National

TEMPO’s Lawyer: TEMPO Will Fight Back
Sunday, 19 September, 2004 | 01:22 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta:Central Jakarta District Court judges sentenced TEMPO Magazine’s editor-in-chief Bambang Harymurti to one-year jail sentence on Thursday (16/09).

The judges said that Harymurti was considered guilty for having spread “lies”, that have caused chaotic situation within the society, and slandered Indonesian businessman Tomy Winata.

Todung Mulya Lubis, TEMPO’s lawyer, confirmed that he would fight the ruling issued by the judges, led by judge Suripto. “The judges have really eliminated the press freedom,” Lubis said during a speech in front of the Court building on Thursday (16/09). “Not only TEMPO, but the Indonesian press also lost in this matter,” he added.

This case started when the story entitled” Getting Burned” was issued on TEMPO of March 4-19, 2003, edition. The story about the fire incident at the Tanah Abang market has put Harymurti and two TEMPO editors involved in the story writing, Ahmad Taufik and Teuku Iskandar Ali, as defendants in this case.

The judges considered this news was not based on true facts and evidences as the defendants were said of being unable to prove the existence of Tanah Abang market renovation’s proposal, that was reportedly filed by Winata to Jakarta government before the fire incident took place, and clarify this matter to the Jakarta government.

The judges also said that the defendants have “damaged Winata’s good reputation” and slandered him by calling him “extraordinary scavengers” in the story. Although the editors have used quotation marks on the words, the judges thought that people would still associate the words with Suwarti, the real scavenger mentioned in the writing. Regarding the slander charge, the judges stated,” The defendants are unable to prove that Winata is a scavenger.”

Harymurti was sentenced to jail because as an editor-in-chief, he was considered responsible over the news made by his journalists. Based on this consideration, the judges released two TEMPO editors Ahmad Taufik and Iskandar Ali from any charge. Despite being named guilty in the same case, the judges thought that they should not be held responsible in this case.


Harymurti planned to file an appeal over this ruling. He demanded the people not to be discouraged in hearing this ruling as he was convinced that the high court would win him in this case. Harymurti also encouraged the press not to be afraid in reporting news despite his punishment.


Two groups of people who held their protest outside of the Court building were separated by police officers. The first group named itself Anti-criminalized Press Committee, consisting of various press organization, non-governmental organization and students. They demanded the judges to release the defendants.

The next group named itself as Law Enforcer Action Network, that demanded action against the journalists. They held their act using cars with “Pilar Magazine” and “Jakarta Daily” names on them. These magazines are two mass media affiliated with Artha Graha Group owned by Tomy Winata.

Meanwhile, presidential candidate from Democrat Party Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said that democracy, press freedom and other matters related to reform spirit should not be hampered.

However, Yudhoyono said that the society must continue respecting the court’s ruling. He also stated that the journalists who were sentenced guilty still have the rights to file an appeal on their case. (Edy Can/Indra/Fasabeni/Ecep/Sohirin/Isti/Wanto/Maria-Tempo News Room)