'Press Council not consulted over 'Tempo' ban'

'Press Council not consulted over 'Tempo' ban'

JAKARTA (JP): Senior journalist Goenawan Mohamad, who is mounting a court challenge to the government's 1994 decision to close his Tempo news magazine, says the Press Council was not consulted prior to the move.

Goenawan told a hearing in the Jakarta State Administrative Court yesterday that at least three members of the council he had spoken to had said they had had no prior knowledge when the government revoked Tempo's publishing license.

By government regulation, the Press Council, the industry's watchdog agency, should first be consulted before the government revokes the publishing license of a newspaper or magazine.

But Minister of Information Harmoko, who chairs the council, has insisted that the council members were notified of the move beforehand.

It was Harmoko's office which revoked the licenses of the three newsweeklies Tempo, Editor and DeTik in June last year. Tempo was faulted for its editorial content, while the banning of Editor and DeTik was attributed to administrative violations.

Goenawan, a director and a founding editor of Tempo, is suing Harmoko over the ban in the Jakarta State Administrative Court. A group of former Tempo employees has filed a separate lawsuit against the minister in the same court. Both suits, heard separately yesterday, challenged the legality of the minister's ban.

"The revocation of a driver's license is decided by a court. How come the revocation of a publishing license is not?" Goenawan asked yesterday, while testifying in the hearing of the former Tempo employees' suit.

"The decision to revoke Tempo's publishing license was not preceded by a meeting of the Press Council," Goenawan stated in response to a question from Judge Benjamin Mangkoedilaga.

He said he had discussed the background to the ban with Jakob Oetama, Handjojo Nitimihardjo, and Nurcholis Madjid, three members of the Press Council. None of them recalled having a meeting to discuss the ban, he added.

Goenawan said Nurcholis had stated that he did not agree with the revocation of the Tempo's publishing license.

He also recalled that a week before the ban was issued, he had asked Jakob and Handjojo about whether something was going to happen to his magazine because he heard rumors that something was up. "Both men told me that nothing untoward would happen to Tempo."

Goenawan admitted that Tempo had received several warnings, some by phone and others written, but said there was no way of telling which of these were to be considered strong warnings and which ones were not.

Subrata, the Director General of Press and Graphics at the Ministry of Information, had earlier said that Tempo had been served with six written warnings, including three stern ones, and no less than 33 verbal warnings between 1982 and June 1994.

Goenawan and the magazine's former employees are represented in the hearings by top human rights lawyers including Todung Mulya Lubis, Trimoelja D. Soerjadi, and Atmajaya Salim. Harmoko is represented by eight lawyers led by R. Wiyono

Goenawan said that as a result of the ban, the magazine had to terminate the employment of all its 225 employees as of Oct. 31.

The magazine's proprietor paid Rp 4 billion ($1.8 million) in severance pay and another Rp 2.5 billion in income taxes at the end of that month.

Meanwhile, in the Goenawan vs Harmoko lawsuit, Harjoko Trisnadi, Tempo's former business manager, said there was confusion about the way the license was revoked.

He said the publishing license was issued to PT Grafiti Pers, the magazine's publishing company, but the revocation notice was given to the magazine's editorial management.

The publishing firm has never received a notice or a copy of one, Harjoko said.

Harjoko said that he had later met with Subrata to ask about the procedures but the official had simply responded that the decision was final. (imn)