Media freedom under attack as newsmen jailed

Media freedom under attack as newsmen jailed

Oyos Saroso H.N, The Jakarta Post, Bandarlampung

Media freedom in Indonesia is on the brink of ruin, with two
senior journalists in Lampung being sentenced to nine months in
jail for defamation.

The verdicts on Wednesday are hurtful to democracy, moreover
coming on the heels of government efforts to produce a new
Criminal Code that will be detrimental to freedom of expression,
a legal expert commented.

The two journalists, Darwin Ruslinur and Budiono Syahputra,
received the jail terms after they were found guilty of defaming
Alzier Dianis Thabranie, chairman of Golkar Party's Lampung
chapter. The case surfaced last year when defendant Budiono, the
managing editor of Koridor weekly tabloid, was informed by an
anonymous Golkar member that Alzier and his colleague Indra
Karyadi had yet to disburse an amount of Rp 1.25 billion
(US$131,500) to him. The money was supposed to have been
distributed by the Golkar member to Golkar supporters. The
supporters were to receive Rp 50,000 each during first round of
presidential elections last year to encourage them to vote for
the presidential candidate backed by Golkar. Darwin Ruslinur, the
tabloid's chief editor, said that the case was newsworthy and
that should be printed.

The news article, printed on page 18 of the tabloid's July
edition last year, was headed "Alzier and Indra Karyadi allegedly
embezzle Rp 1.25b Golkar fund".

At Wednesday's court session, presiding judge Iskandar Tjake
found that the tabloid never confirmed the story with Alzier and
Indra Karyadi, and on this basis he decided that the two
journalists were guilty of defamation.

Commenting on the verdict, legal expert Hinca Panjaitan
stressed in Jakarta on Thursday that the verdict would hurt
democracy and the anticorruption drive. The role of the media,
according to Hinca, is crucial in the country's fight against
widespread corruption. If media freedom is curtailed, the battle
against corruption will fade, said Hinca.

Azwar Arifin, the lawyer representing the two journalists,
said that the verdict was unfair. The judges should have used the
Press Law to decide the fate of the two journalists, as this law
focused on prosecuting matters related to the media, rather than
the criminal law. As his clients were being sent to jail, Azwar
said that they would file an appeal to the high court.

In a separate development, in yet another sign that media
freedom was under attack, Bambang Harymurti, the chief editor of
Tempo weekly magazine, revealed on Wednesday that last week the
high court had upheld a decision by a lower court sentencing him
to one year in jail for defaming business tycoon Tommy Winata.

Speaking to the media in Lampung, Bambang regretted the latest
decision by the high court, saying that he found inconsistency in
the decision. On one hand, the high court judges applied the
Press Law, but on the other, they applied criminal law. "The
inconsistency is suspicious," said Bambang, saying that he would
appeal to the Supreme Court.

In order to prevent journalists from being sent to jail in
future, groups of journalists and the Press Council would
immediately lobby the House of Representatives (DPR) to reject
the controversial draft of the Criminal Code being prepared by
the government, said Bambang. If the bill is passed into law by
the DPR, it will constitute a serious threat to media freedom as
it contains 49 articles that are harmful to freedom of expression
and could land journalists in jail, he said. (004)