Employees protest newspaper

MANADO, North Sulawesi: Hundreds of employees of PT Megasurya Nusa Lestari Manado demonstrated at the office of the Manado Post daily over its reports on reclamation by the company, Antara reported Wednesday.

Representatives of the 150 protesters, who came in three trucks, demanded a public apology, saying the reports, including those of Oct. 8, Oct. 13 and Oct. 14, were slanted against the company.

The report said the stories on these dates were respectively Reclaimer starts to evade promises, Sea transport (office) reprimands MSN and MSN threatened by sanctions.

Earlier in mid-October several employees came to the daily's office to look for a journalist over reports which they said were unfavorable regarding the company's activities.

Managing editor Suhendro Boroma said the paper would apologize if ordered to only if proved guilty in court.

An employee spokesman, Tutong Mochtar said, "If anything happened to the company because of the reports, what about our fate as workers?"