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