Headmaster reported over alleged slander

JAKARTA: SMP 56 Melawai teacher Nurlaila filed a complaint to the police on Wednesday against Jeruk Purut SMP 56 headmaster Agus Bambang over remarks he made on a television show on May 9.

Nurlaila said many fellow teachers and parents of students at the state junior high school had asked her about the validity of Agus' remark on MetroTV's Oasis program that she once suffered serious depression.

"I want him to apologize to me," Nurleila said. Accompanied by legal aid lawyers, she accused Agus of violating Articles 310 and 311 of the Criminal Code on defamation.

In a statement, the lawyers said Agus's remarks were a deliberate attempt at character assassination.

Nurlaila is the only teacher who resisted the school's move to the Kebon Jeruk area after its Melawai buildings were sold to a property developer, a company owned by former cabinet minister Abdul Latief.

The move was controversial and led protests and court action by parents and activists who accused education officials of impropriety in the deal.

Agus said he had witnesses who would substantiate his allegation Nurlaila had suffered depression from 1999 to 2001, after her husband suddenly died in 1999. -- JP