Soeharto vs 'Time' to be heard on Sept. 9: Lawyer

Soeharto vs 'Time' to be heard on Sept. 9: Lawyer

JAKARTA (JP): Central Jakarta District Court will start the
hearing of former president Soeharto's libel suit against U.S.-
based Time magazine at 9 a.m. on Sept. 9, lawyer Juan Felix
Tampubolon said on Monday.

"Time magazine will mainly have to provide grounds for
publishing the cover story, which ruined my client's name,"
Tampubolon told The Jakarta Post.

He was referring to the magazine's May report, which claimed
Soeharto and his children amassed a US$15 billion fortune during
his 30-year rule.

"Time will have to prove something which does not exist. For
instance, it will have to name the bank where Soeharto
reportedly stored his money in."

The time and date of the hearing all refer to the number nine,
which many believe, particularly people in most parts of Asia, to
either be an indicator of good fortune or of terrible doom.

Separately, Time's lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis said there was no
single statement in the magazine's May report which considerably
defamed the former president's reputation.

"I have local newspapers' clippings whose articles were
harsher than what Time reported. There was nothing new in Time's
article for its Indonesian readers. Everybody knows about Pak
Harto. Many have written about it. So how can the Time articles
be considered defamatory?" Todung told the Post.

"There will only be a hearing on Thursday. We have yet to
establish whether Indonesian courts have jurisdiction over the
case. So don't expect anything great."

Earlier, acting Attorney General Ismudjoko said his office
could not complete the investigation on former president Soeharto
by a promised deadline on Thursday, but said that if required, a
hastily compiled report could be presented to President B.J.
Habibie.

"We haven't completed our investigation but if (Minister of
Justice) Pak Muladi wants me to present a report at Thursday's
Cabinet meeting, we can rush our report ... but not our
investigation," Ismudjoko said at his office on Friday.

Sources at the National Police Headquarters, who have been
closely following the eight-month investigation, said the report
would come up "with nothing against Soeharto".

"Soeharto is no fool. Whatever transaction he made, was
legalized by the laws he formed himself. They included
presidential decrees and presidential instructions," the sources
said.

"Whenever Soeharto saw an opportunity to make money, he made
the law first. Investigators may dig as deep as they want, but
they will get a law at the bottom of it legalizing the
transactions."

The sources said Ismudjoko's appointment as acting attorney
general was meant to create an image that the ruling government
had nothing to do with the investigation.

"But the question is, who put Ismudjoko in his position (as
acting attorney general) now?"

"The report will ultimately state that there is no case
against Pak Harto," the sources said, adding that the
announcement will be made on Thursday.

The investigation of Soeharto began in June last year and was
later reinforced by a decree of the People's Consultative
Assembly (MPR), issued in its Special Session last November.
(ylt)