Police chief orders investigation of 'Tempo' attack

Police chief orders investigation of 'Tempo' attack

Muninggar Sri Saraswati
The Jakarta Post
Jakarta

National Police Chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar has ordered an
investigation into the recent mob attack on the offices of Tempo
magazine, which was sparked by an article on businessman Tomy
Winata.

"The police have begun to enforce the law (regarding the
attack)," Da'i said after a meeting with dozens of public figures
who demanded tough measures against those involved in the attack.

Da'i said the police were currently questioning Tempo chief
editor Bambang Harymurti and one of the magazine's editors, Ahmad
Taufik, as victim witnesses of the attack, which took place on
Saturday.

The police previously said they would only investigate the
case should Tempo file a complaint.

But the weekly believes that it does not need to file a report
since a number of police officers witnessed how the crowd,
claiming to be employees and sympathizers of Tomy, used force to
occupy the Tempo offices on Jl. Proklamasi in Central Jakarta and
beat Bambang and Taufik at the Central Jakarta Police station.

Public figures appearing at the National Police Headquarters
in a show of support for the magazine's staff included Ahmad
Syafii Maarif, the chairman of the country's second largest
Muslim organization, Muhammadiyah, senior journalists Goenawan
Mohamad and Fikri Jufri, lawyers Todung Mulya Lubis and Luhut M
Pangaribuan, legislator Dwi Ria Latifa, rights activist Hendardi,
former finance minister Mar'ie Muhammad, Muslim scholar
Komaruddin Hidayat and economists Faisal Basri and Lin Che Wei.

Another rally to protest violence against the media took place
in Denpasar, the capital of Bali. A group of 70 journalists and
non-governmental organization (NGO) activists gathered at the
provincial legislature to condemn the attack on Tempo, which they
said went against the government's decision to declare 2003 as a
year free of violence.

Todung said during the meeting with Da'i that the attack on
the weekly had raised concerns of "hoodlumism" against the media.

"Tempo might have made a mistake in its report. But violence
is not the answer," Todung told reporters. He said the public
figures warned that these incidents would undermine press freedom
in the country.

Instead of attacking the press, there are other choices people
can pursue to correct inaccurate reporting, Todung said.

"People could choose from exercising their right to respond to
the article, settling out of court, suing the media or even
boycotting it," he said.

He was referring to a settlement of a dispute involving the
Indonesian Military (TNI) and The Washington Post newspaper over
a report of the military's alleged involvement in an attack on
Freeport employees last year. The U.S. daily clarified the
report, admitting to having no solid evidence to back up its
story.

Separately, Tomy and lawyer Desmond J. Mahesa filed a report
with the Jakarta Police alleging defamation against him by Tempo.
Tomy, the owner of the Artha Graha group, had sent a legal
warning to the weekly over its report a day before some 200
people attacked the magazine's offices.

The attackers demanded that Tempo retract an article in its
March 3 edition, which quoted a source as saying that Tomy had
proposed a Rp 53 billion (US$5.9 million) renovation of the Tanah
Abang textile market before it was gutted by fire last month. The
magazine called Tomy "a scavenger" for taking advantage of the
fire.

The protesters later forced Taufik to reveal the name of the
source, but the editor refused.

No one has been arrested over the attack.

According to Press Law No. 40/1999, people who commit a crime
against press freedom face a maximum jail sentence of two years
and a fine of up to Rp 500 million.

Tempo has said it would face Tomy's charges in court.