'Tempo' on Internet is okay: Harmoko

'Tempo' on Internet is okay: Harmoko

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Information Harmoko yesterday said he did not see anything wrong with Tempo, a newsweekly he closed down two years ago, starting its own homepages on the Internet.

"Anybody can go on the Internet. There are no regulations against it," Harmoko said when asked by reporters about the move by former employees of the banned magazine to launch what they called Tempo Interaktif.

"I don't think there is anything to say; there are no laws on the Internet," Harmoko said after attending a hearing with Commission I of the House of Representatives.

"Maybe the House will want to discuss legislating the Internet," he added.

Harmoko is currently facing a legal battle with a group of former Tempo employees for closing down the magazine in June 1994. The Jakarta State Administrative Court declared his move to rescind Tempo's publishing license illegal and the ruling has since been upheld by the Jakarta High Administrative State Court. The case is now awaiting the Supreme Court's decision.

The first edition of Tempo Interaktif was launched on March 6 by the Tempo Data and Analysis Center using the Idola provider. It can be accessed on http://www.idola.net.id/tempo.

The inaugural edition picked up the most controversial issue of the week: The government's decision to give special privileges to a car-making company run by Hutomo Mandala Putra, the president's youngest son.

The service draws on the rich data base of the old magazine and offers access to all of Tempo's past editions, from the first edition on March 6, 1971 to the last on June 25 1994.

Profiles of public figures which have been available in the best selling book Apa & Siapa (Who's Who) are also available on Tempo's homepages and will be continually updated. (emb)