Libel suit threatens RI democracy

Paul Wolfowitz, The Straits Times, Asia News Network, Singapore

The trial of one brave journalist in Indonesia has implications far beyond the courtroom in Jakarta. By the time this article appears, the Central Jakarta District Court is due to have handed down a verdict in the case of Bambang Harymurti, chief editor of Tempo, Indonesia's leading news magazine, and two of his colleagues.

I hope reason will prevail on the court and this charge -- which should never have been filed -- will be dismissed. However, the mere fact that this case has been brought is a threat to the freedom and democracy Indonesia has enjoyed since the collapse of the Soeharto government six years ago.

The Indonesian government has charged Bambang with criminal defamation. The charges stem from an article in Tempo on accusations that a suspicious fire in a market in Jakarta last February may have been connected to plans to turn the area into a fancy commercial shopping center. The plans were possibly connected to a wealthy Indonesian businessman named Tomy Winata.

Tomy sued for civil defamation and, unusually, the government charged Bambang and two of his colleagues with criminal defamation under laws dating to the Dutch colonial period and early years of independence. Prosecutors have asked for two-year sentences and -- even more unusual -- have asked that Bambang be detained immediately, treating him like a dangerous criminal who should not be allowed to remain at large.

In the interest of disclosure, I should say I have known Bambang for almost 20 years. I knew him particularly well in the late 1980s, when I was United States ambassador in Jakarta. I know him to be a journalist of enormous integrity, someone who takes seriously his responsibility not only to publish the truth but also not to publish falsehoods. He is also a Muslim who has courageously denounced terrorism and extremism in the editorial pages of his magazine.

However, my concerns about this case extend far beyond my worry about the fate of a friend. I believe the whole world has a stake in the success of democracy in Indonesia. If this country of almost 240 million, with more Muslims than any other in the world -- indeed, with more than 15 percent of the world's Muslim population -- can demonstrate its capacity to develop democratic institutions, even in the face of economic adversity, it will be a valuable example to the rest of the world.

This is particularly true because Indonesia's strong tradition of religious tolerance in a nation that is almost 90 percent Muslim also makes it an important role model in the post-Sept. 11 world. It is no accident that the terrorist fanatics associated with al-Qaeda have attacked Indonesia, even before the horrendous bombings in Bali in October 2002. And the attacks continue, with one just last week.

Indonesia has made remarkable progress in developing democratic institutions, despite the catastrophic economic conditions the new government inherited with the financial collapse that accompanied the demise of the Soeharto dictatorship. The country held a fair presidential election in 1999, parliamentary elections last April and is about to conduct a run-off next Monday to complete its second democratic presidential election. These are no small achievements.

While holding two fair presidential elections in a row is a hallmark of democratic progress, the real test of a democracy is how it protects the rights of its citizens.

Accordingly, the rule of law is one of the essential pillars of a democratic society. There are few powers a democratic state possesses that are as awesome as the power to prosecute its own citizens lawfully, and few things more threatening to a true democracy than the abuse of that prosecutorial power.

One of the worst possible ways power can be abused is to take away the freedom of the press and so remove one of the most important mechanisms to ensure the government respects the rights of its citizens. As Bambang pointed out in his eloquent pleading before the court last month, the collapse of Indonesia's first brief experience with democracy in the 1950s began with "an attempt to undermine freedom of the domestic press through the criminalisation of journalists".

Under president Sukarno, 60 press cases were brought before the Special State Court in September 1957 alone. As Bambang said: "The world's train has long raced away from the station where journalistic works are still criminalised. We ought to be included in the carriage of the world community's progress, and not left behind at the station of backwardness, one that is more fitting to be displayed in a museum and not as a destination."

Both candidates in next Monday's presidential run-off election have expressed concern over this case. One hopes beyond acquitting Bambang and his colleagues of any of the criminal charges pressed against them, Indonesia will take steps to ensure this intimidation of a free press should cease.

The writer is U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense. Copyright: New York Times Syndicate.