Former BI employee sues 'Forum Keadilan'
JAKARTA (JP): A former officer of state-owned Bank Indonesia, Anthony MT Siregar, is suing the biweekly magazine Forum Keadilan for Rp 11 billion (US$3.23 million) for alleged defamation.
The suit is connected to a report in the magazine's Sept. 8 issue in which it wrote that Siregar, while serving on Bank Indonesia's supervision team, received bribes worth hundreds of millions of rupiah.
Siregar's lawyer, Juan Felix Tampubolon, submitted the lawsuit to South Jakarta District Court yesterday.
The lawsuit claims that Forum Keadilan in its report failed to cover both sides of the story and published a "misleading conclusion".
Tampubolon said that no court had issued a verdict that his client was guilty of taking bribes and thus Forum Keadilan had no right to claim that Siregar was being paid off.
Siregar joined Bank Indonesia in 1977 and retired last year. He was chairman of Bank Indonesia's supervision team.
In the lawsuit addressed to the publishers and directors of the magazine, Siregar demanded that the magazine pay material damages worth Rp 1 billion, immaterial damages of Rp 10 billion, and that an apology statement be printed in six newspapers and seven magazines circulated nationwide for three consecutive days.
He further asked the court to confiscate the property of Forum Keadilan, including in its office premises at Kebayoran Center, South Jakarta.
"We're just worried that the defendant, Forum Keadilan magazine, will avoid its responsibility to pay compensation," Tampubolon said.
Separately, Amir Syamsudin, one of Forum Keadilan's lawyers, told The Jakarta Post that the demands were excessive.
He said the magazine's investigative report was part of its duty as a social control institution.
"Forum is confident that its findings were correct," he said.
Tampubolon further said his client was demanding that the court void the legal powers the publishing license gives the magazine.
He stopped short of saying that the magazine's publishing license should be revoked.
Tampubolon maintained that the magazine published such irresponsible reports because it considered it had a legal publishing license, thus Forum Keadilan's publishing license should be considered legally void.
"I'm not saying that the license should be revoked. I'm just asking the court to declare that it has no legal power," he remarked in defense. "Revoking a license isn't really the business of the district court."
Tampubolon charged that the magazine's report mentioning Siregar did not comply with press laws and the journalism code of ethics.
When asked why his client refused to use his "right to reply", Tampubolon said it would be insufficient to remedy the already "criminal action" of the defamation. (09)