`Tempo' reporters have second thoughts about suing Harmoko

JAKARTA (JP): Former journalists of the defunct Tempo magazine, in a desperate attempt to obtain a new publishing license, said yesterday that they are willing to reconsider their lawsuit against Minister of Information Harmoko filed with the Jakarta State Administrative Court last week.

The journalists, who are planning to call their magazine Opini, appear to be fighting a losing battle as a rival group, backed by tycoon Mohammad (Bob) Hasan, seems on the verge of securing a publishing license for a magazine called Gatra. They originally considered calling it Masa.

"We will reconsider the suit if that is considered to be an obstacle to us obtaining a new license," said Bambang Bujono, who heads the foundation of Tempo employees in the bid to establish a new magazine.

In their latest attempt to protest the government's closure of Tempo, 50 employees of the defunct magazine filed a lawsuit against Harmoko for making them "lose a media to express their opinion". It was the second suit filed against the minister. The first one was filed by the magazine's former chief editor Goenawan Mohamad.

Bambang admitted that some of the Tempo staff had second thoughts about filing the lawsuit and have asked that they be allowed to consider withdrawing it to pave the way for a new license.

By regulation, the minister of information has the power to issue, and rescind, the press publication license.

Bambang said that Tempo foundation can still withdraw the lawsuit because it has only reached a preliminary hearing level at the Jakarta State Administrative Court.

"It is not fear which makes us decide like this. But we have to think it over if continuing the suit will jeopardize our chances of getting the license," he said.

He added that to most of the former Tempo employees, the chief concern is to obtain jobs.

Bambang stressed that the suit was filed after careful consideration. "We were then pessimistic that the government would pay attention to our application for a license," he said.

Split

The Tempo staff has split on the future of the magazine, with some 162 employees accepting Bob Hasan's offer to join his project to start a new magazine. Of these however, only 22 are journalists, while the rest are editorial support employees.

The majority of the 78 journalists rejected the offer, saying that they preferred to set up their own independent magazine.

The government revoked Tempo's publishing license in June because of its editorial content, although it was never categorically stated which articles were deemed offensive. Two other prominent weeklies Editor and DeTik lost their publishing licenses at the same time in June for administrative reasons.

Bambang said the government is now considering the two applications for Gatra and Opini, but only one license will be issued.

Tempo sources said that some of those who had supported Opini were beginning to consider joining Bob Hasan's project.

Bambang acknowledged that Gatra was very likely to get the license because it was backed by Bob Hasan.

Bambang said many of the journalists are ready to find other jobs if Opini's license application is turned down. "For the moment, we are sticking to the government's statement that it will give the license to the former Tempo employees and that those who are not satisfied can file a suit at the Administrative Court," he said.

He added that the employees will not adjust their application for Opini to suit the government's needs. (par)