After the 'Tempo' verdict<\/p>\n
The efforts by Goenawan Mohamad to resurrect Tempo have
\nfailed. The Supreme Court, in a hearing presided over by Chief
\nJustice Soerjono Thursday, rejected charges made by Goenawan
\nMohamad over revocation of the magazine's publishing license (by
\nMinister of Information Harmoko). In its verdict the Supreme
\nCourt overturned the previous decisions of the Jakarta
\nAdministrative Court and the Jakarta Administrative High Court,
\nboth of which ruled in Goenawan's favor.<\/p>\n
The question now is: to what degree did the political nuances
\ninherent in this case influence the legal process? Frankly, this
\nis not an easy question to answer. The Supreme Court rejected the
\nlegal arguments made by the administrative court and the
\nadministrative high court. This, under the existing judicial
\nhierarchy and under the formal principles of legality, is indeed
\npossible.<\/p>\n
However, aside from this formal logic of legality, another and
\nno less important consideration exist -- one which concerns our
\nsense of justice. In the wake of this case, and previous cases as
\nwell, people ask: Why must the penalty for an editorial \"error\"
\nbe borne by so many people due to the closure of the publication?
\nWhy not simply take the responsible editor to court?<\/p>\n
It is from such cases that we feel that there is still no
\nconcord between our sense of justice and our formal legal
\nreasoning. We hope, therefore, that after this precedent...the
\ngovernment will sit down with our legal experts and community
\nrepresentatives and talk about the problem.<\/p>\n
-- Republika, Jakarta<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/after-the-tempo-verdict-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }