Editors charged in bid to stop porn
JAKARTA (JP): Police, under public pressure to put a halt to the publication of pornographic materials, formally charged five magazine and tabloid editors on Tuesday with indecency.
The five suspects are Mujimanto of Popular magazine, Koesnan Sukandar of Liberty magazine, Nano Riantiarno of Matra magazine, Heru B. Iskandar of Pop tabloid and Anggoro S. of Obyektif tabloid.
The charges followed police questioning of a number of people associated with the publications over the past week, including one of the nation's top photo models and photographers, as well as media experts.
"We have questioned enough people to come to a provisional conclusion that the chief editors are most responsible for the publication of obscene photos," National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Togar M. Sianipar announced.
The suspects have been charged under Article 282 of the Criminal Code pertaining to indecency. If found guilty, they face a maximum penalty of 18 months imprisonment and a fine of up to Rp 3,000 (less than 40 U.S. cents).
A number of other publications are also under investigation, and their editors will be summoned in due course, police said.
The investigation followed growing complaints by women and Muslim organizations over the publication of nude and seminude photos of women by a number of established and recently founded magazines.
Minister of Information Muhammad Yunus has resisted calls to revoke the publishing license of these magazines. He said it fell under the jurisdiction of the police to prosecute publications which violated the law on indecency.
The five editors have not been placed under arrest, although police said they planned to summon them for further questioning.
Mujimanto was questioned on Monday, while Nano, answering a police summons, was questioned for six hours at National Police Headquarters on Jl. Trunojoyo in South Jakarta on Tuesday.
Koesnan is scheduled to be questioned on Wednesday.
Beauty
Nano, who was questioned about how the magazine selected the photos it published, said after leaving police headquarters that as far as he was aware, he was not yet a suspect.
Nano said his magazine differed from other magazines which exploited women.
Matra publishes photos of female models "to unveil beauty through visualization, as a way of expressing our gratitude for the creation of beauty", he said.
"We explore beauty. We don't exploit it," he said.
Nano was questioned over photos of models Sarah Azhari and Inneke Koesherawati which appeared on the covers of the magazine's June and July editions, respectively.
The two models failed to answer police summons on Tuesday. Sarah was reportedly out of the country, while Inneke sent police a statement from a doctor saying she was too sick to appear.
Another top model, Sophia Latjuba, was earlier questioned by police for more than five hours over a photograph of her which was published in the June edition of Popular. She has been the target of protesters, mainly women, since the magazine appeared.
Togar did not rule out the possibility that models, photographers, magazine staff members and magazine distributors would be charged in the police's campaign against pornography.
National Police chief Gen. Roesmanhadi on Monday said anyone involved in the production and distribution of indecent material could be charged. "Models and photographers are not above the law and cannot hide behind artistic expression or technology." (emf)