'Tempo' ban declared lawful

JAKARTA (JP): The Supreme Court yesterday overturned a decision by the Jakarta State Administrative Court allowing the respected news weekly Tempo to resume publication after a 1994 government ban.

Chief Justice Soerjono, who presided over the hearing at the Supreme Court's main hall, said in his verdict that the Information Minister's decision to revoke the magazine's publishing license was "lawful".

"The ministerial decree revoking the publishing license of Tempo was not against the No. 21/1982 Law on Press Affairs," Soerjono told a packed court room.

The verdict was absorbed in silence by former Tempo employees, including former editor-in-chief Goenawan Mohamad. Goenawan said he had suspected that the magazine would lose its case against the government.

Tempo was closed down in June 1994, together with two other publications, Editor and DeTik. Tempo was faulted for its editorial content, while the banning of Editor and DeTik was attributed to "administrative violations".

Soerjono said that the information minister had the authority to revoke the magazine's license, if the terms under which the license was issued were not upheld.

"The Supreme Court accepted the appeal of Minister of Information Harmoko," he said in the tightly guarded hearing.

He also said that there were enough reasons to grant the minister's appeal and overturn the decision by the Jakarta State Administrative High Court and, earlier, the lower court.

"Both the Jakarta State Administrative Court and the Jakarta State Administrative High Court were not consistent in their legal arguments when they made the rulings in Tempo's favor," he said.

The High Court in November upheld a court decision reached in May, which ruled against the ministerial decree. Harmoko then appealed against the verdict, while the ban was maintained pending the appeal.

The hearing attracted a crowd of almost a thousand of people, including Attorney General Singgih, Justice Adi Andojo Soetjipto, and former deputy chief editor of Tempo Fikri Jufri.

Most of those present did not look particularly surprised. The throng of around 100 journalists covering the hearing immediately rushed to Goenawan Mohamad to ask for his comments.

"I am not surprised with the Supreme Court's decision," he said with a stony face.

"Our fight for press freedom through legal action is now over. But we will continue that struggle through other channels," he called out; this was greeted by cheers from those present.

He said he would respect the Court's decision, despite the fact that he could not accept the points raised by the Court in its verdict.

Adnan Buyung Nasution, one of the lawyers of Tempo, said the verdict was "ominous for the Indonesian press".

"The Supreme Court decision should be interpreted as a warning for the Indonesian press. There's no respect for press freedom," he told reporters.

"There had been hopes that the Supreme Court would uphold justice. Now all of our hopes are dashed," he said.

Separately, Director of Press and Graphics of the Information Ministry Subrata said the Supreme Court's decision was binding.

"We have to respect it, and accept it with grace. This is not a matter of winning or losing," he told reporters at his office yesterday, speculating that the Supreme Court "must have had its own reasons" to hand down a ruling different from the two previous ones.

He refused to say whether the ministry would issue a new license for the former Tempo journalists if they asked for it.

"Don't expect anything," he said.

Todung Mulya Lubis, another lawyer for Tempo, separately said the Supreme Court judges had discounted the principles stipulated in Law No. 21/1982 on Press Affairs, and evidence collected during previous hearing sessions.

For instance, the Supreme Court had not taken into account the fact that the Minister of Information had failed to seek the advice of the Press Honorary Council before revoking the license.

Lubis said his client would not ask for a review of the Supreme Court's decision. "This is the farthest we can go through the legal system. We'll stop here," he said.

Amir Syamsuddin, yet another lawyer of Tempo, however, said there is still the possibility that the magazine would take another legal measure.

"We'll look at all ways to have the Court's decision reviewed," he said. (imn/01)

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