Theo reports tabloid to police for defamation
Theo reports tabloid to police for defamation
JAKARTA (JP): A former top military officer, Maj. Gen. (ret)
Theo Syafei, lodged a complaint against the newly established
tabloid Abadi for slander on Friday at the headquarters of the
Jakarta Police.
Accompanied by a team of seven lawyers, the former chief of
the Udayana Regional Military Command, which oversees East Nusa
Tenggara, West Nusa Tenggara, Bali and East Timor, arrived at
city police headquarters in South Jakarta at around 10 a.m.
In his complaint, Theo said that he had been slandered by the
front-page report of the premiere edition of the tabloid. The
Dec. 24 story ran under a headline which read: Theo dan Kerusuhan
Kupang (Theo and the Kupang riots).
The two-star general wants the police to summon the tabloid's
general managers, Hadi Mustafa Juraid and Sumargono, for
questioning.
"They have no reason to connect me with the riots in Kupang,"
Theo told the media after emerging from the police headquarters.
The story in the tabloid claimed that Theo -- in a speech he
delivered to youths in a church in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara, a
few days before the Nov. 30 riots -- had indirectly provoked the
anger of the local people in the mainly Christian province.
In his speech, Theo, himself a Christian, blamed Muslims for
the Nov. 22 Ketapang incident in West Jakarta, Abadi said in its
report.
The Ketapang violence claimed 14 lives and left 22 churches
and a number of Christian schools burned and vandalized.
In the Kupang violence on Nov. 30, rioters set on fire and
vandalized five mosques, 23 houses belonging to Muslim's, a
Padang restaurant and a haj boarding house. No fatalities were
reported but 17 rioters were injured.
The tabloid ran a complete transcript of Theo's speech in the
Kupang church along with its story.
Copies of the tabloid's transcript along with cassettes of
Theo's speech reportedly have been widely distributed to the
public, including Jakartans, sparking the anger of some Muslims.
On Tuesday, representatives of seven Muslim organizations
grouped under the Islamic Defender Association visited Jakarta
Police chief Maj. Gen. Noegroho Djajoesman, asking for the
immediate questioning of the retired general for allegedly
spreading groundless information and hatred against Islam.
Conflicts
A member of the group, Sumargono, said the police should seek
clarification immediately to avoid possible conflicts between
Christians and Muslims.
All the accusations have been vehemently denied by Theo.
Theo who once served a brief stint as a legislator in the
Armed Forces faction of the House of Representatives before he
was withdrawn in 1997 for criticizing then president Soeharto,
claimed that he could not remember ever delivering a speech
"inside a church, either in Kupang or Jakarta".
"I did not even visit Kupang between 1997 and 1998," he added.
Theo, who recently joined the faction of the Indonesian
Democratic Party led by Megawati Soekarnoputri, said that he was
putting his fate in the hands of the police, who, as enforcers of
the law, he believed would uphold the truth above everything.
Separately, city police spokesman Lt. Col. Edward Aritonang
said the police would soon summon Hadi Mustafa Juraid and
Sumargono from Abadi.
"We'll soon summon them for questioning to find out what's
really going on," he said.
When contacted last night, Hadi Mustafa said that his tabloid
was ready to face any charges.
He strongly believed that he and his colleagues had observed
all of the required journalistic protocols, including contacting
Theo about the story.
"Pak Theo was not responsive, and when our reporter was sent
to interview him at his office he could not finish the interview,
saying that he was in a hurry to go to another meeting," Hadi
told The Jakarta Post.
According to Hadi, the transcript of Theo's speech was taken
from a cassette given to the tabloid by a church activist in
Kupang.
The speech has also aroused arguments among the country's
Muslim leaders.
Amien Rais, a former chairman of the country's second largest
Muslim organization, Muhammadiyah, said, "I read the transcript
and there are a few statements which I considered very dangerous
to the religious harmony of the nation."
"So if Bung Theo Syafei claims that he did not say what he
said on purpose ... for me that's illogical."
"It doesn't make sense at all," Amien told the media on Friday
after attending a ceremony for the presentation of humanitarian
aid from the Singapore government at the headquarters of
Muhammadiyah on Jl. Menteng Raya 62, Central Jakarta.
Amien, who is now chairman of the National Mandate Party, also
said, "I think Muslims must stay open-minded and wait for an
explanation."
"If it turns out that he (Theo) was wrong, the best thing for
him to do would be to apologize to the people. Then everything
would be resolved."
Discredit
Sharing this opinion, Muhammadiyah chairman Syafii Maarif said
that Muslims should forgive Theo if he did discredit Islam.
"I think that he must be emotionally unstable if he made such
remarks. Pak Theo spoke on behalf of himself, not for all
Christians."
"This has to be understood, and people have to understand that
there is no need to blow this matter out of proportion. It is
better to keep a wise and objective mind," Syafii said.
Separately, the chairman of Nahdatul Ulama, Abdurrahman Wahid,
said on Wednesday that Muslims had to be more mature and wise
when dealing with such remarks.
"That is his (Theo's) personal opinion. Why ban a man from his
own speech? Everyone has the right to speak his or her opinion,"
he said.
Last night during a breaking of the fast at Kemang hotel in
South Jakarta, Theo sincerely apologized to the public for any
offense he may have caused, especially to "certain groups of
believers".
This was an apparent reference to Muslims. (emf/edt)