Judges told to use Press Law

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Chief Justice Bagir Manan told senior judges on Tuesday to consider using the Press Law in settling all disputes involving the press instead of the Criminal Code.

In his remarks marking the installation of 14 Supreme Court justices and 14 high court presidents across the country, Bagir said that judges must be careful in handling cases involving the press as it may hamper freedom of the press.

"The Press Law and the Criminal Code do not exist in the same legal domain. Judges must be careful in cases involving the media," he said.

His statement came prior to the issuance of verdicts against Tempo chief editor Bambang Harymurti and another two journalists on Thursday.

Bambang and the two other journalists have been brought to court and charged under the Criminal Code for publishing an article in the Tempo weekly that suggested that businessman Tommy Winata was behind the fire that razed shops at the Tanah Abang textile market in 2003.

Tommy, refusing to exercise his right to explain his side of the story as stipulated under the Press Law, decided to report Bambang and the two journalists to the police, arguing that the weekly magazine had defamed him. He also sued Tempo for a number of other cases.

Instead of charging Tempo's chief editor and the two journalists under the Press Law, the police charged Bambang and the two journalists under the Criminal Code.

According to Bagir, wrong legal measures against the press would be injurious to press freedom which would eventually kill the country's fledging democracy.

"A free press is not only an instrument of democracy, it also guards the democracy. Judges badly need the existence of democracy because only democracy recognizes and guarantees freedom of the judiciary," he asserted.

Bagir explained that journalists were not subject to criminal charges, including defamation.

"They only make reports. The decision to run the stories lies in the hands of the editors," he said.

Bagir reiterated that judges must remain vigilant in handling disputes involving press reports.

Bagir said that the Supreme Court was considering issuing a circular that would bind courts in the country, during a meeting later this year.

He lashed out at policy makers for issuing the Press Law, which supposedly guarantees press freedom comprehensively, without providing further ancillary regulations to make it applicable in terms of the legal settlement of press disputes.

"There must be one state policy to guarantee press freedom. You can't just say you guarantee press freedom but do not provide the ancillary regulations to implement it," Bagir said.

According to Bagir, the Press Law is not the lex specialis of the Criminal Code in terms of the settlement of disputes involving the press. He argued that both laws are not in the same legal domain.

He explained that the lex specialis principle is applied if there are two laws. The first law, the lex specialis, deals with the issue in detail (in term of sanctions and the like), which are only stated in general by the second law, the lex generalis.

In his speech, Bagir called on the public not to hold rallies to press the judges to rule in favor of their interests.

"The court is the last point in the prosecution process. The flaw in the beginning of the process will affect the court ruling.

"It is not fair to blame the court alone. Judges must be free and independent in handling cases they obtain from prosecutors," he said.