Questioning of editors in Ghalib case blasted
Questioning of editors in Ghalib case blasted
JAKARTA (JP): The police summons of three senior newspaper
editors for questioning regarding the defamation charges lodged
by former attorney general Andi Ghalib against executives of the
Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) received strong criticism on
Thursday.
According to August Parengkuan, managing editor of Kompas,
police should not summon media workers for questioning in
relation to their reports.
"Journalists are just doing their job, reporting events they
observe. In this they have to be strictly independent and not
take sides," August told reporters after meeting the summons at
city police headquarters.
He said that in future the press should not be burdened with
the efforts of police investigators.
The police decision to summon media workers for questioning
could be a bad precedent for the country's ongoing struggle for
press freedom.
"And in this case, we are all, I believe, just running stories
according to what we were told to by Pak Teten in a press
conference recently," August said, referring to Teten Masduki,
the ICW coordinator, who on June 3 revealed evidence suggesting
that Ghalib had received bribes.
August was backed up by his lawyer Abdul Hakim Garuda
Nusantara from the Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy
(Elsam).
"It was not easy to fight for press freedom in the New Order
era, and it's going to be harder in the future if we're still
treated like this," Abdul Hakim said.
Media Indonesia chief editor Djafar H. Assegaff and Rakyat
Merdeka managing editor Jasofi Bachtiar were also summoned for
questioning on Thursday as witnesses regarding Ghalib's
allegation that Teten publicly defamed him.
Jasofi was questioned at the police station a few hours
earlier than the scheduled time of 12 p.m.
No way
While Assegaff, one of the country's senior journalists and a
former Indonesian Ambassador to Vietnam, said he met the police
summons only to state his refusal to be a witness in the case.
"As journalists, we have the right to refuse the police
summons for questioning," he said, referring to Article 15 of Law
No. 21/1982 on the press.
He said he told the police interrogators that he would not
allow any of his employees, including the reporter who covered
Teten's press conference on June 3, to meet their summons.
Assegaff asked the police to be aware of the communication
rights of citizens in this country, which apply especially to
journalists.
According to August, he answered several questions in the two-
hour questioning session to ascertain whether the investigation
was legitimate.
"I only answer questions concerning reports printed in my
newspaper," he said.
When asked to comment on the media complaints, city police
detectives chief Col. Bambang Riatmodjo said only: "Police
respect those people and their rights."
Police earlier said they summoned the editors because it was
the media that disseminated the information released in the June
3 press conference held by Teten and another ICW's executive,
Bambang Widjojanto, at the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation
office.
The independent corruption watchdog held the conference, on
Ghalib's 53rd birthday, while the former attorney general was in
Europe to find US$9 billion that Time magazine reported was
transferred by former president Soeharto to an Austrian bank.
During the media gathering, Teten and Bambang disclosed
information suggesting that Ghalib has been receiving bribes from
two troubled prominent businessmen, Prajogo Pangestu and The Nin
King, who were both being investigated for fraud by Ghalib's
office at the time.
Shortly after his return from the trip, Ghalib lodged a
complaint with the police for what he said was defamation by
Teten and Bambang.
A few days later, Ghalib's forced temporary resignation from
his post was approved by President B.J. Habibie. (emf)