Tommy wins lawsuit against Garuda

Hutomo Mandala Putra, son of Indonesia’s former president Soeharto, won a civil lawsuit against Garuda Airlines on Tuesday.

According to the lawsuit, Garuda Magazine published in its December 2009 issue an article titled “A New Destination to Enjoy in Bali”.

The article stated that Tommy was the owner of a tourist site called Pecatu, and that he was a convicted murderer.

The defendants are PT Indo Multimedia, which is the publishing company for the magazine, along with chief editor Taufik Darusman, magazine editor Sari Widiati, Garuda Indonesia vice president of corporate communications Pujobroto and Garuda Indonesia marketing communications and promotion official Prasetyo Budi.

“It is true that there is a note stating [that Tommy is a convicted murderer]. This is an act against the law, with the defendant producing baseless words,” South Jakarta District Court judge Tahsin said as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.

The judges also said that there was no good will to retract the article.

The defendants are obliged to pay Rp 12.51 billion (US$1.5 million) for material and immaterial losses.

“We also sentence and order the defendant to issue an apology that has to be published in Garuda Magazine for three consecutive months in the form of a minimum of one full page since the sentence is imposed,” Tahsin said.

Ferry Firman Nurwahyu said that his side was satisfied with the judges’ decision.
“That’s enough, what’s important is the act against the law has been proven and there is already an apology letter from them,” Ferry said.