Workers testify against 'Tempo'

Workers testify against 'Tempo'

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

More people who work at and around the Tanah Abang textile market
in Central Jakarta testified on Monday that an article titled
'Ada Tomy di Tenabang?' (Is Tomy Involved in Tenabang?) run by
Tempo magazine in March this year provoked them to plan an attack
on Artha Graha Group owner Tomy Winata.

Ibrahim Moh. Tohir told the Central Jakarta District Court
that most of the community leaders had mobilized their men after
reading the article in the weekly's March 3 edition.

"I myself prepared my men for the attack on March 9," he told
the courtroom, which was packed with his supporters from Tanah
Abang.

However, the attack never took place because Tanah Abang
Betawi Society (IKBT) leader M. Yusuf Muhi called it off.

The article in question insinuated that Tomy had a hand in the
February blaze that badly damaged the textile market. It reported
that Tomy proposed a Rp 53 billion (US$6.24 million) renovation
of the market three months before the fire.

Tomy filed a libel suit against Tempo chief editor Bambang
Harymurti and reporters Ahmad Taufik and T. Iskandar Ali. The
prosecutors have charged the three with publishing news that
instigates unrest. If found guilty, they could face a maximum
penalty of 10 years in jail.

Another witness, Abraham Lunggona, a security guard at an
office building in Tanah Abang and also the deputy chief of the
central board of Pemuda Panca Marga, an organization whose
members are children of veterans, said the aborted attack might
have had "dire consequences" for Tomy.

"If Yusuf hadn't called it off, we would have done something
to Tomy like we did to Kontras," he said.

In September, members of Pemuda Panca Marga attacked the
office of the Commission for Victims of Violence and Missing
Persons after the cofounder of the commission, Munir, made a
statement they believed was insulting to the military.