Amir, Lontoh apologize to IPTN's team of lawyers

Amir, Lontoh apologize to IPTN's team of lawyers

JAKARTA (JP): Amir Syamsuddin and Rudhy A. Lontoh, two lawyers
representing The Jakarta Post in its legal dispute with aircraft
maker PT IPTN, have apologized to the latter's team of lawyers
for remarks considered to be inappropriate.

Amir and Lontoh said in separate letters, dated Aug. 19, Aug.
20 and Aug. 22, that they regretted their remarks calling IPTN's
lawyers "unprofessional".

The team of lawyers representing IPTN, led by Adnan Buyung
Nasution, responded by saying that they "appreciate the honesty,
sincerity and gallantry" of Amir and Lontoh.

The Post and IPTN are involved in a legal wrangle over the
daily's incorrect report on the crash of an IPTN-made plane last
May.

Weeks of negotiations to seek an out-of-court settlement ended
in deadlock early August, with IPTN's lawyers announcing that the
Bandung-based, state-owned company would go ahead with its plan
to sue the Post.

In a press conference on Aug. 15, the Post's lawyers said they
accepted but regretted the plan which they said came as an
unexpected ending to previous meetings in which the two sides had
notched significant progress toward an out-of-court settlement.

Lontoh, expressing his disappointment over the development,
said the lawyers of IPTN had broken their commitment to seek an
out-of-court settlement and that the decision showed that they
were not professional. Amir also questioned the decision.

In their objection, IPTN's lawyers said Amir and Lontoh's
remarks "had not reflected professionalism" of lawyers who were
bound by the principle of "respecting, trusting and treating
colleagues with good manners".

IPTN's lawyers said the remarks of Amir and Lontoh, as members
of the Post's team of lawyers, showed that the two had unduly
placed the burden of seeking a settlement on IPTN's lawyers
alone.

IPTN's lawyers also said the parties in dispute were the Post
and IPTN, not the teams of lawyers, and that the remarks, which
were published by the Post, Kompas and Bisnis Indonesia dailies,
should not have been made in the first place.

IPTN had announced it would go ahead with the lawsuit unless
the daily met two demands in two weeks time, namely that the Post
place a full-page apology in five national dailies and 11 foreign
dailies and magazines for three consecutive days, and pay
compensation as well. IPTN did not mention the amount of money
requested as compensation.

The Post's chief lawyer, Todung Mulya Lubis, had said the
daily could not fulfill the demands, saying that they were not
in-line with settlements suggested by the Press Law and the Press
Code of Ethics. (swe)