Supreme Court under fire over 'Tempo' verdict<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Observers suspect that \"political games\" were
\nbehind the Supreme Court's decision to overturn yesterday a
\ndecision by the High Court allowing Indonesia's oldest magazine,
\nTempo, to resume publication after being banned by the government
\nin 1994.<\/p>\n
M. Budhyatna, dean of University of Indonesia's School of
\nSocial and Political Sciences, charged that the Supreme Court had
\nnot acted independently when making the decision. Instead, the
\nCourt had made the decision to please some elements in the
\npolitical elite, he said.<\/p>\n
\"There must have been a political game behind the Supreme
\nCourt's verdict, some sort of an effort by the government to keep
\nfrom losing a face,\" he told The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
Chief Justice Soerjono announced yesterday that the Minister
\nof Information's decision to annul the publishing license of
\nTempo in 1994 was not against the law. This verdict thus
\noverturned the decision by the Jakarta Administrative High Court,
\nwhich had allowed the magazine to resume publication.<\/p>\n
The lawsuit against the minister's decree was filed by former
\nTempo employees. \"There are enough reasons to grant the appeal by
\nthe information minister and overturn the decision by the Jakarta
\nAdministrative High Court,\" Soerjono said.<\/p>\n
When it closed down the publication, the Ministry of
\nInformation said the magazine's proprietor repeatedly ignored
\nwarnings from the government about its editorial content.<\/p>\n
Budhyatna charged that the Supreme Court might have taken the
\ndecision in order to please some elements in the political elite
\nwho were infuriated by the magazine's bold reporting.<\/p>\n
\"It's the political elite group who wanted to have Tempo
\nclosed down, on the pretext that it had disrupted national
\nstability and unity with its editorial content,\" Budhyatna said.<\/p>\n
Budhyatna, however, said he was not surprised over the defeat
\nTempo suffered. \"There haven't been any records in Indonesian
\nhistory of the government being defeated in court,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Andi Muis, a professor of law at Hasanuddin University in
\nUjungpandang, South Sulawesi, expressed a similar suspicion. He
\ntold the Post that there must have been \"non-legal factors\"
\ninfluencing the Court.<\/p>\n
He said that the government might have feared it would lose
\nface if Tempo's employees won the lawsuit. \"The government was
\nprobably afraid that it would lose its credibility by accepting
\ndefeat,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Andi expressed his concern over the ruling. \"I'm afraid the
\nverdict will encourage the government to tighten control over and
\npressure the press,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The chairman of the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute Foundation,
\nBambang Widjojanto, said the verdict reflected a failure on the
\npart of the government to protect people's rights to express
\ntheir opinions through the mass media.<\/p>\n
\"The verdict is a negation of people's rights, something which
\nis guaranteed by the Constitution,\" Bambang said in a press
\nstatement.<\/p>\n
Bambang also accused the Supreme Court of endorsing the
\ngovernment in abusing its power. \"The Court has set a bad
\nmilestone in Indonesia's legal history,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, an unrecognized association of journalists
\nestablished by former reporters and supporters of Tempo following
\nits closure also criticized the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n
Satrio Arismunandar, secretary-general of the Alliance of
\nIndependent Journalists, said the credibility of the Court, as
\nthe highest legal authority in the country, should now be
\nquestioned.<\/p>\n
\"The Supreme Court has failed to prove that it's an
\nindependent legal institution,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Bambang also questioned yesterday some technicalities in the
\nverdict. For instance, he said, the judges have failed to define
\nwhat they meant by \"disturbing national stability\".<\/p>\n
\"I failed to find arguments supporting the judges' statement
\nthat the magazine's content disturbed national stability,\" he
\nsaid. (imn\/16\/20)<\/p>",
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