Police conclude 'Time' report defames Soeharto
JAKARTA (JP): An officer of the National Police concluded on Tuesday that a Time magazine report about the former first family's wealth on May 24 was libelous and defamatory to former president Soeharto.
"Examination and analysis we heard from several experts in linguistics, legal affairs and magazine graphic design show that there is a libelous aspect in the report," Col. Makbul Padmanagara, chief detective of the general crimes unit, said.
The police will proceed with the investigation by summoning other witnesses "soon", he said, refusing to elaborate.
"Our investigation will only be stopped if Soeharto pulls out and drops his complaints to us against Time," Makbul said.
In the past, a police announcement that a case could go to trial has marked the completion of their investigations.
The Time Asia edition ran a cover story headlined "Suharto Inc." claiming the former president and his family had stashed a US$15 billion fortune abroad. The magazine claimed the amount included a $9 billion account at an Austrian bank that was transferred from a Swiss bank shortly after Soeharto's forced resignation in May last year.
In connection with the investigation, the police summoned Jason Tedjasukmana, a Time correspondent here, for questioning at police headquarters on Tuesday.
Accompanied by the magazine's lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis, Jason was grilled for almost two and a half hours and was asked 19 questions about the controversial report.
"Jason is a witness for the offense believed by the police to have been committed by chief editor of Time Asia," Todung said, referring to Donald Morrison, who has been named a suspect.
To the police detectives, Jason explained his job description as collecting material for the report and also accompanying the magazine's Hong Kong correspondent to interview then attorney general Andi M. Ghalib, Todung said.
A stringer for the magazine, Zamira Ellyana Loebis, was also summoned for questioning as a witness last week.
After Tuesday's questioning, however, Todung said Zamira was a witness for the crime believed by the police to have been committed by Time's chief editors in New York.
Jason and Zamira were two of the six staffers to contribute reports for the alleged libelous 14-page cover story.
Time would always be cooperative with the police investigation, Todung said, dismissing rumors that the Time correspondents here would leave the country to avoid police questioning.
However, Todung said Soeharto's complaint to the police was groundless.
"In democratic countries, public figures -- mostly politicians and statesmen -- hardly have the rights to sue mass media, which is considered to be a social control institution," he said.
If they objected to media reports on them, they could file complaints with the magazines or newspapers and would not immediately regard them as criminal offenses, he said.
Soeharto, who is currently being treated at Pertamina Hospital for a mild stroke, lodged a complaint with police against the magazine in early June, and later filed a civil lawsuit demanding compensation of $12 billion at the Jakarta Administrative Court. (emf)