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.