`Tempo' employees face hard times with optimism
`Tempo' employees face hard times with optimism
M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
A disruption in publication is the main concern for Tempo media
group employees, not the possibility of job loss or closure of
the office that looms over Tempo weekly and Koran Tempo daily in
the ongoing legal wrangle against businessman Tomy Winata.
The asset preservation order issued by the courts has not
fazed them.
"We've lost our jobs before and managed to get through the
hard times," Handy Dharmawan, manager of information technology
division of the newsmagazine, told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
He was referring to when the government banned the respected
magazine along with two other publications, Editor weekly and
Detik tabloid, in 1994.
Tempo magazine is currently engaged in a legal battle with
Tomy because of an article that insinuated the businessman was
responsible for a fire in Tanah Abang textile market in Central
Jakarta earlier this year.
In March, hundreds of people claiming to be Tomy's supporters
staged a violent protest outside the weekly's office, demanding a
retraction.
The incident was followed by lawsuits filed by both parties,
the latest being a civil suit against the weekly's co-founder
Goenawan Mohamad and Koran Tempo over a news article equating
Tomy with a thug.
The East Jakarta District Court issued an asset preservation
order covering the home of Goenawan in Pulo Mas, East Jakarta,
and Koran Tempo office building in Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta.
"When hundreds of people calling themselves Tomy's supporters
thronged our office on Jl. Proklamasi, I was very afraid that
they might get a chance to destroy the computers and servers
here," Handy said.
However, the employees are convinced that Tempo can win the
legal battle.
"We believe that Tempo will overcome this legal battle and
come out the winner. We have experienced the worst in the
country's history of press freedom with the closure of the
magazine," he said.
Fellow employee Heru Susanto from the magazine's general
affairs division said that the legal woes had created camaraderie
among employees.
"We are proud to be a part of Tempo, which is reputed for its
balanced and investigative journalism. And all these threats of
seizure and bullying from Tomy have strengthen our resolve that
we indeed walk along the right path," he told the Post.
Heru said that the media group could count on its employees'
loyalty to get through any problems.
"Most of our former employees rejoined Tempo when it resumed
publication in 1998," he said.
A staffer from the public relations division of PT Tempo Inti
Media Tbk., Ambarsari, shared Heru's conviction that the support
of the employees would help the publication strive against all
odds.
"We have been down and out but have managed to survive," she
said.