Noted lawyers to clash in court over 'Washington Post' case
Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Three noted lawyers will likely be involved in a court battle following a complaint filed by Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto over an article published in The Washington Post daily on the Freeport ambush, which killed two Americans and one Indonesian.
Todung Mulya Lubis has been officially retained as the lawyer to defend the Post in the case brought against the newspaper by Endriartono, while the TNI Headquarters has retained Trimoelja D. Soerjadi and Frans Hendra Winarta to take any necessary legal action.
Todung called a news conference at his office on Monday to express the newspaper's stance over TNI's decision to take legal action against the publication, which Todung said would pave the way for democratization.
Nevertheless, Todung said that "bringing the case to court may not be a good choice".
"My client is ready to hold a dialog with the TNI chief in an attempt to find the best solution for this case. The Washington Post has never had any intention to discredit the TNI as an institution nor Endriartono or other high-ranking military officers," Todung said.
The Post ran a story titled Indonesian Military Allegedly Talked of Targeting Mine by Ellen Nakashima and Alan Sipress on Nov. 3, which reported that senior officers may have planned the ambush against employees of PT Freeport Indonesia in Timika, Papua on August 31.
The article said that prior to the ambush, several high- ranking military officers, including Endriartono, allegedly discussed an operation against Freeport, with the ultimate aim of discrediting the separatist Free Papua Organization (OPM).
The paper claimed that the article was based on information provided by "highly reliable" sources and was supported by other information, that included "an interception of a conversation", which was shared by Australia with the United States.
The TNI has denied the report, saying that it was an attempt to discredit the military.
The military previously declared itself innocent and blamed the attack on the OPM.
The military, nevertheless, has appeared inconsistent in its claim and this was especially evident with the arrival of an investigative team in Papua last Wednesday "to probe allegations of TNI involvement in the incident".
Endriartono called the Post's report libelous and last week officially demanded the newspaper to make a public apology, "otherwise we will see them in court".
Endriartono also said that the TNI planned to sue the Post for US$1 billion in damages for its article should the paper not apologize within two weeks.
Todung, however, called on the TNI to reach an out-of-court settlement, noting that the Post had kept to its principles in running the story.
"If we look carefully at the story, we will find that The Washington Post has fulfilled all the criteria of the journalist's code of ethics, which includes covering both sides, by inserting the denial of TNI spokesman Maj. Gen. Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin," said Todung, who represented Time magazine in its legal battle against former president Soeharto.
Soeharto sued Time for its report detailing his wealth, including owning accounts in several banks in Switzerland. Time won the court battle.