Tabloid, ex-minister involved in war of words

Tabloid, ex-minister involved in war of words

JAKARTA (JP): Penta weekly tabloid has struck back at former
minister of mines and energy I.B. Sudjana by lodging a complaint
with the Jakarta Police on Thursday over Sudjana's allegedly
false accusations against the publication, an executive said.

Penta's chief editor Mawardi Ittam told a press conference on
Friday that Sudjana's allegations that the tabloid ran
defamatory front-page stories on him and his family were
baseless.

"Neither the police, Sudjana's lawyers nor even Sudjana
himself contacted us before or after lodging the protest at the
National Police headquarters," Mawardi said, referring to
Sudjana's report to the police on Jan. 11.

Mawardi, who was accompanied by his lawyers Syarif A. Ali and
Hamzah, said that he immediately made a thorough study of his
tabloid's articles run on Dec. 31 under the headline, I.B.
Sudjana kabur? (Is I.B. Sudjana fleeing the country?) and found
nothing wrong with their content.

Sudjana said he would file a lawsuit as the tabloid's articles
were libelous and were part of a 'political conspiracy' to topple
him.

But, "There was nothing wrong with the content as what we did
was just repeat stories already published by many media when
Sudjana was still a minister," Mawardi said.

Syarif said that Sudjana could be charged with violating
Article 318 of Criminal Code on false allegations which carries a
maximum penalty of four years imprisonment.

Syarif added that his client would also counter-sue Sudjana,
demanding he pay Rp 20 billion compensation for the material
losses borne by the tabloid and its employees due to his remarks.

"Sudjana's remarks did ruin the tabloid's image with its
sources and employees. The tabloid is not a cheap forum that runs
groundless news," he said.

Sudjana claimed in his complaint that the tabloid's reports
about the dispute between the Ministry of Mines and Energy and PT
Petrobuild Indonesia was baldly referred to as a dispute between
himself and the company.

Another report in the same publication referred to Sudjana as
an ambitious person who together with his family illegally
amassed wealth during his tenure.

According to Sudjana, the articles were never confirmed with
him and none of the tabloid's reporters came to him for
interview.

"We had tried to contact Sudjana but people in his houses in
Jakarta and Bali always told my reporters that he was neither at
home nor in Bali. A housekeeper even told my reporter that the
house in Jakarta no longer belonged to Sudjana," Mawardi said.

Meanwhile, one of Sudjana's lawyers, Alfred Simanjuntak from
Ruhut Sitompul and Associates, said on Friday afternoon that
Sudjana was ready to face any lawsuit filed by the tabloid as
they had enough evidence to prove that they were not guilty.

"It's their right to do that and we'll prove them wrong in
court," he told The Jakarta Post.

Alfred also said that the lawyers were now preparing documents
in order to sue the tabloid in a civil court. (emf)