'Time' did not libel Soeharto: Witnesses

JAKARTA (JP): Two witnesses testified before the Central Jakarta District Court on Tuesday that a May 24, 1999 cover story of New York-based Time magazine did not defame the good name of former president Soeharto.

Senior journalist Goenawan Mohammad and communication law expert Andi Abdul Muis said the magazine's cover story was written within universally accepted standards of journalism.

"Reports on public figures are common in journalism and cannot be considered as slanderous.

"A public figure is like a book, that all people can read," said Muis, a communication law professor at the Makassar-based Hasanuddin University.

Muis, who was the first witness to testify on Tuesday, cited the affair between United States president Bill Clinton and former White House intern, Monica Lewinsky, that received enormous print media attention in the US.

Around 40 spectators packed the main courtroom during the four hour hearing that started at 10 a.m. Soeharto was represented by lawyers Juan Felix Tampubolon, O.C. Kaligis, Indriyanto Seno Adji, Mohammad Assegaff and Denny Kailimang, while the magazine was represented by lawyers Todung Mulya Lubis and Lelyana Santosa.

Kaligis, who spoke after Muis, challenged the witness.

"Is that the cost that a public figure must pay?" he asked.

The 71-year-old professor answered with a brief, "Yes, that's about it."

Goenawan, who testified after Muis, also said the magazine's cover story did not defame the former president.

"A harsh criticism against a public figure is not categorized as defaming him/her, as long as the journalist writes the report according to journalistic principles, without personal animosity against the person," Goenawan, former Editor-in-Chief of Tempo weekly magazine, told the hearing, presided over by judge Sihol Sitompoel.

"A public figure should always be criticized and held responsible for his or her statements or policies," he said.

Soeharto filed the lawsuit against the magazine in July last year. The lawsuit demands the magazine pay Rp 189 trillion (US$27 billion) to the former strongman for the article that suggested that he and his family had amassed a US$15 billion fortune during his 32-year reign.

The debate extended into whether the cover of the magazine and a picture of Soeharto was considered slanderous.

The magazine's cover showed a picture of Soeharto with a large US$100 banknote as the background, while on the sixteenth page, the magazine published a photograph of Soeharto hugging several luxury houses.

Muis said the photograph could not be categorized slanderous.

"People have different perceptions of the pictures. Some people said it was slanderous, but others might say the former president is grateful for God's gifts," he said, turning the spectators into laughter.

Goenawan supported the statement, saying he categorized the pictures as caricatures.

"It is common everywhere that a caricature has a cynical characteristic," he said, while citing that it was people who would determine whether the pictures were slanderous.

Another tenet debated in the hearing was about the journalistic principle of objectively covering both sides.

Goenawan said a journalist was considered to be applying the "cover both sides" principle if she or he interviewed all sources related to a story, including the source's opponents.

"If the journalist is not able to interview the primary source, she or he is allowed to write statements from other people representing the primary source," Goenawan, now a senior journalist with Tempo, said.

He said the magazine printed on the May edition's eighteenth page, "Neither Soeharto nor his six children responded to requests for interviews, though lawyers representing Soeharto (Tampubolon and Kaligis) asserted that their clients did nothing illegal."(asa)