Akbar to sue textbook author

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Veteran politician and former House of Representatives speaker Akbar Tandjung has filed a complaint against a teacher for writing a textbook that he considers libelous.

Akbar has demanded that Retno Listyarti, a civics teacher from State Senior High School No. 13 in North Jakarta, apologizes and corrects the textbook before Saturday. Otherwise, he will sue her for Rp 10 billion (US$1.03 million) in damages.

But Retno said on Friday that she would put up a fight.

"I will face him (in court). This is about defending my freedom of expression, creativity and academic record. I don't have any malicious intent to discredit someone," she said.

Retno wrote a civics book titled Pendidikan Kewarganegaraan SMA (High School Civics), which was published by PT Esei early this year and sold at Rp 36,000. She spent 17 months researching the book.

Retno uses Akbar's Rp 40 billion graft trial in 2004 to highlight issues of transparency and the social safety net in Chapter Two of the book.

In a bid to show transparency in the country's justice system, Retno discusses the dissenting opinion handed down by Supreme Court justice Abdul Rahman Saleh, who found Akbar guilty of abuse of power and hurting the interests of the public.

Abdul Rahman is currently the Attorney General.

The Supreme Court acquitted Akbar, who at the time chaired the Golkar Party.

In her book, Retno also encourages students to discuss the court's decision.

In his complaint, Akbar said making his graft trial the subject of discussion ignored the "psychological impact" on one of his daughters, whose school, the Tarakanita Senior High School in Central Jakarta, uses the book.

Other schools across Jakarta and outside of the capital have also selected the book as a textbook.

Akbar accused Retno of being unfair as she only focused on the dissenting opinion and ignored the Supreme Court's decision to exonerate him.

"He (Akbar) wanted me to withdraw the textbook from the shelves and take out Chapter Two," said Retno.

She said that this was out of the question.

"I'm not talking about money. I'm talking about the independence of schools as institutions that impart knowledge to students," said Retno, who has appointed lawyers from the Jakarta-based Legal Aid Institute (LBH).

Earlier this year, the editors of Rakyat Merdeka got suspended sentences of six months each for libeling Akbar.