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)