Supreme Court chief tells courts not to put journalists behind bars

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Chief Justice Bagir Manan has given a directive to judges across the country to fine, not imprison, any journalist found guilty in a criminal case related to a press dispute.

During a recent Supreme Court national working meeting, he said that punishment in press disputes "must not in anyway interfere with media activities".

The meeting was attended by the Supreme Court leadership as well as top judges from across the country.

However, Bagir said criminal charges against media outfits were still applicable despite calls from some journalists for the courts to use the Press Law, instead of the Criminal Code, in hearing media disputes.

"Media that use their freedom wantonly must be considered a threat to the press and growing democracy in general. For us in Indonesia, criminal charges in media disputes are still necessary," he said in a statement issued on Wednesday.

Bagir mentioned as an example a series of media reports involving his office that he considered unbalanced and inaccurate.

He also questioned suggestions from the media for courts to use the Press Law in hearing media disputes.

"It is weird as courts only hear cases submitted by prosecutors, who draw up the indictments," Bagir said.

Indonesian courts have jailed a number of journalists in the past. The latest case occurred in May when two journalists from Lampung were jailed for nine months for libeling Alzier Dianis Thabranie, the leader of Golkar Party's Lampung chapter.

The case surfaced last year as the Koridor weekly tabloid, which the two journalists work for, ran a story on vote-buying in Lampung during the first round of the presidential election last year.

The Jakarta High Court also upheld in April a decision by a lower court sentencing Bambang Harymurti, the chief editor of Tempo weekly newsmagazine, to one year in jail for libeling business tycoon Tommy Winata.

The verdicts, combined with the government's controversial draft of the Criminal Code that contains 49 articles deemed harmful to freedom of expression, have prompted several media observers to warn that the country's press freedom was under attack.