When a large box arrived at the office with her name on it, Indonesian investigative journalist Francisca Christy Rosana assumed a friend had sent her a package.
Instead, it contained a stinking, mutilated pigs head.
“I was shocked, I cried, and was immediately evacuated by some of my friends,” said Francisca, “I was worried this terror would hurt my family.”
The grisly gift was the first in a series of threats aimed at Tempo media in the past week, in what is being seen as a new low amid increasing intimidation of journalists in the world’s third-largest democracy.
First it was the pig’s head, with its ears cut off. Days later, six decapitated rats wrapped in rose-adorned paper were sent to Tempo’s Jakarta office.
Online, there was a steady stream of harassment. “Are there enough pig heads? If not I can send more,” wrote one menacing user on Tempo’s Instagram account.
The threats have in turn led to criticism of the leadership of ex-special forces commander turned president, Prabowo Subianto. Asked to comment on the pig’s head threat, presidential spokesperson Hasan Nasbi initially suggested the Tempo journalist “just cook it”.
Hasan later clarified his remarks, saying that Indonesia remained committed to upholding press freedom, as guaranteed by Indonesian law. The police were investigating, he added, and the human rights minister had visited Tempo’s office.
Francisca was also doxed, and her mother’s phone hijacked, while a relative received strange, threatening phone calls.
Tempo, one of Indonesia’s most critical media organisations, is no stranger to threats. During the decades-long reign of former authoritarian ruler Suharto, its weekly magazine was twice banned.
“Bombs, doxing, hijacking of phone numbers. We have had so many threats in the past,” said Bagja Hidayat, Tempo’s deputy editor in chief, contemplating the changing nature of the scare tactics used against its journalists.
“But now it’s very physical. For the first time animals and organs have been used as messengers … It’s very scary.”
The threats, said Bagja, were also menacingly symbolic. In the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation, pork is considered haram. The six rats, he said, appeared directed at the six hosts of Tempo’s hit podcast, Bocor Alus Politik, which does not shy away from discussing sensitive political issues.
Francisca is one of the hosts, and the only woman among them.
Recently, she has written about electoral and judicial scandals, and the controversial revision of the military law. “This terror is related to my writing,” she said, “I often produce coverage that criticises the government.”
The attacks come weeks after Prabowo publicly stated that some elements of the media had been infiltrated by “foreign interests” intent on destroying the nation.
Tempo’s Bagja says there is no clarity on who is behind the recent threats, but police are investigating.
‘Sign of cowardice’
Inaugurated in October, Prabowo – a former special forces commander dismissed from the military amid allegations of rights abuses for which he has always denied wrongdoing – is wary of the press.
During his election campaign he avoided all but a handful of interviews, and days before the vote was the only presidential candidate to skip an event where candidates pledged their commitment to uphold press freedom.
Ross Tapsell, an expert on Indonesian media at the Australian National University, said the case was a test for Prabowo government. “A flippant or nonchalant response will signal that journalists are legitimate targets of attacks,” he said.
“The incident is also important in the context of worsening attacks on female journalists in southeast Asia, where hyper-masculine, military-leaning leadership encourages more overt displays of misogyny.”
Indonesia’s Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) condemned the attack, which it described as a “symbolic death threat”, and one that undermined the public’s right to quality news.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) described the threats as a “dangerous and deliberate act of intimidation”.
“Tempo is well-known internationally for its fiercely independent reporting; using this playbook from autocrats elsewhere simply will not work,” said CPJ’s Asia program coordinator Beh Lih Yi. “President Prabowo Subianto must uphold press freedom and condemn this highly provocative act if he wants Indonesia to be taken seriously as the world’s third-largest democracy.”
But some damage has already been done.
Some reporters are scared, admitted Tempo’s deputy editor in chief, while other media outlets have started to self-censor, he said.
Goenawan Mohamad, founder of Tempo magazine, described the recent threats as a “sign of cowardice”.
Referring to the movement that began after the fall of Suharto in 1998 he said: “Today, thanks to Reformasi you can’t ban a newspaper. But it will be interesting to see if there is any move from the regime to review the press law.”
Last year the government, then led by former president Joko Widodo, mulled revising another relevant law, proposed revision of the broadcast law that would have banned “exclusive investigative journalism”. Amid vociferous outcry, the government backtracked.
Since the fall of Suharto, Indonesia has enjoyed a dynamic and free press, arguably the freest and most independent in South-east Asia.
Reporters like Francisca want to keep it that way. “I want to say to all female journalists: don’t be afraid of intimidation, because those who intimidate are actually those who are afraid of the truth.”
