Use of Press Law urged in 'Tempo' case

Use of Press Law urged in 'Tempo' case

Sri Wahyuni and Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta/Jakarta

The Press Council and legislators questioned on Wednesday the
swift preventive confiscation of some of Tempo media group's
properties and proposed that prosecutors use the Press Law
instead of the Criminal Code in media-related cases.

"It (the confiscation) has raised a big question mark. It's
strange. How could they do it that fast? It simply confirms once
again the suspicions of a conspiracy, that the court Mafia really
exists," Press Council chairman Ichlasul Amal told The Jakarta
Post in Yogyakarta on Wednesday.

Legislators Amin Said Husni and Djoko Susilo of the National
Awakening Party (PKB) and the Reform factions expressed similar
concerns.

Amin, chairman of the PKB faction, said that judges and
prosecutors must uphold the law and be free from intervention.

Djoko, deputy secretary of the Reform faction, added that the
unusual process simply highlighted the deficiencies of the
country's judicial system.

They were commenting on the legal battle between Koran Tempo
daily and businessman Tomy Winata, and the confiscation of Tempo
properties.

Tomy filed a civil suit against Koran Tempo daily and Tempo
co-founder Goenawan Mohammad on June 5, 2003, over news articles
published on March 12 and March 13. Tomy is demanding Rp 21
billion (US$2.47 million) in damages for potential material and
non-material losses.

On July 7, Tomy's lawyers withdrew the complaint but refiled
it with the same court on Aug. 8. The panel of judges signed a
court order for the preventive seizure of Tempo properties on
Sept. 25, one week after the plaintiff's lawyers submitted their
request.

On Monday, the East Jakarta District Court confiscated
Goenawan's house in Pulo Mas, East Jakarta.

"Given the developments in this case, the public will assume
that someone powerful out there is controlling our judicial
system," Djoko said.

He also criticized the use of the Criminal Code instead of the
Press Law to handle the case. According to him, this simply
showed the incompetence of the country's legal institution's.

Ichlasul meanwhile said it was urgent that judges and
prosecutors be persuaded to use the Press Law instead of the
Criminal Code when dealing with cases involving journalists or
the media. He argued that such cases were special and were
governed by a special law.

He noted that the relatively more democratic system brought
about by the reform movement had opened ways for powerful
individuals and institutions to restrict or even clamp down on
press freedom in the country.

Ichlasul, a former rector of Gadjah Mada University, said that
under the authoritarian New Order government, the powerholders
could simply ban a publication. Under the present more democratic
system, some people were using the law, a legal instrument, to
close down newspapers, he added.

"They take advantage of the supremacy of the law. And this can
have a much bigger impact (on press freedom) than the authorities
in the past ever had," said Ichlasul, citing the preventive
seizure of Goenawan's home as an example.

He said that while in the past people could easily point their
fingers at the authorities for acting arbitrarily, today it was
more difficult to see who was involved in such cases. It could
involve many parties, he said, but one thing was sure: they would
all be very powerful.

Ichlasul also underlined the need for changes to the Criminal
Code through the taking take out of articles related to the press
and their incorporation into the Press Law instead.

"This (Press Law) has to be revised and this can be done in
tandem with the revision of the Criminal Code itself," Ichlasul
said.

The Ministry of Justice and Human Rights has proposed that the
Code be revised to include articles criminalizing witchcraft and
certain sexual activities.

The Press Council, according to Ichlasul, would hold a meeting
next week to discuss the proposed revision of the Press Law to
make it more effective as a special law for media-related legal
cases.

"We also plan to invite the Minister of Justice and Human
Rights to discuss the issues," he said.

The Press Council will also decide whether it will issue an
official statement regarding the Tempo case. It has yet to issue
one on the ground that the matter is sub judice.