Legal wrangling set to continue

Legal wrangling set to continue

By T. Sima Gunawan

JAKARTA (JP): Legal problems related to the June 1993 banning
of Tempo weekly continue to linger.

Five separate lawsuits were filed in connection to the
government's decision to ban the popular magazine. None have been
settled.

On May 3, 1995, the Jakarta State Administrative Court, which
handled two lawsuits on the revocation of Tempo's publishing
license, ruled in favor of the magazine's former chief editor,
Goenawan Mohamad, and its former staff members. Court chief
Benjamin Mangkoedilaga said that Minister of Information
Harmoko's decision based on decree No.01/1984 on the revocation
of publishing licenses contradicted the higher Press Law.
Therefore, the court ordered Harmoko to reissue the license.

The Press Law No. 21/1982 does not allow the banning of
national mass media.

The case, however, is not over as Harmoko stated he will
appeal the decision in the State Administrative High Court.

Five days after the administrative court reached the verdict,
the Central Jakarta District Court turned down the Rp 936 million
damage claim filed by 39 former Tempo employees. Presiding judge
Leo Hutagalung said that the case was out of the court's
jurisdiction. He argued that the case should be heard by an
administrative court because it was caused by a ministerial
decree.

The plaintiff's defense team stated immediately after the
decision that they would appeal.

Two other lawsuits were filed against the minister of
information regarding his controversial decree revoking the
publishing licenses.

As many as 121 Indonesian journalists and 972 people who are
against the bannings of Tempo, DeTik and Editor, urged the
Supreme Court to review the decree.

They took the class actions on the grounds that the Supreme
Court has the authority to examine government regulations that
are considered inappropriate.

Both suits were registered with the Central Jakarta District
Court on Nov. 11, 1994.

The first judicial review case in Indonesian press history was
brought forward in 1992 by Surya Paloh, owner of the Prioritas
daily which was banned in 1987. He asked the court to review
Harmoko's decree No.01/1984, which was used by the government to
justify the newspaper's closing.

The Supreme Court refused to hear the case in June 1993,
because they said the suit wasn't filed properly. The court only
then issued regulation No.1/1993 on the filing procedures for
judicial review suits.

Even though Surya Paloh could re-file his suit, he decided not
to continue the legal battle. What was more important was to
simplify the procedures to get a publishing license, Paloh said
during an interview with Matra monthly magazine last April.

Tempo's judicial review suits were the first to arise after
the Supreme Court issued regulation No.1/1993 on judicial review
suits.

The Central Jakarta District Court, which apparently didn't
understand the judicial review procedures, summoned the
plaintiffs on Nov. 23, according to one of the plaintiffs'
lawyers, Rita Serena Kolibonso.

"They later corrected the mistake through another letter dated
Dec. 2," she said.

Rita, a lawyer of the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute, clarified
that only the Supreme Court, not the district court, has the
authority to summon both plaintiffs and defendants if necessary.

Considering the importance of the case, she called on the
Supreme Court to hold a public hearing, even though there was no
obligation for the court to do so.

The Supreme Court has only contacted the plaintiffs' lawyers
once, on Feb. 20, when the court sent the lawyers a letter
acknowledging that it had received their law suit files and
Harmoko's response.

"We have not received any more information about the case
since," Rita said.

Harmoko was represented by 11 lawyers from the legal bureau of
the Ministry of Information and the Attorney General's Office.
The lawyers argued that decree No.01/1984 didn't contradict the
Press Law No.4/1982. The law states that there shouldn't be any
banning or censorship of the national press. According to
Harmoko's lawyers, revoking a business license was different from
banning a magazine or censoring it.

The Jakarta State Administrative Court has stated that the
decree contradicts the press law, but the Supreme Court, of
course, has the final say. Whatever the ruling, it will be a
milestone in the history of both the Indonesian press and
judiciary.