Pertamina withdraws complaint against The Jakarta Post<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post
\nJakarta<\/p>\n
State oil company PT Pertamina withdrew on Tuesday its lawsuit
\nagainst The Jakarta Post after both sides met to discuss and
\nclear up the misunderstanding arising from the daily's June 23
\neditorial.<\/p>\n
Pertamina's lawyer Lucas said he submitted a letter to the
\nNational Police Headquarters on Tuesday morning informing them of
\ntheir wish to withdraw the lawsuit.<\/p>\n
\"Everything has been clarified after we met with people from
\nThe Jakarta Post today. All problems have been settled and we
\nhave withdrawn the report,\" said Lucas.<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post offered to meet the Pertamina directors to
\nget a direct clarification on the giant state oil company's
\npolicy of selling two supertankers, which have been a source of
\npublic controversy for the past month, the newspaper's editors
\nsaid on Monday.<\/p>\n
Pertamina President Ariffi Nawawi and three other members of
\nthe board of directors on Monday morning filed a complaint with
\nthe National Police, saying that the newspaper had slandered and
\ntarnished their reputation in an editorial piece which appeared
\nlast Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The editorial, entitled Tentacles of corruption commented on
\nthe controversy over the sale of two Very Large Crude Carriers
\n(VLCCs) which Pertamina had ordered from a South Korean
\nshipbuilding company.<\/p>\n
Lucas SH and Partners law firm, on behalf of PT Pertamina
\ndirectors, sent on Friday, July 25 a summons to The Jakarta Post
\ndemanding than an apology for the editorial piece be published by
\n10 a.m. Monday to correct and revise the content of the article.<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, in a statement on Monday, made it clear that
\nit had written to the Pertamina directors and their lawyers,
\noffering to meet and clarify the situation. The letter was sent
\nby special couriers, and received in their respective offices
\naround 7 a.m. on Monday.<\/p>\n
\"The letter invited the Directors and Commissioners of PT
\nPertamina to meet with us to clarify matters over The Jakarta
\nPost's June 23 editorial which commented on the sale of
\nPertamina's two giant tankers.<\/p>\n
\"Since Pertamina's directors decided to file their complaint
\nwith the police anyway, The Jakarta Post on Monday appointed
\nlawyers Denny Kailimang and Todung Mulya Lubis to represent it,\"
\nthe statement read.<\/p>\n
The newspaper had also decided on Monday to take up the matter
\nof the allegations of corruption with the Corruption Eradication
\nCommission (KPK) at a meeting planned at the latter's office on
\nTuesday afternoon, but that was dropped after the meeting with
\nPertamina on Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n
\"The editorial by The Jakarta Post was a compilation of all
\nnews and analysis that has been reported regarding the
\ncontroversy over the sale of the giant tankers by Pertamina. The
\neditorial is part of the (newspaper's) function in building a
\nculture of greater transparency and accountability that has
\nbecome our common commitment,\" the statement said.<\/p>\n
In the letter to Pertamina, The Jakarta Post's Editor-in-Chief
\nRaymond Toruan said the editorial essentially expressed the
\nnewspaper's \"principal thinking in carrying out our professional
\nduties; as a member of the press, we will continue to be loyal
\nand pay attention to information and issues that are of concern
\nto public interests, and are valuable to the life of the
\ncommunity, the nation and the state.\"<\/p>\n
Lucas told reporters after filing the complaint with the
\npolice that the editorial \"gives the impression that Pertamina
\ndirectors had lied, and were always being dishonest, and this led
\nto this controversy that has not been resolved to this day.\"<\/p>\n
In response to a reporter's question, Lucas acknowledged that
\nother newspapers and magazines had been reporting the controversy
\nof the sale of the two tankers by Pertamina, but he made a
\ndistinction between news reports and an editorial.<\/p>\n
\"We don't have any problem with the news reports,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"The Jakarta Post wrote it in the context of an editorial. So,
\nit's very different.\"<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/pertamina-withdraws-complaint-against-ithe-jakarta-posti-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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