NHK sued for disputed footage

JAKARTA: A former employee of Nippon Hoso Kyokai (NHK), Japan's biggest and only public television station, has filed a civil suit against the company for allegedly engineering fish bombings off Baranglompo Island, South Sulawesi in 1997.

Frans Padak Demon, whose employment contract with NHK expired in 1998, alleged here on Wednesday that former NHK Jakarta Bureau chief Tsutomu Sakamoto had engineered the fish bombings by asking local fishermen to bomb the fish. The footage was broadcast by NHK television station in Tokyo on Aug. 29 and Sept. 6, 1997.

"I want NHK to admit its mistake in engineering the fish and coral reef bombings off Baranglompo Island. The financial compensation is not so important," Frans was quoted by Antara as saying.

Frans sought financial compensation worth Rp 1 billion (US$115,000) in the lawsuit submitted to the Central Jakarta District Court on Wednesday.

NHK headquarters, however, denied creating video footage when its crew covered the fish bombings off Baranglompo Island in 1997.

"NHK crew stumbled upon a group of fishermen bombing fish when they made a special coverage in the Sulawesi water," NHK Tokyo said in a press statement received by The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

The common practice of fishing by bombing them are blamed for massive destruction of coral reefs around Baranglompo Island. -- JP