'Tempo' bid for trial delay rejected

Urip Hudiono, Jakarta

The Central Jakarta District Court refused a request by the lawyers for embattled Tempo magazine to delay the libel suit trial against some of the weekly's journalists until a related legal decision had been made.

During Monday's trial, scheduled to hear the defense plea of chief editor Bambang Harymurti, lawyer Trimoelja D. Soerjadi said they could not deliver the plea yet because the processing of their complaints of false evidence and false witness testimonies were greatly intertwined with their client's defense.

"We request that the trial be adjourned until the complaints have been attended to and followed up on," he said.

Bambang and journalists Ahmad Taufik and Tengku Iskandar Ali have been on trial after being accused of libel by businessman Tomy Winata apparently related to an article in March 2003 entitled 'Is Tomy in Tenabang?'. The article insinuated that Tomy may have been involved in the fire that gutted the Tanah Abang textile market in February 2003.

Trimoelja told the court that the defendants had filed a complaint over Tomy's alleged perjury on July 26. Tomy denied ever being interviewed by Tempo for the article, even though other witnesses and evidence showed the opposite.

On Sept. 23, 2003, the defendants also filed a complaint over concocted evidence by Adj. Sr. Comr. Tito Karnavian and Adj. Comr. Ponadi. The two police officials allegedly issued a confiscation warrant on March 11, 2003, for some gubernatorial letters related to the case. The letters were actually dated March 13, 2003.

"To our disappointment, none of the complaints have been followed up on," Trimoelja said, also questioning why the court was reluctant to summon other key witnesses, including Central Jakarta Mayor Hosea Petra Lumbun, to testify.

As a result, the lawyers suspect discrimination against their clients.

"Tomy filed his complaint against our clients on March 11, 2003, and the police immediately prepared the case's dossier," Trimoelja said. "But, our clients have seen no progress on their complaints even 10 months after filing them."

Presiding judge Suripto refused the lawyers' request and told them to prepare the pleas for the next hearing, on Aug. 16.