'D&R' weekly gets a stern warning

JAKARTA (JP): The Ministry of Information gave a stern warning to Detektif dan Romantika (D&R) weekly for allegedly insulting President Soeharto both as a president and an individual when it portrayed him as the king of spades on the cover of its March 7 issue.

Director General of Press and Graphics H. Dailami said D&R's cover and reporting had misled its readers into thinking that the presidency would always belong to Soeharto no matter how hard other candidates tried.

"Portraying the President on a game card ... suggests that Bapak Soeharto become president because he was treated as a king, whilst (in reality) he was elected as president through a constitutional mechanism," Dailami said in a statement to D&R's chief editor yesterday.

He also urged the magazine's chief editor not to make the same mistake in the future to prevent "unwanted things" happening.

Dailami said D&R had neglected the Journalist's Code of Ethics and the 1982 Law No. 21 on the press.

Margiono, the chief editor, responded in a statement yesterday, saying that he accepted and paid careful attention to the directorate's written warning.

He said the weekly had taken some steps to accommodate the warning and that they would seek further instructions from the minister of information regarding the incident.

The Indonesian Journalists Association yesterday imposed its administrative sanction on Margiono by officially suspending him from the association for a two-year period.

"The letter of suspension was sent to the person today. Accordingly, D&R must appoint a new chief editor," the association's chairman, Sofyan Lubis, was quoted by Antara as saying.

He said the decision was in line with the conclusion reached by the honorary board of the Press Council during its meeting Thursday to discuss the incident.

Sofyan said he was not against the government's plan to file a lawsuit against the magazine for allegedly defaming Soeharto but urged the government not to revoke the magazine's license.

Two of Soeharto's children, Bambang Trihatmodjo and Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana, separately said they were at first upset by D&R's cover but later decided to accept the apology from the magazine's executives.

"I admit that it's hard to forgive but it is much better than being mad," Bambang was quoted by Berita Buana as saying yesterday.

His sister denied allegations that the Soeharto family would file a lawsuit against the magazine over its controversial cover and critical editorial.

Minister of Information R. Hartono said Thursday the government would sue D&R over its cover despite the apology from its executives.

Attorney General Singgih said yesterday that his office was cooperating with Jakarta Police over the government's planned legal action against the magazine's executives.

Asked whether the authorities would shut the magazine for the alleged act of defamation, Singgih suggested that journalists should not jump to conclusions.

He dismissed speculation that the investigation was politically motivated.

"We only do data collection to figure out their motives," he said.

National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said in a press released yesterday that his office would start questioning Margiono on Monday.

"Margiono will be summoned as a suspect in a case of alleged defamation against the President. The cover of his magazine has allegedly violated Articles 134, 136 and 137 of the Criminal Code on defaming the head of the state," he said. (cst/imn)