Tabloid leaders detained over 'disturbing' article

Tabloid leaders detained over 'disturbing' article

Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan

The Medan Police in North Sumatra have detained both the chief
editor and managing editor of a Jakarta Islamic weekly tabloid
over an article claiming that a product of noodle firm PT
Olagafood was tainted with pork.

The local police said on Saturday that the editor-in-chief of
Tabloid Jurnal Islam, Muhammad Syarif Haris, and managing editor
Rasil Karti Wibowo were arrested on Friday on charges of
spreading news calculated to cause public disquiet.

The pair were arrested on Jl. Suprapto in Medan as they paid a
visit to the city to recover the cost of an unpublished, prepaid
advertisement promoting their tabloid in a local newspaper.

The article, which was deemed to have caused disquiet among
Muslims, was published in the tabloid's Jan. 25-Jan. 31 issue and
was titled "Alhami fools the Islamic community, Alhami products
contain pork fat".

Medan-based Olagafood, which produces Alhami -- an instant
noodle product -- flatly rejected the report and filed a
complaint against the tabloid with the local police.

Lawyer for the company Refman Basri claimed Olagafood had
obtained a halal certificate from the Indonesian Council of
Ulemas (MUI) to produce Alhami.

A separate examination by the health ministry also showed that
no pork fat was present in the company's noodles, he added.

The "disparaging" article sparked a street demonstration by
thousands of Olagafood workers at Medan Police Headquarters and
the office of the provincial branch of the Indonesian
Journalists' Association (PWI).

The protesters condemned the tabloid for the article, which
they claimed was baseless, and backed the police move to detain
its chief editor and managing editor.

They urged the PWI to also take action against the tabloid,
which is published in Jakarta.

"The publication has not only tarnished the good name of PT
Olagafood, but has also made the company's employees worried,"
Refman said.

The detained chief editor and managing editor told The Jakarta
Post on Saturday that they were unaware of the charges the Medan
Police had filed against them.

The suspects claimed that the article had been published in
accordance with the principles enshrined in the journalistic code
of ethics.

Islam bans its followers from eating pork or any by-products
derived from pork.

Food additives producer PT Ajinomoto Indonesia had to withdraw
all its products from the market in January 2001 after the MUI's
Food and Drug Analysis Institute (LPPOM) found evidence that
since October 2000 the company had been using substances derived
from pigs in its production process.

The then president, Abdurrahman Wahid, intervened to ease the
heightening controversy over the case by declaring that Ajinomoto
products were halal (permitted to be consumed by Muslims).