Court throws out Tommy's lawsuit against 'Gatra'

Court throws out Tommy's lawsuit against 'Gatra'

JAKARTA (JP): The Central Jakarta District Court decided on
Wednesday to reject a lawsuit filed by former president
Soeharto's youngest son Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra against
Gatra weekly magazine.

The decision could be understood as a long-awaited start by
the country's law enforcers to discontinue their support for
relatives of the former president, who left his post on May 21
last year.

Presiding judge I Made Karna told the court the weekly had not
been proven guilty of defaming Tommy's name with its report on
his alleged role in trafficking shabu-shabu, (crystal
metamphetamine) in Australia.

"Gatra ran a balanced report, by seeking comments from the
plaintiff's nephew Ari Sigit and the Australian police, all of
whom denied the plaintiff's involvement.

So there's no reason to say the magazine defamed the
plaintiff," Karna said.

He said the magazine did not violate the journalist code of
ethics because it also did not make direct reference to Tommy's
alleged involvement in drug trafficking.

The judge ordered Tommy, a businessman who controls a wide
range of companies, to pay a trial fee of Rp 95,000 (US$14).

In the lawsuit, Tommy demanded Gatra pay compensation in the
form of 50,000 tons of rice, equivalent to some Rp 150 billion.

He had said if he won the case that the rice would be
distributed to the poor.

According to Tommy, the magazine defamed him in its October's
edition.

"The magazine did not confirm the story directly with the
defendant before publishing it. It violated the law and a code of
ethics," Tommy said in the lawsuit.

Tommy sued both the magazine and its publisher, PT Era Media
Informasi.

The weekly's report titled Obat Terlarang, Nama Tommy pun
Disebut (Drugs, Tommy's name described), followed up on the
arrest of five Indonesian students in Melbourne last August.

The five students were arrested by the Australian Federal
Police for consuming shabu-shabu at a party, a popular drug among
teenagers in Southeast Asia.

The magazine cited details of the case from the Australian
newspaper The Age, which first reported the arrest of the
students. The daily is published in the Australian state
Victoria.

In an article entitled "Victoria Police investigate drugs to
Soeharto family", the newspaper disclosed that during police
questioning one of the arrested students reportedly implicated
Soeharto's family.

'Time'

The story of the alleged roles of Soeharto's relatives was
later denied by Victorian police officers.

When asked to comment on the Central Jakarta district court's
decision, Tommy's lawyer Iqbal Jefriano said he would appeal the
sentence.

"But we would consult first with Pak Tommy," said Iqbal, from
the H.M. Dault law firm.

The lawsuit was the first to be filed by members of the
Soeharto family against the media since Soeharto's forced
resignation. During his 32-year tenure, President Soeharto banned
numerous publications.

Soeharto was recently involved in a dispute with the U.S.-
based Times weekly, which reported that the latter amassed a
US$15 billion fortune during his presidency.

The fortune included an alleged fund transfer -- worth $9
billion -- from a Swiss bank to an Austrian one in May 1998.

Soeharto has denied the accusation, and his team of lawyers
have said they plan to sue the magazine.

Then Attorney General Andi M. Ghalib and Justice Minister
Muladi visited the two countries recently to follow up on the
report's claims. Upon their return, there was no further comment
from the government.

One of Soeharto's lawyers, Muhammad Assegaf said separately on
Wednesday that a lawsuit against Time magazine would be filed at
the Central Jakarta District Court in the near future.

"We'll file the case probably sometime next week. The lawsuit
is 80 percent completed," Assegaf said.

In the lawsuit, the former president would ask the magazine,
which has worldwide circulation, to pay compensation of $18
billion for slander and defamation.

"But the amount is yet to be decided. But it will probably be
two times the amount Time reported of Soeharto's alleged fund
transfer," the lawyer said, referring to the alleged movement of
funds in May.(jun)