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)