Official jailed for slander

JAKARTA (JP): The Central Jakarta District Court jailed a Ministry of Religious Affairs official for six months yesterday for slanderous statements over virginity in South Sulawesi.

Presiding Judge Asmar Ismail said Karimuddin, 44, the public relations chief of the ministry's office in South Sulawesi, had said in a seminar that Toraja's young women were promiscuous, even though he did not intend to offend anyone.

Karimuddin was also fined Rp 500 (US$0.2).

The judge said the defendant was guilty of insulting the Christian Toraja community in front of a seminar participants.

The judge said the comment had created hatred among the seminar participants.

After hearing the verdict, Karimuddin, a bachelor who takes care of 19 orphans, maintained his innocence and said: "I can no longer retract something which has already been said."

Karimuddin said that during the seminar he raised only concerns about the widespread sale and use of condoms in Toraja.

"My speech was motivated by a good reason, that is finding ways to contain the spread of the deadly AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) virus," Karimuddin said.

His remark was printed in a local daily in April, prompting huge protests against the official and the newspaper in Makale (capital of the Toraja regency), Ujungpandang and in Jakarta. (07)