Dewi Sukarno testifies against 'What's On' editor
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.