Rakyat Merdeka

"Rakyat Merdeka" ("Free People") is an Indonesian daily tabloid newspaper, owned by the country’s largest media group "Jawa Pos". The newspaper has gained prominence as a result of its controversial headlines and its "gritty, often abrasive, style" [http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engasa210442003 Discussion of censorship] by Amnesty International] , with articles and caricatures that frequently strongly criticize the political establishment.

Controversy

In September 2003, "Rakyat Merdeka"’s former chief editor Karim Paputungan was sentenced by the Central Jakarta District Court to five months in jail, suspended for 10 months, for insulting the speaker of the DPR, Akbar Tandjung. In a separate case, Suparatkam, another editor, was given a suspended six-month jail sentence and a one-year probation, after being found guilty by a Jakarta court for "spreading hatred" after he published headlines critical of the Indonesian government and then President Megawati Sukarnoputri [http://southasia.oneworld.net/article/view/91886/1/4591 Worldwide Drive Against Indonesia's Press Curbs] , Rakesh K. Simha, "OneWorld South Asia", 16 August 2004] .

On 27 March 2006, the newspaper published a front page editorial cartoon depicting the Australian Prime and Foreign Ministers as dingos.

References

ee also

*Rakyat Merdeka cartoon controversy

External links

*id icon [http://www.rakyatmerdeka.co.id/ Official website]