'Tempo' files appeal over Tomy civil suit verdict

'Tempo' files appeal over Tomy civil suit verdict

M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The defense team for Tempo magazine filed an appeal with the
Central Jakarta District Court on Monday against a court decision
ordering the weekly to pay Rp 500 million (US$58,100) to Tomy
Winata and to publicly apologize to the businessman.

A panel of judges found the weekly guilty of libeling the
well-connected Tomy in an article it ran that insinuated the
businessman was involved in a fire that badly damaged the Tanah
Abang textile market on Feb. 19, 2003.

Tempo's appeal comes days after Tomy's lawyers filed an appeal
with the same court over the amount of damages awarded their
client. They had been seeking Rp 200 billion in damages.

Tomy's lawyer Ervin Lubis filed the appeal last Thursday,
exactly a week after the verdict was handed down. His colleague
Farida Sulistiani confirmed that Tomy had decided to appeal.

"We have many points to appeal. But I can't give you the
details because we have not received a copy of the verdict yet,"
she told The Jakarta Post by phone.

Tempo lawyer Darwin Aritonang said after filing the appeal
that the move was a logical response to the court's lopsided
decision.

"The panel of judges rejected all the considerations that
could have served as mitigating factors for Tempo. In our appeal,
we once again present these considerations to the Jakarta High
Court," he said.

Darwin said that in their verdict, the judges overlooked he
functions of the Press Council, as outlined in Press Law No.
40/1999, in handling media-related cases. The judges also
downplayed the fact that Tempo, renowned for its investigative
reporting, had attempted to present a fair and balanced picture
in its article, Is Tomy in Tenabang?

"What is the use of the Press Council if not for resolving
media-related cases? Furthermore, Tempo journalists contacted
several relevant figures about Tomy's alleged involvement in the
renovation of Tanah Abang textile market," he said.

The court on March 18 that Tempo libeled Tomy in the Tanah
Abang article published on March 3, 2003 edition.

The court found the weekly's management responsible for
publishing the article, which alleged that Tomy had submitted a
Rp 53 billion renovation proposal three months prior to the fire
at the market.

In January, Koran Tempo daily lost a defamation case filed by
Tomy with the South Jakarta District Court. The court ordered the
daily to pay Tomy US$1 million in damages. The daily has also
appealed that decision.

In a related development, the panel of judges hearing a civil
suit against Tempo chief editor Bambang Harymurti and journalists
Ahmad Taufik and T. Iskandar Ali was forced to adjourn the trial
until April 5 when several expert witnesses summoned to testify
failed to appear.