'The Jakarta Post' offers to meet Pertamina directors

'The Jakarta Post' offers to meet Pertamina directors

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Jakarta Post offered to meet with Pertamina directors to
clarify its recent editorial on the sale by the giant state oil
company of two large tankers, which has been a source of public
controversy in the past month, the newspaper's editors said on
Monday.

Pertamina President Ariffi Nawawi and three other members of
the board of directors filed a complaint on Monday morning with
the National Police, saying that the editorial that appeared in
the newspaper on Wednesday was libelous and had tarnished their
reputation.

The editorial, entitled Tentacles of corruption commented on
the controversy over the sale of two Very Large Crude Carriers
(VLCCs) which Pertamina had ordered from a South Korean
shipbuilding company.

Lucas SH and Partners law firm, on behalf of PT Pertamina
directors, sent a letter to the Post demanding an apology for the
editorial piece by 10 a.m. on Monday and that the paper "correct
and revise the content of the article".

The Post said, in a statement on Monday, it had written to the
Pertamina directors and their lawyers, offering to meet and
clarify the situation. The letter was sent by special courier,
and was received in their respective offices at around 7 a.m.

"The letter invited the directors and commissioners of PT
Pertamina to meet with us to clarify matters over The Jakarta
Post's June 23 editorial which commented on the sale of
Pertamina's two giant tankers."

Since the Pertamina directors decided to go ahead and file
their complaint with the police anyway, the Post appointed on
Monday lawyers Denny Kailimang and Todung Mulya Lubis to
represent it. The newspaper would also take up the matter of the
allegations of corruption with the Corruption Eradication
Commission (KPK) at a meeting planned at the latter's office at
noon on Tuesday.

"The editorial of The Jakarta Post is a compilation of news
and analysis that have developed over the controversy of the sale
of the giant tankers by Pertamina. The editorial is part of the
(newspaper's) function in building a culture of greater
transparency and accountability that has become our common
commitment," the statement said.

In the letter to Pertamina, the Post's Editor-in-Chief Raymond
Toruan said the editorial essentially expressed the newspaper's
"principal thinking in carrying out our professional duties; as a
member of the press, we will continue to be loyal and pay
attention to information and issues that are of concern to public
interests, and are valuable to the life of the community, the
nation and the state."

Lukas told reporters after filing the complaint with the
police that the editorial "gives the impression that Pertamina
directors had lied, and were always being dishonest, and this led
to this controversy that has not been resolved to this day".

In response to a reporter's question, he acknowledged that
other newspapers and magazines had been reported the controversy
over the sale of the two tankers by Pertamina, but he made a
distinction between news reports and an editorial.

"We don't have any problem with the news reports," he said.
"The Jakarta Post wrote it in the context of an editorial. So,
it's very different."