Slander suspect regrets remark<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): A Ministry of Religious Affairs official who is
\nbeing tried for slander expressed regret in court yesterday for
\nmaking a statement which the predominantly Christian Toraja
\ncommunity in South Sulawesi found offensive.<\/p>\n
The official, a public relations chief of the ministry's
\noffice in South Sulawesi, said during cross-examination at the
\nCentral Jakarta District Court that he had not intended to offend
\nanyone when he alleged that young women in Toraja were
\npromiscuous.<\/p>\n
His remarks, printed in the Pelita daily in April, prompted
\nmassive protests against the official and the newspaper in Makale
\n(capital of Toraja regency), Ujungpandang and in Jakarta.<\/p>\n
The prosecutor said the statement degraded a particular
\nreligious community in South Sulawesi. If found guilty, the
\ndefendant could be jailed for up to five years.<\/p>\n
The 44-year-old defendant said he had asked the Pelita
\nreporter not to print his statement, because it was an
\nunsubstantiated allegation which he had first heard from a South
\nSulawesi school teacher.<\/p>\n
The official reportedly made the statement to the reporter
\nafter taking part in a seminar in Jakarta on ways of containing
\nthe spread of the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS).<\/p>\n
He admitted yesterday that during the seminar he raised
\nconcerns about the widespread sales and use of condoms in Toraja.<\/p>\n
The defendant also told the court that he had attempted to
\napologize over the incident, but was prevented from doing so by
\nsome police officers.<\/p>\n
He recalled that as soon as the controversy broke out, while
\nhe was still in Jakarta, he drafted a letter explaining his
\nposition as well as expressing regret to the Torajan people.<\/p>\n
But as he was about to make copies at a photocopying store for
\nthe Toraja legislative council, South Sulawesi governor and the
\nlocal office of the Ministry of Religious Affairs, the letter was
\nseized by two visiting police officers from South Sulawesi.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately neither the police nor the prosecutors
\nacknowledged the existence of the letter, he said, stressing its
\nimportance as a mitigating factor.<\/p>\n
The prosecutor last week presented depositions from 12 women
\nand one young man from Toraja, all refuting the suggestion that
\nyoung Torajans are sexually promiscuous, especially with foreign
\nvisitors.<\/p>\n
Presiding judge Asmar Ismail adjourned the trial until Tuesday
\nto hear the prosecutor's sentencing demand. (16)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/slander-suspect-regrets-remark-1447893297",
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