(Jakarta) – Recent threats and attacks on journalists and news outlets in Indonesia are having a chilling effect on the country’s media, Human Rights Watch said today. The Indonesian government under President Prabowo Subianto Djojohadikusumo should urgently act to protect media freedom, including by taking action against officials who make unsubstantiated public allegations against journalists that undermine the right to freedom of expression.
Journalists were beaten while covering protests, physically attacked by unidentified assailants, and threatened at their workplace, including with animal carcasses. Many of the recent attacks appear to be reprisals for criticism by the media of amendments to the armed forces law that significantly expand the military’s role in governance and weaken legal checks on abusive officials. Senior government officials have also dangerously alleged without basis that journalists and media outlets “promote foreign interest.”
“President Prabowo should recognize that further attacks on journalists and media figures will undercut press freedoms crucial to the government’s plans for economic growth and social justice in Indonesia,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The government should ensure that Indonesians are able to freely express their views without fear of retaliation, and that independent media can create an environment for open discussion without harassment or intimidation.”
The media outlet Tempo, which has a long history of public criticism in Indonesia has been especially targeted, apparently because of its critical coverage of the Prabowo administration. On March 20, 2025, Francisca Christy Rosana, a Christian journalist at Tempo who hosts its popular podcast “Bocor Alus Politik” (fine political leaks), received a package containing a pig’s head without its ears, menacingly symbolic in a Muslim-majority nation. She was doxed (her personal information was posted with malicious intent), her mother’s phone was hacked, and a relative received threatening anonymous phone calls.
On March 22, cleaners at Tempo’s office in Jakarta found a box of six rats with their heads cut off. This appeared to be an act of intimidation against the podcast’s six hosts, who discuss sensitive political issues and have criticized the Prabowo administration.
Several journalists have since installed CCTVs and dashboard cameras to identify any assailants. “If the intention is to scare,” said Tempo’s editor-in-chief, Setri Yasra, “we are not deterred.”
On March 24, the police forced two journalists to delete photos and videos from their phones, after the authorities cracked down on a protest in Surabaya against the military law amendments. Rama Indra, a journalist with the local digital outlet Berita Jatim, said that police officers forced him to stop filming as they were beating protesters, and also hit him in the head. The police forced Wildan Pratama, a journalist with the local radio station Suara Surabaya, to delete his photos of arrested protesters. Reporters Without Borders reported that the police and unidentified assailants attacked at least 14 journalists and journalism students who were covering similar protests across the country.
These recent attacks are part of a growing pattern of abuse against the media, Human Rights Watch said. Unidentified men twice smashed the windshield of the podcast host, Hussein Abri Dongoran, in Jakarta, on August 4, 2024, and then again on September 3. Both times his dashboard cameras recorded two men on a single motorcycle throwing a carburetor into the windshield. Tempo reported the cases to the Jakarta police but with no significant result.
Military personnel have also been implicated in attacks on journalists, Human Rights Watch said. In Jayapura, Papua, on October 16, 2024, two men on a motorcycle threw a gasoline bomb at the newsroom of Jubi news media, an independent newspaper, burning two cars. Staff and bystanders eventually extinguished the fire. The Papua police produced a report on January 22, 2025, based on interviews with nine witnesses and CCTV recordings, implicating two Indonesian soldiers in the attack. The Papua police handed over the report to the Indonesian military police in Jayapura for prosecution. But the military returned the report to the police in February, saying that there was insufficient evidence to proceed.
In Kabanjahe, North Sumatra, Rico Sempurna Pasaribu, a reporter with the Medan-based Tribata TV, and three family members, his wife, daughter, and 3-year-old grandson, were found dead inside their small wooden house on June 27, 2024. Police arrested three men. Bebas Ginting, the primary suspect, admitted to the attack during trial, saying that he was ordered “to secure the media” because of Pasaribu’s reporting on illegal online gambling. The order, he said, had come from an army sergeant.
On March 27, 2025, the Kabanjahe court sentenced Ginting and one of the others to life in prison and the other to 20 years. No action has been taken thus far against the sergeant who allegedly ordered the attack. Indonesia’s Press Council has called on the military to follow up on Ginting’s testimony that he was acting on behalf of the military personnel.
In February, the National Police issued a regulation requiring foreign journalists and researchers to obtain police permits to work in “certain locations” without clarifying what or where they are. The regulation, which took effect on March 10, grants police the authority to issue certificates so that they can “provide services and protection” to foreign journalists, especially in conflict-prone areas, the National Police spokesman said.
Human Rights Watch has previously documented the lengthy bureaucratic process, involving 18 state institutions, before foreign journalists can work in Indonesia, assuming their visas are approved in the so-called clearing house at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. West Papua’s six provinces are routinely excluded from approval.
The media have also been subjected to digital attacks. Indonesia’s Journalist Safety Committee recorded multiple digital attacks against media companies, including more than a billion DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks against Tempo’s website in April 2025, crippling services for several hours. Other news outlets included Konde, Project Multatuli, and Narasi TV. Several journalists told Human Rights Watch that they had become more cautious in their reporting because of these frequent attacks.
“The Prabowo administration could make a stronger case for Indonesia being a rights-respecting democracy by seriously investigating alleged threats and attacks against the media,” Ganguly said. “The authorities should also withdraw unnecessary restrictions, including travel permit requirements, on foreign journalists and let them do their jobs.”