'Tempo' lawsuit turns into battle of papers

'Tempo' lawsuit turns into battle of papers

JAKARTA (JP): The Jakarta State Administrative Court yesterday
received documents to support the case of both parties in the
suit between former Tempo employees and Minister of Information
Harmoko.

Harmoko's lawyers turned in eight copies of the Tempo magazine
that contained articles deemed as endangering national stability,
the reason why the government revoked its publishing license.

One copy dated back to 1984 but none were from 1994. The
government also submitted as evidence copies of letters from the
Ministry of Information to the magazine warning the editors about
the offending articles.

Tempo lost its license in June. At the time, it led the rest
of the press in reporting the controversy over the procurement of
39 warships from Germany.

The government however denied that the revocation of the
license was connected with these reports and said that Tempo
repeatedly ignored government warnings on earlier articles.

Lawyers representing the other party in the lawsuit, former
Tempo editor Goenawan Mohamad, yesterday also presented documents
to support their claim that Harmoko's decision was illegal.

Goenawan is represented by Trimoelja D. Soerjadi, Todung Mulya
Lubis, and Atmajaya Salim, while Harmoko was represented by six
lawyers led by R. Wiyono.

The plaintiffs are challenging Harmoko to prove that the said
offending articles have truly undermined national stability.
(imn)