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)