President and wise man

President and wise man

The fate of the editor in chief of Detektif and Romantika
magazine is still unclear. I am referring to whether the police
dossier on him has been submitted to the Attorney General's
Office and whether the case is ready to go to court.

As we all know. D&R magazine trod on a "land mine" when it ran
a cover of President Soeharto superimposed on a king of spades.
Though the letter attached on both sides of the card was not a K
for king but a P for president, Gen. R. Hartono, then minister of
information, alleged this magazine defamed President Soeharto. He
argued that the picture implied Soeharto was a king, not a
president elected every five years by the People's Consultative
Assembly.

Even though the editor apologized, the case will still go to
court. "Apologizing is not enough," the minister said.

While awaiting the legal proceedings, I would like to remind
us all that Mr. Soeharto himself, on the occasion of the
anniversary of Golkar, last year uttered a famous Javanese
philosophical expression Lengser Keprabon Madeg Pandito. Lengser
means quit, resign; keprabon is kingship; madeg means (to)
become; pandito means wise man, sage, ulema, monk (in Javanese
terminology, he is an advisor to the king). So the expression
means: quit the kingship to become a wise man/advisor.

If I may draw an analogy, I am afraid it's not only the cover
of D&R that could be interpreted as defamatory to the President,
but Mr. Soeharto remarks could also be interpreted the same.

Therefore, let the honorable judges decide the case fairly.

DJON W. PRANOTO

Sukabumi, West Java