Medan police release two editors<\/p>\n
Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan<\/p>\n
Medan police officials in North Sumatra announced on Monday that
\nthey have freed two editors of a Jakarta Islamic weekly tabloid
\nwho were arrested for an article claiming that private noodle
\nfirm PT Olagafood produced food tainted with pork.<\/p>\n
The tabloid's chief editor Muhammad Syarif Haris and managing
\neditor Rasil Karti Wibowo, were allowed to return home to Jakarta
\non Saturday after 24 hours of interrogations in Medan.<\/p>\n
\"We released the two because there was not enough evidence to
\ncharge and detain them,\" Medan Police Chief Sr. Comr. Badrodin
\nHaiti told The Jakarta Post by phone.<\/p>\n
But he promised to take both men of the Tabloid Jurnal Islam
\nto court once more evidence against them can be obtained.<\/p>\n
Badrodin said that his office has summoned seven people,
\nincluding employees of Olagafood and local community members, for
\nquestioning in the case.<\/p>\n
The suspects were arrested on Friday on charges of spreading
\nnews calculated to cause public disorder.<\/p>\n
The \"disturbing\" article in question was published in the
\ntabloid's Jan. 25-Jan. 31 edition, entitled \"Alhami fools the
\nIslamic community, Alhami products contain pork fat.\"<\/p>\n
Medan-based Olagafood, which produces Alhami -- an instant
\nnoodle product -- flatly rejected the report and filed a
\ncomplaint against the tabloid with local police on Jan. 25.<\/p>\n
The company's lawyer, Refman Basri, said on Monday that his
\nclient could press on legal action against the tabloid, despite
\nthe release of the two suspects.<\/p>\n
He said that he would not relent in making a case against the
\ntabloid, which he accused of slandering Olagafood.<\/p>\n
\"We will go ahead with this case until a criminal court
\nverdict is issued. After that, we will prosecute a civil case
\nagainst them,\" Refman added.<\/p>\n
On Saturday, thousands of Olagafood workers demonstrated in
\nfront of Medan Police Headquarters and the office of the
\nprovincial branch of the Indonesian Journalists' Association
\n(PWI) in support for the investigation.<\/p>\n
The protesters condemned the tabloid for the article, which
\nthey claimed was baseless, and backed the police move to detain
\nthe two editors.<\/p>\n
Islam prohibits its followers from eating pork or any by-
\nproducts derived from pork.<\/p>\n
Food additives producer PT Ajinomoto Indonesia was forced to
\nwithdraw all its products from the market in January 2001 after
\nthe MUI's Food and Drug Analysis Institute (LPPOM) found evidence
\nthat, since October 2000, the company had been using substances
\nderived from pigs in its production process.<\/p>\n
The then-president, Abdurrahman Wahid, intervened to ease the
\nheightening controversy over the case by declaring that Ajinomoto
\nproducts were halal (permitted to be consumed by Muslims).<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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