'Tempo' lawyers want mayor forced to testify in court

M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Lawyers for Tempo weekly magazine said on Monday that they wanted the court to force a witness to appear as three summons from the Central Jakarta Prosecutor's Office had already been sent.

Incumbent Central Jakarta Mayor Hosea Petra Lumbun failed for the third time on Monday to turn up in court as a witness in the lawsuit filed by businessman Tomy Winata against Tempo journalists for libel.

Lumbun, a key witness, had written to the panel of judges at the Central Jakarta District Court that he was unable to appear in court, as he had to conduct several inspection tours.

Tempo defense lawyer Trimoelja D. Soerjadi demanded the judges to issue an order to force the witness to testify.

"His testimony is of great significance because it concerns the credibility of Tempo as a trusted magazine," Trimoelja told the courtroom.

The judges decided to give the defense one more chance to bring the mayor in to testify.

The police case file shows that Lumbun said he was never interviewed by the weekly's reporters about the fire that razed Tanah Abang textile market on Feb. 19, 2003.

At an earlier hearing, Tempo reporter Yuli Antoro said he had interviewed Lumbun at the gutted market the day after the fire.

Tempo chief editor Bambang Harymurti and reporters Ahmad Taufik and T. Iskandar Ali have been standing trial for defamation, and have been charged under the Criminal Code for publishing news that instigates unrest. If found guilty, they could be sentenced to 10 years in jail.

The article published in the weekly's March 3-9 edition insinuated that Tomy was involved in setting the textile market ablaze to reap a subsequent renovation project.

Tempo managing editor Wahyu Muryadi has testified that the article had been written in accordance with journalistic principles.

"We interviewed those parties that could be deemed as having connections to the fire, including Tomy Winata who, it was said on the streets, had deliberately set the market on fire," he said. The article vindicated Tomy of the accusation, he said, because the weekly had published an interview with him along with the story. Tomy has denied that the interview took place.

Another hearing has been set for Jan. 12 to hear the testimonies of media experts Sabam Leo Batubara and Rudi Satrio.