Journalists, media readers sue Minister of Information
JAKARTA (JP): One thousand, one hundred and thirty-two Indonesians, consisting of journalists, press employees and mass media subscribers, yesterday filed two lawsuits against Minister of Information Harmoko for revoking the publishing licenses of three Indonesian magazines.
"The filing of the lawsuits at the Central Jakarta District Court is intended to show the negative side of the impact of the revocation of the publishing licenses of Tempo, Editor, and DeTik," Luhut M.P. Pangaribuan, the coordinator of the lawyers representing the 1,132 plaintiffs, said.
The first lawsuit, which was filed by a group of 972 subscribers of the three magazines and 121 journalists, demands the revocation of the Ministry of Information Decree No. 1/PER/MENPEN/1984 on the Publishing License. The second lawsuit was filed against the same decree by 39 Indonesian press employees.
The subscribers of the three magazines state that they lost their rights to objective and high-quality information with the revocation of the three magazines, while the journalists charge that they cannot totally fulfill their function as agents of social control as required in the Press Law, Luhut told local and foreign reporters.
He said the press employees charged that they are victims of the revocation.
"We have lost our rights to employment and proper living standards, as well as prosperity and family allowances," Luhut quoted the employees' statement in the lawsuit.
He said the 39 employees asked the court to order the minister to pay them Rp 936 million ($427,592) in compensation for two years of unemployment, starting from the revocation and lasting to the settlement of the case. They also asked the court to order the minister to pay them for their "immaterial" losses.
The lawyers, who will be exploiting the legal aspects of the issues on behalf of the 1,132 plaintiffs, include Soekardjo Adidjojo, A. Hakim Garuda Nusantara, Nursyahbani Katjasungkana, Mohammad Assegaf, Saleh Bafedal, Rusdi Nurima, R. Dwiyanto Prihartono, Rita Serena Kalibonso, A.Z. Nasution, Thomas Tampubolon, and Denny Christyanto.
Poll
Meanwhile, Chairman of the Indonesian Consumers Protection Foundation (YLKI) K.S. Zoemrotin said a poll, taken early last month by the foundation in connection with the publishing license revocation, got a resoundingly appreciative response from media subscribers, as seen from the immediate return of the survey forms.
She said that most subscribers stated they had lost their right to get good information when the publishing licenses were revoked.
The poll was the second largest ever held by the foundation, after a similar one on telecommunication matters, involving over 1,500 respondents.
This is the third time for Harmoko to face lawsuits in connection with the closure of the three magazines. The first lawsuit was filed by former chief editor of the defunct Tempo magazine, Goenawan Mohamad, early in September. The second was filed by Tempo's former journalists at the end of that month.
Much earlier, Surya Paloh, the proprietor of Prioritas, a Jakarta-based daily newspaper, which lost its license in 1987, sought to repeal a decree by the minister of information, which empowers him to revoke the publishing licenses of newspapers and magazines, through the Supreme Court. His appeal was rejected.
Tempo lost its license on June 21, along with two other news magazines, Editor and DeTik. Tempo was punished because of certain aspects of its editorial content, although the government never categorically stated which articles were deemed to be offensive. Editor and DeTik were punished for administrative reasons. (imn)