REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The Election Supervisory Board (Bawaslu) handed over the handling of the case of Indonesia Barokah tabloid to the police. Bawaslu identified the spread of this tabloid has reached almost all provinces in Indonesia.
Bawaslu member, Fritz Edward Siregar, said that the Board had not received a letter of recommendation from the Press Council regarding the investigation results of on Indonesia Barokah. However, Bawaslu have known that the tabloid is not a journalistic product.
"We handed it over to the police as the tabloid has not indicated any criminal election violations," Fritz said at Medan Merdeka Barat, in Central Jakarta, on Tuesday (Jan 29) .
Even so, the Bawaslu continued to conduct an investigation process. It was done to find out if there were other elements that could be fulfilled.
"We also conduct investigations with our capabilities to find out who is behind it," he said.
Packages of Indonesia Barokah tabloid stored at PT Pos Indonesia warehouse in Malang, East Jawa, Monday (Jan 28).
Fritz added, the circulation of Indonesia Barokah tabloid was increasingly widespread. Almost all provinces in Indonesia have been exposed to the tabloid.
"From West Papua, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), Bali, South Sumatra, East Kalimantan, North Sumatra, and so on. In Java, mostly in Yogyakarta. Indeed, they have been distributed in almost all provinces," he said.
On Monday (Jan 28), Chairman of Press Council Yosep Adi Prasetyo said, the Council found that the tabloid did not contain black campaigns. Based on investigation, Press Council found that Indonesia Barokah was not included in journalistic products as referred to in the Press Law.
Firstly, the address of the editorial office was not found and did not match the location listed in the tabloid. Secondly, the names of the journalists are not available in the Press Council's database. Thirdly, in terms of content, there were some parts of the tabloid cornering certain presidential and vice-presidential pairs.
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