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'Tempo' loses legal battle to Asian Agri, fined Rp 50 million
In what is being denounced as a major blow to press freedom in the country, a court -- dubbed "the graveyard for press freedom" -- on Tuesday found Tempo guilty of defaming agribusiness giant Asian Agri
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In what is being denounced as a major blow to press freedom in the country, a court -- dubbed "the graveyard for press freedom" -- on Tuesday found Tempo guilty of defaming agribusiness giant Asian Agri.
The Central Jakarta District Court ordered the weekly magazine to pay Rp 50 million (US$5,350) in damages and publish a full page apology to Asian Agri and its subsidiaries in the magazine and Koran Tempo and Kompas dailies in three consecutive editions.
The sentence was lighter than Asian Agri's demand for Rp 5.5 billion in damages and printed apologies in 16 publications.
The judges said Tempo had damaged the companies' reputation through its investigative report of alleged tax evasion, published in the Jan. 15-21, 2007, edition of the magazine.
The judges called the report a trial by the press.
"Tempo has been malicious and unbalanced, highlighting only the statement of a single source, named Vincentius Amin Sutanto, who was disappointed with the company and ran off with company money amounting to Rp 28 billion during his escape overseas," judge Maryana read out in the verdict.
The judges also blamed Tempo for failing to provide Asian Agri and its subsidiaries with their proper right to respond to the report, despite the fact the plaintiffs had already sent three letters to Tempo and filed a report with the Indonesian Press Council.
"Tempo's move to publish Asian Agri's reply in the readers' column was not proportional to its 13-page report," Maryana said.
Those in attendance at the hearing, mostly journalists and media activists, greeted the judges' statements and verdict with jeers, saying it dealt press freedom in the country a major blow.
The court session became more heated after presiding judge Panusunan Harahap expelled a court attendant for disrupting the proceedings.
Tempo lawyer Hendrayana, from Legal Aid for the Press, said the verdict was blatantly unfair because the court had rejected many facts during the trial. He said the magazine would appeal the verdict.
"This will threaten the press in reporting corruption in the future. The law on the press has been ignored in this case," Hendrayana said after the hearing.
Asian Agri lawyer Hinca Pandjaitan said the relative leniency of the verdict was not significant.
"Whether we are satisfied or not with this verdict is not the issue. I think Rp 50 million is enough because this lawsuit was not about money in the first place, but more to give a lesson," he said.
Asian Agri owner Sukanto Tanoto won an earlier court battle over defamation against Tempo subsidiary Koran Tempo in July. The court ordered the daily to pay Rp 220.3 million in damages to Sukanto's PT Riau Andalan Pulp and Paper.
