Police start hasty probe into `Tempo' attack amid pressure

Police start hasty probe into `Tempo' attack amid pressure

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Bowing to public and political pressure, the police started on
Monday an investigation into the attack on the Tempo news weekly
by a group of people representing the interests of businessman
Tomy Winata, but possible legal loopholes were clear to be seen.

Central Jakarta Police investigators questioned four of the
five persons summoned as suspects for assaulting Tempo
journalists following their raucous demonstration at the
magazine's offices on Jl. Proklamasi, Central Jakarta, two weeks
ago.

As of late afternoon, the police were still seeking answers to
20 questions they had posed to suspects David alias A Miauw,
Septi, Hidayat Lukman alias Teddy Uban, and Yosef. Another
suspect, Abdul Haris Sumbi, failed to turn up for unknown
reasons.

According to the head of the suspects' legal team, Farhat
Abbas, the police originally laid charges under Article 352 of
the Criminal Code on minor assault, which carries a maximum of
three-months imprisonment.

During the investigation, said Farhat, the police decided to
press an additional charge under the Criminal Code's malleable
Article 335 on the use of violence to prevent others from
exercising their freedom. This article carries a term of one year
in jail.

However, the second charge could backfire on the police for,
as is stated in Article 335(2), it requires a complaint from the
victim.

"The police investigators said the proof of the second charge
is based on their findings, and not on the victims' statements.
Therefore, we demand justice," Farhat asserted.

Moreover, he told reporters, should there have been assaults
on Tempo journalists, then the police who witnessed them should
have arrested the culprits at the time.

None of the police officers reached were willing to comment.

There was no explanation as to why the suspects were not also
charged under Article 4 of the press law, which carries a maximum
sentence of two years in prison or a fine of Rp 500 million
(US$55,500).

On March 8, around 200 people claiming to be employees of the
Artha Graha Group, which is owned by Tomy, and members of the
Banteng Muda Indonesia (BMI), a youth organization associated
with the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan)
held a rally in front of the Tempo offices.

According to journalist Ahmad Taufik, who received the
representatives, they tried to force him to reveal the source of
an article on Tomy's alleged involvement in last month's fire in
the Tanah Abang market.

A number of persons then took Tempo chief editor Bambang
Harymurti, Taufik, and editor Karaniya Dharmasaputra to the
Central Jakarta police station, while others occupied the Tempo
offices with riot police looking on in the parking lot.

David reportedly hit Bambang in the stomach, kicked him and
slapped him on the face in the chief of detective's office, which
was also full of police detectives. Karaniya, who tried to defend
Bambang, was also slapped on the face.

David claimed he gave money to the police and was the one who
had provided the lights in the police station. He also claimed he
had a list of reporters to whom he paid a total of Rp 150 million
per month. He even said he had funded Sutiyoso's reelection as
governor.

Before entering the interview room, David told reporters that
the media had engaged in a deliberate attempt to distort the
facts.