Pressure mounts against criminalization of libel

Pressure mounts against criminalization of libel

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

International and national pressure has intensified against
settling disputes over media reports using criminal charges,
saying the trend will sacrifice press freedom and curb the
public's right to information.

In Jakarta, the Committee of Anti-Criminal Charges against the
Press staged a rally on Sunday at the Hotel Indonesia traffic
circle, calling on the public to join forces against the
criminalization of offenses committed by the press.

Journalist unions in Bandung and media professionals in
Surabaya and Yogyakarta also protested the use of criminal
charges in trying journalists.

The protests come on the eve of Monday's hearing, when judges
will deliver a verdict in the trial of Tempo journalists Bambang
Harymurti, who has been accused of defaming businessman Tomy
Winata.

Meanwhile, the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) and
several foreign journalists met on Sunday Jusuf Kalla, running
mate of presidential candidate Susilo bambang Yudhoyono, to
discuss the issue.

"We have to discuss the issue with politicians. Pak Kalla said
he objected to the use of criminal charges against media people,
but he (also) suggested that the media protect the people," AJI
chairman Eddy Soeprapto said.

In response, Eddy said the existence of a publication depended
on public appreciation and therefore, a publication must keep its
reports beneficial to the public.

On Saturday, a group of journalist associations demanded that
the governments of Indonesia and Thailand free several
journalists being tried in the two countries for defamation.

Tempo journalists are being tried in Jakarta, while researcher
Supinya Klangnarong and several journalists from the Thai Post
daily are on trial in Bangkok.

The call for the journalists' release comes as courts in the
two countries prepare to announce their decisions in the
journalists' cases on Monday.

Prosecutors have demanded that Bambang be sentenced to two
years in jail for causing social unrest and defaming Tomy.

The Central Jakarta District Court will also hand down
verdicts on cases involving two other Tempo journalists, Ahmad
Taufik and Tengku Iskandar Ali, who have also been charged with
defamation.

The charges against the three journalists stem from an article
published last year in Tempo magazine, titled Is Tomy in
Tenabang? The article implied that Tomy was connected to a
devastating fire that destroyed much of the Tanah Abang textile
market in February 2003.

Spearheaded by the London-based Article 19 -- a non-
governmental organization focusing on freedom of expression --
and including the Jakarta-based Institute for Studies on the Free
Flow of Information and the Thai Broadcast Journalist
Association, the associations said in a joint statement the civil
and defamation charges against Bambang, Klangnarong and the Thai
Post journalists, particularly where there was a threat of
imprisonment, represented a breach of freedom of expression.

"The charges send a negative message to all journalists and
media organizations, exerting a chilling effect on freedom of
expression and undermining the ability of the media to fulfill
its role as watchdog of the government and the powerful
establishment," said the group in a statement released on
Saturday.

In Thailand, Klangnarong, the secretary-general of the
Campaign for Popular Media Reform, and several Thai Post
journalists were also brought to court after the daily ran a
story on July 16, 2003, suggesting that a company linked to Prime
Minister Thaksin Sinawatra was the beneficiary of Sinawatra's
policies. The article noted a sharp rise in the company's profits
since Sinawatra took office in February 2001.

The company, Shin Corp., Thailand's largest telecommunications
company and whose main shareholder is the Sinawatra family, filed
a defamation suit against Klangnarong and the Thai Post
journalists, seeking monetary compensation from the defendants.

Tempo -- Page 2