Another blow to the press freedom

Another blow to the press freedom

Another swan song was sung for the country's press freedom
when the Central Jakarta District Court ordered Trust magazine to
pay Rp 1 billion (US$112.360) in a libel case against John
Hamenda and his company PT Petindo Perkasa. The court also
ordered Trust to apologize in a one-page ad in its edition.

The court verdict apparently drew questions, especially
because the panel of judges considered that Trust had failed to
maintain journalistic standards of conduct in its report.
However, witnesses for Trust, from the Indonesia Press Council,
testified that the reports did not violate the Indonesian
journalistic code of ethics.

More interesting is the fact that John Hamenda, the plaintiff,
is now being detained over a BNI bank credit scam. The police
have submitted Hamenda's dossier to the prosecutor's office for
further legal processing.

What Trust did was based on the Press Law on control,
criticism, correction and suggestions for anything relating to
the public interest. Trust should have been protected by law.

Therefore, it is imperative that Trust seeks legal protection
from the Supreme Court in addition to its appeal to the
provincial high court.

The Supreme Court should assign an independent team to
investigate the case, or else press freedom will always be in
jeopardy. -- Koran Tempo, Jakarta