Asia Sentinel wishes "to apologize completely and unequivocally to former President Yudhoyono".
alifornia-based news site Asia Sentinel has issued an apology to former president and Democratic Party chairman Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) over a previously published article that alleged he and his party had been involved in the Bank Century case.
Following the apology, the site also stated that it had taken down the article, "Indonesia's SBY Government: 'Vast Criminal Conspiracy'", which was published on Sept. 10 and written by editor-in-chief John Berthelsen.
The article claimed that the Yudhoyono administration had engaged in a “vast criminal conspiracy” to swindle US$12 billion from Indonesian taxpayers and launder the money overseas.
"We have taken the story down from the Asia Sentinel website but we further wish to apologize completely and unequivocally to former President Yudhoyono, the Democratic Party and any others who were insulted by the article," the statement said.
It also acknowledge that the article did not seek fair comment from the people mentioned in the story and that it was one-sided, making it inflammatory and unfair to Yudhoyono.
In the article, Berthelsen quoted a 488-page investigation report filed with the Mauritian Supreme Court that stated that Yudhoyono and the Dems had been involved in the high-profile Bank Century case, which resulted in millions of dollars in state losses.
The article sparked outrage from the Dems. Party secretary-general Hinca Panjaitan issued a statement saying the party would sue Asia Sentinel and reported it, along with other Indonesian media outlets that quoted the article, to the Press Council.
The article was inaccessible hours after Hinca issued the statement last week on suing the site. However, in an email to The Jakarta Post, Berthelsen wrote that it was "preparing a follow up on the events" that happened after the article was published.
He also insisted that the site stood by its reporting despite receiving threats of being sued by the Dems. (ris)
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