'Pelita' reprimanded over virginity articles

'Pelita' reprimanded over virginity articles

JAKARTA (JP): The honorary council of Indonesian Journalists
Association (PWI) has strongly reprimanded the Islamic-oriented
Pelita daily, whose articles alleging that 96 percent of the
female high school students in South Sulawesi regency of Tana
Toraja were no longer virgins, created an uproar and waves of
protest.

The rebuke came only days after the daily was given a warning
by the Ministry of Information, Antara reported yesterday.

The association said the daily violated certain articles in
the Indonesian Journalists Code of Ethics which say, among other
things, that journalists should not run stories or pictures which
may "harm the safety and security of the country".

The code of ethics also states that Indonesian journalists
should not publish materials which may create disunity, or offend
the believers of faiths which are protected by the laws.

The daily published the controversial stories on April 27 and
April 28, quoting religious affairs official Karimuddin, who made
the allegation without any data to back it up.

Karimuddin said that many girls in the scenic Tana Toraja
filled their spare time working as tourist guides, and that they
slept with foreigners.

Soon after the publication, thousands of Tana Torajans held a
series of demonstrations in South Sulawesi's capital of
Ujungpandang and in Jakarta, demanding that Karimuddin be brought
to court and Pelita be banned.

The daily's deputy chief editor, Slamet Effendy Yusuf,
recently said that the journalist who wrote the story had been
punished. (swe)