The national outrage that ensued after a video shot by Kompas TV — showing a frail old woman crying as the civil service police in Sareng, Banten raided her warung and confiscated her food for the crime of being open for lunch during Ramadan — went viral led to many positive outcomes. Netizens ended up donating over Rp 265 million to the warung’s owner, Ibu Saeni, and it started a national conversation about regional laws that discriminate against people on the basis of religion.
But there are some groups that are quite unhappy about Kompas’ coverage of the raid and the ensuing outrage. Unsurprisingly, the hardline Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) is one of those groups. And they are planning to pay a little visit to Kompas’ offices tomorrow to voice their displeasure.
A leaked photo of a letter sent by FPI’s Central Board (DPP) to Kompas Group informing them of their visit has been shared by several sources online today but a source inside Kompas confirmed its authenticity to us.
The letter, dated yesterday, is addressed to the editorial heads of Kompas newspaper, Kompas TV and Kompas.com. It states that members of FPI will be visiting their offices tomorrow at 1pm to demand an explanation from them about their coverage of the warung raid in Serang, which they described as an “Anti Islamic Sharia Campaign”
“In connection with the Campaign Against Islamic Shari’a with the framing of the Warteg Case in the City of Serang, Banten, that was conducted with a bombardment of negative information about the Holy Month of Ramadan by Kompas Group, we the Central Board (DPP) of FPI will seek clarification directly about the meaning and objectives of Kompas group’s framing of the news.”
FPI has been targeting journalists for intimidation of late. Recently, a reporter for online news site Rappler, Febriana Firdaus, was forced into hiding after the extremist group launched a campaign to terrorize her on social media.
This graphic from FPI’s Instagram feed illustrates the group’s deluded belief that Kompas is anti-Islam as well as unfairly slanted in favor of Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama.
Intimidation of journalists by the like FPI should not be tolerated. Kompas and Rappler have both done excellent jobs in their coverage of controversial issues and they should be praised for their efforts to shed light on these topics, not be made the targets of thugs.
Reader Interactions