Mayor not required to testify

JAKARTA: The prosecutor in a defamation suit against Tempo magazine's chief editor and journalists deemed that serving Central Jakarta mayor Hosea Petra Lumbun was not required to testify before the court as a witness.

"We already have his statements (from police dossiers)," Bastian Hutabarat told Tempo News Room on Friday.

The mayor, who is considered a key witness in the case, has failed to show up in court on three previous occasions. Tempo lawyer Trimoelja D. Soerjadi has called on the judicial panel to subpoena Hosea.

The case revolves around an article entitled Ada Tomy di Tenabang? (Is Tomy involved in Tanah Abang?), which was carried in the weekly's March 3, 2003, edition, that apparently insinuated that businessman Tomy Winata could have been behind the fire that destroyed Tanah Abang textile market on February, as it alleged that he had earlier proposed to the Central Jakarta municipality for the project to renovate the market.

In the article, Hosea spoke in defense of Tomy -- who then brought the defamation suit -- over the accusations.

"I'm always ready (to appear in court as a witness)," Hosea said on Friday. "(But) I've been really busy recently due to election preparations."

The next hearing at the Central Jakarta District Court will be on Monday. -- JP