Dewi Sukarno testifies against 'What's On' editor

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Ratna Sari Dewi, one of former president Sukarno's wives, appeared during a hearing of the Central Jakarta District Court on Tuesday to testify against What's On monthly magazine's chief editor, Warsito Wahono.

Warsito is being prosecuted for the alleged illegal publication in What's On, edition No. 138 of November 1998, of some photographs of Dewi taken from her book Syuga .

State prosecutors charged Warsito under article 44 (1) of Law No. 12/1997 on copyright, which carries a maximum penalty of seven years in jail and damages of up to Rp 100 million (US$9,800).

Wearing a blue suit, Dewi, who now resides in Tokyo, claimed that Warsito had never asked her permission to publish the pictures in What's On.

"I felt very disappointed as the article failed to present the photos as sophisticated art. Instead, it has ruined my reputation," the 62-year-old witness told the hearing, which was presided over by Judge Rukmini.

Married to Sukarno in the early 1960s, Dewi, whose real name is Naoko Nemoto, sparked controversy in Indonesia by posing sensually in Syuga. Her pictures were taken by photographer Hideki Fuji between May and August 1993. The book was later published by Scholar Publisher's Inc., which went bankrupt several years ago. The copyright to Syuga belongs to Dewi.

The Indonesian government banned distribution of the book following the controversy.

Upset with the What's On decision to publish the photos, Dewi filed two complaints, one for defamation and one for breach of copyright, against Warsito with the Jakarta Police on Feb. 9, 1999.

However, state prosecutor M. Manik only charged Warsito with breach of copyright as the defamation action became statute barred in 2000, or a year after Dewi filed her complaint, based on Criminal Procedure Law.

Warsito insisted that Dewi had authorized him to reproduce the pictures and that he had stated the source of the pictures in the article.

Violation of copyright law is nothing new here. In 1999, the International Intellectual Property Alliance estimated revenue losses from copyright piracy in Indonesia reached US$186 million.

Last year, giant computer producer Microsoft Corp. sued five local computer vendors for illegally installing some of its software. Microsoft won after the courts stated the vendors had violated copyright law and ordered them to pay damages of between $800,000 and $4.4 million.