The Indonesian press is struggling as journalists face escalating violence, intimidation and threats of widespread layoffs, amid what press groups call “rising authoritarianism” in the country that is undermining press freedom and sustainability.

At least 89 cases of violence against journalists were recorded throughout 2025, including 30 physical assaults and 29 digital attacks, according to the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) in its annual report. Other cases included coverage bans, forced data deletion, lawsuits and censorship.

Most cases involved unidentified perpetrators, but AJI highlighted that during the first full year of President Prabowo Subianto’s administration, police were the second most frequently alleged perpetrators in 21 cases, followed by the military with six incidents.

The press freedom in the country is facing “strengthening authoritarian statism”, AJI said, which is marked by power consolidation, close ties between media and political elites and the use of legal instruments against the press.

“Intervention and intimidation in the newsrooms have increased and become normalized,” said AJI chair Nany Afrida at the report’s launch webinar on Wednesday.

“These interventions coming from the circles of power include demands to take down news reports and pressure not to report on certain issues,” she continued.

She added the worst escalation of violence towards journalists occurred during weeks of nationwide unrest following anti-government protests in late August.

During that period, some journalists documenting rallies protesting lavish allowances for lawmakers and economic inequalities were reportedly attacked by police officers in several provinces, including North Sumatra, East Java and Bali, according to the AJI’s report.

The group also found digital assaults against journalists and media outlets reached record high in 2025, dominated by distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) causing news websites to be inaccessible by the public. Other forms include doxxing and social media account hacking.

Disastrous response

Threats against press freedom intensified toward the end of the year, as journalists reporting on fatal floods and landslides in Aceh, North Sumatra and West Sumatra faced intimidation, amid heightened criticism of the government’s poor disaster response.

Journalist Safety Commission (KKJ) coordinator Erick Tanjung said such incidents happened particularly in Aceh, where journalists faced intimidation, violence and had their equipment seized and their journalistic work forcibly deleted.

“The perpetrators were state actors, mostly the military,” Erick said in the webinar.

Among the incidents around the disasters took place on Dec. 11, when a Kompas TV journalist reporting the disaster response at the Sultan Iskandar Muda Air Force Base in Banda Aceh, Aceh, was forced to delete his footage by some military personnel.

Days after the incident, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Maruli Simanjuntak told journalists in a press briefing in Jakarta not to “expose our shortcomings through their reports”.

Cabinet Secretary Teddy Indra Wijaya (left) speaks as he sits next to Public Works Minister Dody Hanggodo (center) and Army Chief of Staff Gen. Maruli Simanjuntak during a press briefing on Dec. 19, 2025, at the Halim Perdanakusuma Air Force Base in Jakarta on the mitigation on deadly floods and landslides in Aceh, North Sumatra and West Sumatra. (Antara/Galih Pradipta)

Cabinet Secretary Teddy Indra Wijaya warned at the same briefing that those with high influence at the media should not “create an impression that the government is not working” and urged them to report only “good statements and questions”.

Maruli and Teddy’s remarks reflected the government’s growing intolerance toward criticism which would threaten press freedom even further, according to the Legal Aid Institute for the Press (LBH Pers).

“The government appears to be trying to create a single [public] narrative coming only from them, while alternative voices are treated as disinformation that threatens national security,” LBH Pers executive director Mustafa Layong said on Friday.

Sustainability concerns

He highlighted that while violence by state actors had increased, responses from law enforcement bodies remained weak and failed to uphold protections for journalists as mandated by the 1999 Press Law.

Aside from violence, Mustafa also warned that media sustainability and independence were under strain, as news outlets struggled to compete for government advertising, which is only preferable given to outlets which “do not criticize the government”.

Media sustainability was also a key concern in AJI’s report, with 549 media workers laid off in 2025 largely due to the outlet’s heavy reliance on advertising amid algorithm changes, while spending for advertisement from private and public sectors were decreasing.

Press Council chair Komaruddin Hidayat expressed his concern over the deteriorating state of press freedom, commenting briefly on Thursday: “As we enter 2026, we strongly hope the situation will improve.”

He added the council had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the National Police in 2022, under which anyone found obstructing journalists in their duties would be subject to legal action and Press Law.

National Police spokesperson Insp. Gen. Sandi Nugroho did not respond to The Jakarta Post’s request for comment on Friday.

In Association with ANN