A number of journalists from Floresa.co, a local media from Flores, East Nusa Tenggara, were intimidated by TNI officers after reporting on the inauguration of the Labuan Bajo - Golo Mori road by President Joko Widodo, whose land was taken from residents without giving compensation.

The news entitled President Jokowi Inaugurates a Road in Labuan Bajo Built Without Compensation for Residents was published on March 14, while the intimidation that allegedly came from intelligence officers at the Manggarai District Military Command occurred on March 15.

The Floresa journalist who was contacted by Suara.com from Jakarta said that the intimidation was carried out over the phone by two people who claimed to be TNI officers from the Manggarai Kodim. They repeatedly called and sent messages via WhatsApp to the journalist.

The TNI officer called and asked the journalist to meet and "have coffee together".

"During the conversation, he immediately mentioned the name and area of ​​origin of the Floresa journalist, and said 'want to meet' because 'want to make new friends. If there is any information, share it with us. Let's drink coffee together'," explained the journalist, imitating the invitation from the apparatus.

The following is a chronology of intimidation attempts that Floresa journalists received:

1. At 16.16 WITA, a Floresa journalist (A) received a call via WhatsApp from a new number. When picked up, the caller introduced himself as a TNI member named Ardo from the Manggarai Kodim. During the conversation, he immediately mentioned the name and area of ​​origin of the journalist, and said "I want to meet" because "I want to make new friends." "If there is information, share it with us. We drink coffee together."

When the journalist said he was in Labuan Bajo, the caller said he took part in providing security during President Jokowi's visit on March 14, 2023.

"If only I knew yesterday, we would've had coffee at Bajo," he said. After that, he said, "might be annoying," then hung up on the journalist.

Before hanging up he confirmed the Floresa journalist's name. He also asked that his contact number be saved under Ardo's name. When the journalist checked his number through the Getcontact application, it was written "Intel TNI Serda Ardo." He called back at 16.21, but was not picked up by the journalist.

2. At 16.18 WITA, another Floresa journalist (B) received a greeting message from another number via the WhatsApp application. The Floresa journalist did not reply. Between 4:32 p.m. and 4:36 p.m., the number then made five voice calls, and did not receive a response.

3. The same number then contacted another Floresa journalist [C] at 16.38 WITA via the WhatsApp application. However, there was no response.

4. At almost the same time at 16.38 WITA the same number again contacted journalist Floresa (A). He introduced himself from the Manggarai Kodim. He asked whether it was true that journalist A wrote the news on President Jokowi's visit to Floresa. Journalist A answered, yes. After that he asked for the address of Floresa's office "to meet for coordination." Journalist A responded by saying, "Regarding the news of the president's visit, I will convey it to the editor-in-chief and the Floresa editorial team." Journalist A then asked the reason for the coordination regarding the news and what was wrong with the news, but was not answered.Then, journalist A asked him to turn off the phone.

5. After the call, he sent a message via WhatsApp to journalist A and again asked for "Floresa's editorial number," while forwarding the news link "President Jokowi Inaugurates Road in Labuan Bajo to be Built Without Compensation for Residents." In his message, he invited Floresa journalists to meet at Starbucks, Labuan Bajo, which, again, he said was "to coordinate" regarding the news. However, the journalist did not respond to him and asked him to convey it directly if there was a problem with the news.

6. At 17.14 WITA, a journalist from another media in Labuan Bajo called journalist A, but he did not pick up. The journalist then called again at 17.23 WITA. The call lasted for 5 minutes, asking journalist A to meet with a person he described as a TNI intelligence.

The journalist said that the TNI intelligence agent had telephoned him, asking to become a liaison to bring journalist A together with the intelligence agent. He said the intelligence agent invited journalist A to meet because his boss asked him to find out the name of the journalist who wrote the news. Floresa journalists still chose not to follow the invitation.

Floresa said that the news about the inauguration of the troubled road by Jokowi in Labuan Bajo was a journalistic product that reported the issue of neglecting the rights of residents to receive compensation in the project.

"We consider that the efforts of the two intelligence agents are forms of intimidation and a serious disturbance of the journalistic work that we carry out," said Floresa in a press release.

The road that was inaugurated by President Jokowi in Labuan Bajo provide access to Golo Mori. The road was built to support the 2023 ASEAN Summit which is planned to be held in the area in May.