Acting Chairman of the DPP for Cyber ​​Journalist Observer (PJS), Mahmud Marhaba contacted victims of violence against journalists by public officials, Nurkholis Lamaau, Saturday afternoon. The editor-in-chief of the cyber meticulous.co.id media was contacted through the network of PJS administrators in North Maluku.

Saturday at around 15.10 WIB, Mahmud Marhaba spoke directly via telephone with the victim who was registered as a member of the press organization, the Maluku Alliance of Indonesian Journalists (AJI).

To Mahmud Marhaba, Nurkholis told the chronology of how he was abused, beaten by relatives of the Deputy Mayor of Tidore City.

Worse still, the victim's face was grabbed by the Deputy Mayor, while in the SPKT room of the Tidore City Police, right in front of the police officers when giving BAP information regarding the report.

"This is really outrageous what public officials have done," said Mahmud through a release that was distributed to all PJS administrators and members in 25 provinces.

The action which is seen as hampering the work of journalists began when Nurkholis on Tuesday night, August 30, 2022, made an opinion entitled 'Inhaling Coal Dust Get Rewards.'

The article quoted the Deputy Mayor of Tidore Islands, Muhammad Sinen, when giving a speech at the opening of the domino tournament in Rum Balibunga Village, North Tidore District, Sunday, August 28, 2022 night.

For Nurkholis, this statement contrasts with the coal dust pollution caused by the impact of the Tidore PLTU activities on the residents, to the commitment the government made during a meeting on Friday morning at the Tidore Mayor's Office: relocation or conversion of fuel from coal to environmentally friendly energy. Nurkholis is quite active in overseeing meetings between the community, the City Government and the PLTU.

For three hours Nurkholis finished writing the opinion and published it on the online media website meticulous.co.id. The writing that made the deputy mayor and his family angry, he shared it in several WhatsApp groups and his Facebook media account.

Wednesday, August 31, 2022 at around 00.33 WIT midnight, the younger brother of the Deputy Mayor of Tidore, Usman Sinen, came to his father-in-law's residence, in the Rum Balibunga village.

Usman asked to delete the writing on the grounds that Muhammad Sinen came at the opening of the domino tournament, not in his capacity as Deputy Mayor, but as a big family of Rum Balibunga residents.

In fact, in reality Muhammad Sinen was invited to the capacity as Deputy Mayor of Tidore Islands.

"The submission in the form of 'breathing coal dust can be rewarded' is just a joke or not serious," said Nurkholis quoting Usman's statement.

In order not to prolong this case, Nurkholis also deleted his opinion writing with the approval of his editor-in-chief.

Surprisingly, at around 09.00 WIT, Ari, the eldest son of one of Muhammad Sinen's brothers named Yunus Sinen, came knocking on his door.

Ari received Nurkholis's wife, Nurjanah Yahya and said that her husband was sleeping. However, Ari forced Nurjanah to wake her husband.

When meeting Ari, Nurkholis explained that the writing was an opinion and it was a form of criticism of an official's statement in a public space. Moreover, coal dust is not a trivial matter.

Nurklholis also received harsh intimidation from Ari, saying that he was just a newcomer to the area.

Before he could explain, Ari threw a blow to the back of Nurkholis's head twice, which was witnessed by his wife and sister-in-law. Ari also challenged Nurkholis to report his beating to the police.

"Want to report to the police? Please. I'll wait 5 minutes from now," said Nurkholis quoting Ari's statement at the time.

He rushed to the Tidore City Police Station, accompanied by his wife. At around 12.47 WIT, Muhammad Sinen, Ari, and their father, Yunus Sinen, arrived at the Resort Police.

In front of the police officers in the SPKT room, Muhammad Sinen immediately approached and grabbed Nurkholis's face. Nurkholis did not accept this treatment and said why the Deputy Mayor was treated like a thug. Luckily the police were quite responsive and tried to get rid of him.

Not quite there, Nurkholis also received death threats from the Deputy Mayor.

"Earlier, if we believed that the deputy mayor was the deputy mayor, we killed Pengana. We went to jail and nothing happened. (Earlier, if my sister was the deputy mayor, I killed you. I went to jail, it's okay," said Nurcholis to the Ketum DPP PJS, imitated the deputy mayor's words.

On that incident. Nurkholis also submitted 2 reports to the Tidore City Police. The first is a pure crime for beating Ari against himself and the other is a violation of Article 18 of Law No. 40 of 1999 concerning the Press which carries a penalty of 2 (two) years or a maximum fine of Rp. 500,000,000.00 (Five hundred million rupiah).

"Every person who unlawfully intentionally takes an action that results in obstructing or hindering the implementation of Article 4 paragraph (2) and paragraph (3) shall be sentenced to a maximum imprisonment of 2 (two) years or a maximum fine of Rp. 500,000,000.00 (Five hundred million rupiah)" Law number 40 of 1999 article 18 paragraph (1)."

Unfortunately, this case report has not received a positive response from the police. Nurkholis said that until today, he had not received a report on the progress of the investigation from the Tidore City Police.

Observing the case of cyber media journalists in Tidore, Chairman of the DPP PJS Cyber ​​Journalist Observer (PJS), Mahmud Marhaba requested that the police, in this case the Tidore City Police, carry out their investigative duties in a professional manner.

If there are indications of flirting or lack of seriousness in handling the criminalization of journalists by an unscrupulous deputy mayor of Ternate on Nurkholis, he asked the National Police Chief to act decisively on his members, including the North Maluku Police Chief and the Tidore City Police Chief.

"I request that the National Police Chief, who is very concerned with the criminalization of journalists in the territory of the Republic of Indonesia, to process the case of the alleged criminalization of journalists in Ternate."

"If there are indications of flirting in the case, I request that the National Police Chief take action against the officers involved in it, including the North Maluku Police Chief and the Ternate City Police Chief," Mahmud said while asking the North Maluku PJS DPD administrators as well as DPC administrators in Ternate City and Tidore City to supervise the course of the investigation of the case.