T

he National Police have questioned two businessmen, identified only as YN and ZA, for allegedly bankrolling the Obor Rakyat tabloid, which ran libelous reports on presidential frontrunner Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo.

National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Ronny F. Sompie said on Friday that his investigators had found indications that the two men had poured a total Rp 450 million (US$38,835) into the publication.

'€œYN raised Rp 200 million, while ZA gave Rp 250 million. ZA handed over his amount to YN, who then gave all the collected cash, worth Rp 450 million, to SB,'€ Ronny said, referring to Setiyardi Boediono, the tabloid'€™s founder.

Setiyardi, who is known as an assistant to a special presidential staffer in the Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono administration, used the cash to print 250,000 copies of Obor Rakyat. Inilah Printing, which is owned by PT Mulia Kencana Semesta, in Bandung, West Java, undertook the printing work.

Using the services of state-owned postal firm PT Pos Indonesia, Setiyardi distributed copies of the tabloid to scores of Islamic boarding schools across Java.

'€œSo far, we have seized 23,000 copies of Obor Rakyat from PT Pos Indonesia. These will be used as evidence to corroborate witnesses'€™ statements,'€ he said.

Setiyardi and Obor Rakyat'€™s editor, Darmawan Sepriyossa, have been named suspects for fraudulent journalism. The police have charged the two men under Article 9(2) of the 1999 Press Law for publishing illegitimate journalistic products.

If found guilty, Setiyardi and Darmawan face a maximum punishment of a Rp 100 million fines.

Setiyardi claimed on several occasions that he independently supported the tabloid using his earnings as a commissioner at state-owned company PT Perkebunan Nusantara (PTPN) XIII.

Separately, Setiyardi'€™s lawyer, Hinca Panjaitan, declined to confirm or deny the involvement of YN and ZA in the publication, describing them merely as '€œSetiyardi'€™s close friends'€.

Aside from the two businessmen, the police have collected statements from language officials with the Press Council and Pos Indonesia.

The police, in cooperation with the Attorney General'€™s Office (AGO), is still trying to determine whether the suspects breached articles 310 and 311 of the Criminal Code (KUHP) on defamation, as the tabloid reported false information about Jokowi, namely that he was a Christian of Chinese descent.

'€œIf it turns out that Obor Rakyat violated these articles, we will need to summons Jokowi as a witness,'€ Ronny said.

The legal charges against him did not deter Setiyardi from launching the latest edition of Obor Rakyat. Two weeks before the 9 July presidential election, he published Obor Rakyat with the headline, '€œCheck the DNA of Jokowi, Iriana [his wife] and their first child'€.

Setiyardi maintained that his publication only aimed to provide information about Jokowi'€™s failures during his time as Jakarta governor.