Texmaco's Marimutu sues 'Kompas' and 'Tempo' over news articles

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Businessman Marimutu Sinivasan has filed a civil suit against leading Kompas daily, seeking whopping financial compensation of US$151 million (approximately Rp 1.23 trillion) for news articles on him and his companies since 1999.

The case was heard for the first time at the Central Jakarta District Court on Tuesday.

Marimutu's lawyers told the court that the businessman had sued the daily, founder Jakob Oetama and chief editor Soeryopratomo over news articles deemed to have tarnished the image of 18 companies within the giant PT Texmaco Group.

"Kompas daily has carried out a systematic campaign to destroy and assassinate the plaintiff's character," lawyer Y.B. Purwaning Yanuar, one of Marimutu's lawyers, told the court.

She argued that articles were "untrue" and had caused material losses of $150 million to her client.

Marimutu also demanded Kompas pay $1 million in immaterial losses.

Kompas lawyer Amir Syamsuddin said that his client was only informed about the lawsuit on June 16.

"There was no legal notification: (Marimutu) did not exercise his right to explain his side or raise objections to the articles. All of a sudden we received the lawsuit," Amir told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

However, he stressed that filing a lawsuit against a media establishment without prior notification was nothing new.

"But of course, it would have been better if the party had used his right to explain or raise objections to press reports or send a legal notification (prior to the lawsuit)," he said.

He questioned the lawsuit as it involved some 300 news articles on a particular person over a relatively long period.

"I can understand if the lawsuit were about a specific issue, but it is unusual if it involves a large number of articles (on a variety of issues)," he said.

Amir also said that the case may set a bad precedent for the press and its function as a social control agent in the future.

He urged the court to deal with the case correctly because the authorities or businesspeople might scapegoat the press in the future.

Amir also asked that the judges be increased from three to five. Usually, a court case is handled by three judges, including a presiding judge.

Presiding Judge Silvester Djuma asked the two parties to settle the dispute out of court and adjourned the hearing until next Monday.

In a related development, the court also commenced the hearing into a lawsuit filed by Marimutu against Tempo weekly magazine.

Marimutu demanded Tempo pay $51 million in compensation for publishing about 50 articles that, he alleged, had tarnished his image.

The hearing was immediately adjourned until next week due to the absence of Tempo's lawyer.