'Tempo' victory raises new hopes of press freedom
'Tempo' victory raises new hopes of press freedom
JAKARTA (JP): The Jakarta state administrative court's decision in favor of Tempo magazine on Wednesday raises new hope for freedom of the press in Indonesia, leading observers said yesterday.
Andi Muis of the Hasanuddin University's School of Law, Hendardi of the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation, and Parni Hadi of the Indonesian Journalists Association agreed that, although the court ruling was not final, it set a good precedent for the local press.
The observers hailed the administrative court's judgment as "courageous and independent". On Wednesday the court ordered the defendant, Information Minister Harmoko, to restore Tempo's publishing license.
Muis told The Jakarta Post that the state administrative court was trying to uphold the supremacy of the law when it said, in delivering its judgment on the case, that the institution of the publishing permit (SIUPP) was against Indonesia's press law.
The court ruled that the Minister of Information's decision to revoke publishing license of Tempo in June was unlawful. Chief Judge Benjamin Mangkoedilaga, who presided over the trial, said that Harmoko's decision was against the prevailing press laws.
The court also ordered the minister to revoke Ministerial Decree No. 123/1994, which the government used as a basis for its closure of Tempo along with two other newsweeklies, Editor and DeTIK.
Muis said the court's decision was a surprise for the Indonesian legal system.
"The state administrative court's decision also implies that the supreme court should review the information minister's 1984 decree on publishing licenses.
The verdict, he said, means that court is the right place to settle disputes between the mass media and the government, which cannot close down a publication without a sound legal basis.
"Harmoko should actually have reported what he saw as wrong in Tempo's to the police, in the fist place, instead of closing it down," he said.
Review
Hendardi also said the state administrative court's decision implied that the information minister's decree on publishing licenses should be reviewed.
He said that the license was against the spirit of democratization and was a repressive means, used by the government, of controlling the press.
However, he added, he was worried that Tempo's win would eventually be shot down by a higher court, as had happened with many land cases originating in Irian Jaya and Central Java.
He cited the Kedungombo land dispute, in which the then Chief Justice Purwoto Suhadi Gandasubrata reversed the Supreme Court's earlier decision, which was in favor of the Kedungombo residents.
Senior Judge Zainal Asikin Kusumah Atmadja, who presided over the Supreme Court of appeal, had ruled that the government must pay Rp 50,000 (US$22.5) per square meter of land to the villagers, in contrast to Rp 4,000 offered by the government and Rp 10,000 sought by the villagers.
Another example, he said, was the recent Chief Justice's decision to overrule the Court's decision, on appeal from High Court, ordering the Irian Jaya provincial administration to pay Rp 18.6 billion in a conflict with an Irianese Hanoch Hebe Ohee over a 62 hectare plot of land.
Meanwhile Parni Hadi, Secretary-General of the Indonesian Journalists Association, said that although Tempo had won the legal battle, the association would not re-admit Goenawan as a member of the association.
"The decision is not final yet. We'll decide later when it is completely over," he told The Post.
Even if the appeal court later decided in favor of Goenawan, it did not mean that Tempo would immediately and automatically regain its publishing license, he said.
"There are steps that Tempo has to follow in order to get a new publishing license," he said. (imn)