Newspaper's editorial staff asked to resign

Newspaper's editorial staff asked to resign

JAKARTA (JP): The Jakarta State Administrative High Court was
notified on Wednesday that the board of commissioners of PT Media
Interaksi Utama (PT MIU), the publisher of Suara Pembaruan daily,
had officially asked the paper's general manager, Albert
Hasibuan, editor-in-chief Sutarno and director Soedarjo to
resign.

Petron Curie Nadeak, an editor for the daily who took the
witness stand in the trial of the dispute between PT Media
Interaksi Utama and an arbitration body at the Ministry of
Manpower said on Wednesday the board of commissioners sent an
official letter dated March 31, 1995 asking Albert Hasibuan,
Sutarno and Soedarjo to step down.

The publisher is involved in a legal battle with the
arbitration body at the Jakarta State Administrative High Court
for annulling its decision to dismiss six reporters and editors,
including Petron.

"The board of commissioners, however, agreed to give them time
until the end of their terms of office in June 1995 when they
(Albert, Sutarno and Soedarjo) promised to resolve the problem
inside the daily and to resign together afterwards. But
apparently, the problem still persists, and they are still
around," Petron told the court, presided over by Judge Fatimah
Achyar.

"Instead of trying to resolve the problem, they even
restructured the editorial department on Aug. 19, 1994 by, among
other things, dismissing some editorial staff," Petron said.

Petron was the second witness in the session yesterday. The
first witness was Marah Sakti Siregar, the secretary-general of
the Jakarta branch of the Indonesian Journalists Association (PWI
Jaya).

Rem Pattikawa, the lawyer for PT MIU, raised an objection to
Petron testifying at the trial because he was one of the parties
in dispute. The session continued, however.

Marah Sakti said that PT MIU had not yet settled the dispute
with its staff properly, based on article 28 of Ministry of
Information Decree No. 1/1984.

The decree requires any publishers to settle disputes with
their employees amicably before asking PWI Jaya to arbitrate the
dispute.

"PT MIU reported the case to the Jakarta provincial
arbitration body after PWI Jaya settled the dispute on Nov. 12,
1994," Marah Sakti said.

The trial was adjourned until July 31. (26)