Activists play waiting game ahead of 'Tempo' verdict
Urip Hudiono, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Three days before the Central Jakarta District Court hands down its verdict on a case against Tempo chief editor Bambang Harymurti, who is on trial for defamation against businessman Tomy Winata, activists are scrambling to their feet in an attempt to rescue the country's press freedom.
On Friday, activists grouped under the Committee Against Press Criminalization (KAKaP) held a rally at the court in support of Bambang.
The group of 15 representatives of various non-governmental organizations (NGO), student groups and worker unions -- among them Urban Poor Consortium (UPC) chairwoman Wardah Hafidz and noted NGO figure Wiladi Budiarta -- asked the court to drop all criminal charges against Bambang.
KAKaP coordinator Akuat Supriyanto said that if Bambang was convicted as charged, the press would be sent back to the repressive era under Sukarno, who had imprisoned some prominent journalists during his "guided democracy" policy in the 1950s, and Soeharto, who sent even more journalists to jail during his 32-year authoritarian rule.
"Such an unfavorable verdict would surely be the end of democracy, as the public would lose any source of information that is critical and acts as a social control," he said. "Journalists would also be afraid to provide information to the public."
Pressure from the activists has been mounting since Bambang, along with Tempo journalists Ahmad Taufik and Teuku Iskandar Ali, was charged with defaming Tomy and provoking public unrest through an article titled 'Is Tomy in Tenabang?'. The article was run by the weekly in its Mar. 3 to Mar. 9, 2003, edition.
The prosecution has demanded that the defendants be sentenced to two years in prison each, with an additional request that Bambang be immediately arrested following the verdict.
Earlier on Wednesday, 12 prominent activists -- including law expert Nono Anwar Makarim, political observer Indra J. Piliang, and socio-religious expert Ulil Abshar-Abdhalla -- had also signed a petition declaring that the prosecution of the Tempo journalists was a threat to press freedom as one of the country's pillars of democracy.
Akuat said the criminal prosecution of journalists should not happen in a democratic country. "Indonesia, which claims to be more democratic by directly electing its president, should follow suit by following the global trend of not prosecuting journalists under criminal laws."
At least 14 defamation cases have reached the courts in the past year, every one of them heard using the Criminal Code, sidelining the 1999 Press Law.
Two of them involved the editors of Rakyat Merdeka daily, who lost their cases to President Megawati Soekarnoputri and House Speaker Akbar Tandjung respectively. Tempo previously lost a separate lawsuit filed by Tomy and had been ordered to pay damages amounting to US$1 million.