Fears for press freedom in Indonesia after magazine is sent rats, pig's head

Activists have called for press freedom to be protected in Indonesia and demanded an investigation after a magazine critical of the government was sent a pig's head and decapitated rats.

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JAKARTA -

Weekly magazine Tempo, a top Indonesian publication since the 1970s, has been critical of the policies of President Prabowo Subianto, a former general who rights groups accuse of abuses under the country's late dictator Suharto.

Cleaners at Tempo's office found a box of six rats with their heads cut off on March 22, the magazine said in a statement.

A pig's head without its ears was also found there on March 20, intended for delivery to a reporter.

"This is a dangerous and deliberate act of intimidation," Ms Beh Lih Yi, head of the Asia programme at the Committee to Protect Journalists, told AFP late on March 22.