Medan police release two editors
Medan police release two editors
Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan
Medan police officials in North Sumatra announced on Monday that
they have freed two editors of a Jakarta Islamic weekly tabloid
who were arrested for an article claiming that private noodle
firm PT Olagafood produced food tainted with pork.
The tabloid's chief editor Muhammad Syarif Haris and managing
editor Rasil Karti Wibowo, were allowed to return home to Jakarta
on Saturday after 24 hours of interrogations in Medan.
"We released the two because there was not enough evidence to
charge and detain them," Medan Police Chief Sr. Comr. Badrodin
Haiti told The Jakarta Post by phone.
But he promised to take both men of the Tabloid Jurnal Islam
to court once more evidence against them can be obtained.
Badrodin said that his office has summoned seven people,
including employees of Olagafood and local community members, for
questioning in the case.
The suspects were arrested on Friday on charges of spreading
news calculated to cause public disorder.
The "disturbing" article in question was published in the
tabloid's Jan. 25-Jan. 31 edition, entitled "Alhami fools the
Islamic community, Alhami products contain pork fat."
Medan-based Olagafood, which produces Alhami -- an instant
noodle product -- flatly rejected the report and filed a
complaint against the tabloid with local police on Jan. 25.
The company's lawyer, Refman Basri, said on Monday that his
client could press on legal action against the tabloid, despite
the release of the two suspects.
He said that he would not relent in making a case against the
tabloid, which he accused of slandering Olagafood.
"We will go ahead with this case until a criminal court
verdict is issued. After that, we will prosecute a civil case
against them," Refman added.
On Saturday, thousands of Olagafood workers demonstrated in
front of Medan Police Headquarters and the office of the
provincial branch of the Indonesian Journalists' Association
(PWI) in support for the investigation.
The protesters condemned the tabloid for the article, which
they claimed was baseless, and backed the police move to detain
the two editors.
Islam prohibits its followers from eating pork or any by-
products derived from pork.
Food additives producer PT Ajinomoto Indonesia was forced to
withdraw all its products from the market in January 2001 after
the MUI's Food and Drug Analysis Institute (LPPOM) found evidence
that, since October 2000, the company had been using substances
derived from pigs in its production process.
The then-president, Abdurrahman Wahid, intervened to ease the
heightening controversy over the case by declaring that Ajinomoto
products were halal (permitted to be consumed by Muslims).