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YAKARTA: A series of piracy attacks on Indonesian media that have articles criticizing the government’s reaction to coronavirus has raised press freedom considerations, the agreement of the country’s top journalists said on Monday (August 24).
At least 4 media organizations have been the target of unprecedented virtual attacks, said Abdul Manan, president of the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI).
“It’s too serious to be an accident,” Manan said. “Certainly these kinds of attacks and the media target have been critical so far. There is a very transparent intention: that this is part of an effort to diminish the critical attitude of the media towards the government.”
Manan said the attacks ranged from distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks to doxxing and media server hacking, adding the removal of secure stories.
Last Friday, the News website Tempo, a component of the Tempo Media Group that also publishes the Koran Tempo daily and the weekly magazine Tempo, was replaced via a black screen and the word “hoax” published on it in red bold.
On the same day, seven articles, which added two critics of the Indonesian intelligence agency’s role in the pandemic response, were removed from the website tirto.id, editor-in-chief Sapto Anggoro told Reuters.
“By illegally hacking in any form, form or form, illegally erasing and editing Tirto and other means, this shows a risk to press freedom in Indonesia,” Anggoro said.
Wahyu Dhyatmika, editor-in-chief of Tempo magazine, told Reuters that he feared the attacks could lead to self-censorship within Indonesia’s media industry.
Not without delay, the Indonesian president’s workplace had to comment on accusations of deteriorating press freedom or veiled accusations that a government company may be responsible.
Media organizations are not the only victims of recent online attacks.
Pandu Riono, a prominent epidemiologist and vocal critic, had his Twitter account hacked after criticizing the collaboration between Airlangga University, the state intelligence company and the Indonesian army.
The university’s rector recently said that studies can lead to the “world’s first cure for coronavirus,” but Riono criticized those interested in not enrolling in clinical trials that meet foreign standards.
The university and state intelligence company were not available without delay for comment.
Ross Tapsell, a professor at the Australian National University, said the attacks were of a broader regional trend.
“This is a disturbing trend and a developing trend of using the virtual apparatus to suppress and obstruct journalism and media in Southeast Asia,” Tapsell said, “this is an extension of that hacking and doxxing.”