most critical articles by applying pressure or paying local journalists ‘subsidies.’ ”

Rudi Kurniawansyah, a contributor to the national Media Indonesia newspaper, backed the claim that firms continually attempted to bribe reporters for favorable coverage. “Whenever there’s a raid on illegal logging, the police try to cozy up to the reporters,” he said.

Rudi said this differed starkly from their manhandling of foreign journalists covering a Greenpeace sit-in of a logging site in the Kampar Peninsula in Riau.

In that incident last November, Raimondo Bultrini, an Italian reporter for La Repubblica newspaper, and a journalist identified as Kumkum from India’s Hindustan Times were taken in for questioning by local police who alleged they did not have proper documents. They were released the same day.

Forest Network Rescue Riau (Jikalahari) activist Susanto Kurniawan said the intimidation was often as blatant as theft.

“After I reported to the Corruption Eradication Commission [KPK] about possible graft at 14 companies implicated in illegal logging back in 2007, I lost my suitcase,” he said. “It was filled with original documents [supporting my case], and I haven’t recovered it since.”