Journalists, media readers sue Minister of Information
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)