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Censored
March 19
Reader's Digest, CENSORED
The Indonesian government banned all newstand sales of the March issue of Reader's Digest magazine. The ban effectively removed 10,000 copies of the monthly from newsstands; the 2,300 subscriber copies delivered via post were not affected. Reader's Digest editors, who learned of the ban from a Reuter wire story, received no formal notice of the censorship action from the government. A spokesman for the magazine said he presumed the ban was a reaction to a profile in the March issue of the Roman Catholic bishop and East Timorese human-rights advocate Carlos Belo.
June 13
Tempo, LEGAL ACTION, CENSORED
The Supreme Court upheld a June 1994 ban on the weekly magazine Tempo, reversing two lower court decisions that ruled in favor of Tempo publisher Goenawan Mohamad. Mohamad had filed suit on Oct. 7, 1994, against Information Minister Harmoko alleging that Harmoko had wrongfully revoked Tempo's publishing license, forcing it to close. In banning the weekly, the Information Ministry had declared its articles about political corruption to be incompatible with a "healthy" and "responsible press." The Ministry also accused Tempo of failing to adhere to national press guidelines and disregarding prior government warnings. The banning of Tempo, which was Indonesia's largest circulation newsmagazine at the time of its closure, prompted widespread protest demonstrations throughout the country and sparked international condemnation.
July 27
Cecek Sutriatna Sukmadipraja, Ummat, ATTACKED
Kemal Jufri, Asiaweek, ATTACKED
Associated Press Television, CENSORED
Australian Broadcasting Corp., CENSORED
Soldiers attacked two photojournalists who were covering the army's seizure of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) headquarters in Jakarta. When Sukmadipraja, a photographer for the local Muslim magazine Ummat, refused to turn over his film, the soldiers kicked him in the groin and beat him with rattan, wood, and metal objects until he collapsed. A colleague took him to the intensive care unit of a local hospital, where he was given a blood transfusion and stitches for neck and back wounds. Another soldier hit Jufri, a free-lance photographer who strings for Hong Kong-based Asiaweek, on the head as Jufri tried to photograph a civilian being beaten. Jufri's attackers smashed his camera and threw it into a sewage canal. Soldiers also seized video footage belonging to Associated Press Television and the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
October 28
Suara Independen, CENSORED
Indonesian police raided the printing house where the monthly newsmagazine Suara Independen is printed. During the raid, police confiscated 5,000 copies of Suara Independen, and arrested Andi Syahputra, the printing house manager, and Nasrul, a press operator. After the two were taken into custody, security forces searched Syahputra's home in central Jakarta. Syahputra and Nasrul were later charged under Articles 134 and 137 of the Indonesian Criminal Code with the distribution of printed materials defaming President Suharto. If convicted, they face up to six years in prison each. Suara Independen, published by the Melbourne-based Society of Indonesian Alternative Media (MIPPA), is the best-known of several underground magazines that have attempted to circumvent the government licensing regime. Its predecessor, Independen, was published by the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI), which is not officially recognized. Two AJI members--Eko Maryadi and Ahmad Taufik, a winner of CPJ's 1995 International Press Freedom Award--are currently serving prison terms for their involvement with the magazine. In a letter to Suharto, CPJ demanded the release of Syahputra and Nasrul and the withdrawal of all charges against them. CPJ also reiterated its calls for the release of Taufik and Maryadi.
For more information contact asiaweb@cpj.org