New York, August 31, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the criminal defamation trial of Indonesian journalist Teguh Santosa, who faces charges of defaming Islam by posting online controversial cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad. State prosecutors outlined the criminal charges, which under Indonesia’s penal code carry a possible five years in prison, at the trial’s…
New York, July 20, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the detention of Teguh Santosa, chief editor of Rakyat Merdeka Online, for posting cartoons that depicted the Prophet Mohammad. Indonesian police on July 19 detained Santosa after questioning him for three hours about his role in the posting of three controversial cartoons depicting the Prophet…
New York, May 15, 2006–The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Indonesian authorities to fully investigate the recent killing of Indonesian journalist Herliyanto, a freelance reporter with the Radar Surabaya, Delta Post, and Jimber News newspapers.
As Radio Grows Powerful, Challenges EmergeBy Abi WrightAt home, in the car, and even in the fields, more people across Asia are getting their news on the radio than ever before. Increasingly, this accessible and affordable medium is bringing real-time information to remote areas of Indonesia, Nepal, the Philippines, Afghanistan, and Thailand, parts of which…
New York, February 10, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists praises the Indonesian Supreme Court’s decision on Thursday to overturn the September 2004 criminal libel conviction of Tempo magazine’s top editor, Bambang Harymurti. The three-judge panel ruled unanimously that civil, and not criminal, laws should apply. Lower courts had applied criminal law to convict and sentence…
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists urges you to rescind four new broadcasting regulations that went into effect on Monday. As a nongovernmental organization dedicated to defending press freedom worldwide, we are concerned that these regulations will limit foreign broadcasts in a way that will hamper the free flow of information necessary for Indonesia’s growing democracy. The new regulations confine broadcasts from international sources to shortwave radio and cable television networks, shutting off a large portion of Indonesia’s listeners and viewers from news sources outside of the country. Your government should be working to broaden the numerous voices of information available on the country’s 160 radio and television stations rather than reining them in.