Press Council to summon ‘Tempo’ and police

The Press Council has announced plans to summon the leaders of ‘Tempo’ weekly news magazine and the National Police in regards to objections to last week’s cover story illustration of corrupt senior officers with piggy banks.

The National Police Headquarters had sent a letter of protest to Tempo on July 1, in which it states that the use of piggy banks to illustrate the accounts of senior officers tarnished the image of the Indonesian police force.

“We will discuss the dispute internally on Monday [today] and will summon Tempo and police on either Tuesday or Thursday for mediation this week,” Press Council member Agus Sudibyo told detik.com on Sunday.

Agus said the council would advise the Police and Tempo resolve their dispute amicably and out of court, as the Press Law prescribes.

“We will ask the police to use the Press Law.”

Earlier, the police had said they would use the Criminal Code instead, which would allow them build a criminal case against Tempo.