Dear friends,
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is forwarding the protest letter of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) to the President of Indonesia Government, Megawati Soekarnoputri regarding the ruling of the Central Jakarta District Court finding the Tempo Magazine guilty of defamation against businessman Tomy Winata on 18 March 2004. The Court also ordered Tempo Magazine to pay Tomy Winata 500 million rupiah (approximately US$59,000).
On 3 March 2003, the Tempo Magazine published in its article about the allegations that Tomy Winata was responsible for a fire of Tanabang textile market, in order to profit from a planned renovation project. Even though the story contained a denial of the allegations by Tomy Winata, the Court found the Tempo Magazine guilty due to “it failed to find the truth by covering both sides before publishing the article”. Tempo Magazine plans to appeal the verdict.
The Tempo Magazine and the Koran Tempo have been the target of numerous civil and criminal lawsuits since early 2003. On 20 January 2004 South Jakarta District Court ordered the Koran Tempo to pay US$1 million in damages to Winata and further ordered the Koran Tempo to publish a public apology in both national and international press for three consecutive days. Tempo has yet to pay the fine, pending the outcome of an appeal.
The president of IFJ, Christopher Warren said that this verdict send a clear and extremely worrying message to the Indonesian media that the political and business elite should not be the subject of journalistic inquiry or legitimate comment. Your urgent action is required to correct this matter immediately. Please send a letter to the President of Indonesia and request the he Indonesian government to ensure the press freedom in Indonesia.
If you have any questions, please contact the IFJ Asia at ifj-asia@alliance.org.au or call on +61 411 757 668.
Urgent Appeals Desk
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)
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IFJ Open letter to the President of Indonesia:
23 March 2004
President Megawati Soekarnoputri
President of the Republic of Indonesia
Istana Merdeka
Jakarta 10110
Indonesia
Fax: + 62 21 345 2685 (via State Secretariat)/ 526 8726/ 380 5511/ 345 7782
Dear President,
The International Federation of Journalists, the global organisation representing over 500,000 journalists worldwide, is deeply concerned over the ruling of the Central Jakarta District Court finding the Tempo Magazine guilty of defamation against businessman Tomy Winata.
According to our information, on 18 March 2004, the Central Jakarta District Court found the Tempo Magazine guilty of defamation and ordered Tempo to pay Tomy Winata 500 million rupiah (approximately US$59,000) and to publish a public apology to Tomy Winata in the national media for three consecutive days or alternatively to pay a fine of Rp 300,000 a day.
The Central Jakarta District Court found that the article titled “is there Tomy in Tanabang?” appearing in Tempo Magazine on 3 March 2003 was libelous due to its allegations that Tomy Winata was responsible for a fire, which destroyed the Tanabang textile market, in order to profit from a planned renovation project.
Though the story contained a denial of the allegations by Tomy Winata, according to the Jakarta Post, the presiding judge stated: “Tempo failed to find the truth by covering both sides before publishing the article”. Tempo plans to appeal the verdict.
This case follows a number of civil and criminal lawsuits filed by Tomy Winata against the Tempo Magazine and the Koran Tempo. Thursday’s ruling follows the ruling on 20 January 2004 made by a South Jakarta District Court, ordering the Koran Tempo to pay US$1 million in damages to businessman Tomy Winata in addition to publishing a public apology in both national and international press for three consecutive days. Tempo has yet to pay the fine, pending the outcome of an appeal.
The IFJ is outraged over the use of the Criminal Code to pursue complaints against the media and calls on the Government of Indonesia to take steps to ensure that the Press Law 10/1999 is used when dealing with complaints from the public towards the media.
The IFJ fears that the use of the Criminal Code will force the media into self-censorship effectively reversing all democratic gains fought for since the fall of Suharto in 1998. The IFJ calls on the Government of Indonesia to do all that is necessary to ensure that the media in Indonesia operates in a climate of healthy and robust press freedom.
Yours sincerely
Christopher Warren
President, IFJ
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Thank you.
Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)
