Surabaya mayor makes apology to reporters

JAKARTA (JP): Surabaya Mayor Soenarto Sumoprawiro openly apologized to about 30 journalists for threatening remarks he made against them last month.

"I'll apologize once, 10 times, 100 times and even 1,000 times if I have to. But let's not prolong this issue. I was only kidding," he was quoted by Antara as telling the reporters who usually cover his activities.

This is the second meeting of reconciliation the mayor has had with the reporters since his first one last Tuesday, when he fell short of an actual apology. The dissatisfied reporters have since filed a libel lawsuit with the city's district court.

It was not immediately clear if the reporters would now drop the lawsuit.

The meeting yesterday was held at the mayor's residence.

Respected senior statesman Roeslan Abdulgani, from Surabaya, dropped in briefly to attend the meeting.

Roeslan told the reporters that they should understand that the mayor is a typical Surabayan who likes to talk in strong words.

Mayor Soenarto added that he had no idea that his remarks would offend anyone.

He said the incident was already severe enough punishment.

The incident happened on Sept. 22, when the mayor threatened to hound reporters out of town and demolish their homes if they continued to write bad things about East Java Governor Basofi Sudirman.

He has since been reprimanded by the governor. (emb)