Press Council questions ‘Playboy’ court ruling

The Press Council slammed the Supreme Court’s ruling against the former chief editor of Playboy Indonesia, Erwin Arnada, asking if the court had indeed proven that the defunct magazine had committed public indecency.

Council chairman Bagir Manan said Friday that questions remain after the Supreme Court’s 2009 ruling was finally released Wednesday.

“Could the Supreme Court prove whether [Playboy Indonesia] was actually pornographic?” Bagir, who is a former Supreme Court chief, told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

He said the Press Council “does not accept” the court’s ruling.

In July 2009, the Supreme Court granted an appeal from prosecutors and sentenced Erwin to two years of imprisonment for public indecency, as stipulated by the Criminal Code.

The South Jakarta District Court previously cleared Erwin of all charges in 2007, when presiding judge Efran Basuning said photographs presented at Erwin’s trial could not be categorized as pornography.

Efran also said prosecutors should have charged Erwin under the 1999 Press Freedom Law.

One judge stood his ground on the ruling.

Mansur Kartayasa, who presided over Erwin’s case at the Supreme Court, said the district court had heard testimony from expert witnesses who said the magazine was pornographic.

The prosecutors’ argument at the District Court was supported by testimony from witnesses, including an expert witness from the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), Amirsyah Tambunan, who said that the photographs in the magazine were pornographic, Mansur said.

The District Court also heard the testimony of another expert witness, former Press Council chairman Atmakusumah Astraatmadja, who said that the type of photographs in Playboy Indonesia could be found in magazines intended for women and families.

Atmakusumah praised the local edition of the US-based magazine for publishing serious articles by one of Indonesia’s most distinguished authors, the late Pramoedya Ananta Toer.

Bagir said the Press Council has always maintained that Playboy was the product of journalists, adding that prosecutors should not have used the Criminal Code to indict a journalist.

“We have the press law. It stipulates that the press has to abide by religious norms and public decency in reporting facts and opinions,” he added.

Mansur said that the prosecutors were correct to charge Erwin with article 282 under the Criminal Code, which covers on public indecency, adding that the Supreme Court had determined that the press law only regulated the reporting of events and opinions and did not regulate pictures that violate decency norms.

Mansur said he dismissed the District Court’s ruling and that the high court’s ruling upholding it was wrong and mistaken in legal reasonings.

Mansur said the appeals council, which was comprised of Mansur, Abbas Said and Iman Harjadi, had made the ruling without dissent.

Bagir said Erwin should file a case review of the Supreme Court’s ruling, adding that the Press Council would support Erwin and provide an attorney to prepare a case review proposal that would convince the Supreme Court.