Wed, 10 May 2000

Marzuki to submit written testimony at 'Time' hearing

JAKARTA (JP): Attorney General Marzuki Darusman will give his written testimony in the hearing of a legal dispute between New York-based Time magazine and former president Soeharto next week, the magazine's lawyer said on Tuesday.

"The attorney general's written statement is scheduled to be heard in the hearing next week," Time's defense lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis announced at a hearing at the Central Jakarta District Court, presided over by Judge Sihol Sitompul.

"The written statement is about the progress report of the Attorney General Office's investigation into the former president's alleged practices of corruption, collusion and nepotism (KKN)," Todung said.

He said Marzuki's written testimony was in lieu of his presence in Tuesday's hearing.

"I contacted him (Marzuki) this morning, but he said he had another important engagement," he said without elaborating.

"However, the attorney general said he would submit a written testimony," he added.

Todung's request to be allowed to submit written testimony by the attorney general sparked heated debate between the lawyers for the plaintiff and the lawyers for the defense in Tuesday's hearing.

Soeharto's lawyers objected to the proposal, saying the attorney general's written testimony would only cause confusion in the trial.

"The attorney general is the key person in the ongoing investigation into the former president," O.C. Kaligis told the hearing, which started at 10:30 a.m.

Mohammad Assegaf, another lawyer representing Soeharto, challenged the urgency of the attorney general's written testimony.

"We can't examine and verify the attorney general's testimony if the hearing only hears his written statement," Assegaf said.

Todung defended the proposal, saying the attorney general's testimony was significant to the prosecution as the office's investigation covered the alleged KKN practices by the former president.

"The attorney general's testimony will provide the panel of judges with a clear picture of whether the magazine reported the president's alleged KKN in a proportional manner," he told the hearing.

Judge Sihol then decided to allow the testimony to be heard, but went on to say that the judges would have the authority to determine the validity of the evidence.

"The court will hear the attorney general's written testimony, but it must contain only facts and not conclusions or arguments," the judge said.

Tuesday's hearing also heard the testimonies of senior journalist Sabam Siagian and linguist Anton M. Moeljono.

Soeharto was represented by, among others, Juan Felix Tampubolon, Kaligis, Assegaf and Indriyanto Seno Adji, while the magazine was represented by, among others, Todung, Lelyana Santosa and Kamal Firdaus.

Sabam said the magazine had not defamed Soeharto since the reputation of the former president had been ruined long before the magazine published its cover story on the strongman in its May 24 edition last year.

"There were many other domestic or overseas publications that touched on the negative sides of the former president," said Sabam, former chief editor of The Jakarta Post, while citing a 1996 publication of the Sydney Morning Herald which likened the Soeharto family to the family of the Republic of Philippine's former autocrat Marcos.

Sabam also refuted that the caricature of Soeharto on the magazine's cover was defamatory.

"It is subjective, since people will have their own perceptions over the picture," he said.

The magazine's cover showed a picture of Soeharto with a large US$100 banknote in the background.

Soeharto filed the lawsuit against the magazine in July last year. He is demanding the magazine pay him Rp 189 trillion (US$27 billion) in damages for suggesting in its articles that he and his family had amassed a $15 billion fortune during his 32-year reign.

Sihol adjourned the hearing until next week, when Todung is scheduled to submit the attorney general's written testimony. (asa)