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Journalists protest after Medan mayor’s bodyguards block interviews
“This is what we call a mayor who acts like a president,” an Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) representative said.
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Bobby Nasution (center), the son-in-law of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, registers as a member of the North Sumatra branch of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) in Medan on March 12, 2020, before his campaign for mayor of the city. (Tribun Medan/Danil Siregar)
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ournalists in Medan, North Sumatra, protested on Thursday against recently elected Medan mayor Bobby Nasution and his bodyguards for allegedly driving away journalists seeking to interview Bobby, who is the son-in-law of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo.
During a protest at the Medan mayoral office on Thursday, journalists displayed banners that read, “Bobby’s bodyguards should not block journalists’ work. The mayor must not inherit colonial ways.”
Hani Ritonga, a journalist with Tribun Medan, said the mayor’s bodyguards drove her and other journalists away as they were waiting to interview Bobby on Wednesday. She said members of the Medan Public Order Agency (Satpol PP), the police and the Presidential Security Detail (Paspampres) told her to leave the mayor’s office.
While it is common for regional leaders to obtain protection from Satpol PP and the police, Bobby has extra security officers from Paspampres because he is Jokowi’s son-in-law. A 2014 defense ministerial regulation requires Paspampres to provide protection for the president’s family members, including children-in-law.
Read also: Assault of 'Tempo' journalist raises fresh concerns about press freedom
The incident was recorded on video. The footage was later uploaded to social media and went viral.
“We were forced to leave despite the fact that we waited for hours to interview the mayor,” Hani said during Thursday’s protest.
