`Tempo' news reporter questioned for 11 hours
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
It took Jakarta Police investigators about 11 hours on Saturday to complete their questioning of Tempo weekly reporter Ahmad Taufik as a suspect in a defamation complaint filed by businessman Tomy Winata.
"The computer (used to take Taufik's statement) hung from time to time, slowing down the questioning," Taufik's lawyer Darwin Aritonang told detik.com late on Saturday after the questioning.
The investigators, led by Adj. Sr. Comr. Tito Karnavian, asked Taufik 60 questions. The questions centered around the sources of an article run by the weekly in its March 3-9 edition, which hinted at a role by Tomy in a devastating fire at the Tanah Abang market in February.
Aritonang said his client also was asked about the existence of an alleged proposal to renovate Tanah Abang market signed by Tomy and dating from long before the fire.
Following the publication of the article, about 200 supporters of Tomy, who owns the Artha Graha Group, attacked the Tempo office and assaulted chief editor Bambang Harymurti and several other journalists, including Taufik.
The police have charged five people allegedly involved in the attack with Articles 335 and 352 of the Criminal Code on the use of force to perpetrate violence against others and on minor assault respectively. The articles carry maximum punishments of one year and three months in prison, respectively.
The attack made headlines and Tomy was invited to a hearing with the House of Representatives. The businessman later filed a defamation complaint against Tempo and the police immediately named Bambang Harymurti as a suspect. Taufik was later named a suspect as well.
Bambang was earlier charged under articles 310 of Criminal Code on defamation and article 311 on libel, which carry maximum punishments of nine months and four years in prison, respectively.
The police later stated that he also violated Article 5(1) of the press law, on the media's obligation to respect religious norms and public decency, as well as to adhere to the principle of presumption of innocence. The article carries a maximum punishment of Rp 500 million (US$56,179) in fines.
Taufik was charged with the same three articles.
The police have questioned several Tempo reporters as witnesses in the case. Tomy, however, who is known to have ties with the military, has yet to be questioned.
Taufik told reporters that the police asked him three times whether he himself had seen Tomy's name on the alleged proposal to renovate Tanah Abang market.
TempoNewsRoom reported that the journalist's response to the question was: "According to my source, Tomy's name was on it."
Taufik also said he refused to identify the source, only saying the source "is Indonesian but not from Tomy's circle".