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)