Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – The Indonesian media received a welcome gift for National Press Day on Thursday, when the Supreme Court cleared Tempo weekly chief editor Bambang Harymurti of defaming businessman Tomy Winata.

A panel of three justices, led by Chief Justice Bagir Manan, heard Bambang's judicial review using the Press Law, not the Criminal Law used by the lower courts in originally finding Bambang guilty of defamation.

"The panel of justices heard the review filed by Bambang Harymurti and acquitted him on all charges," announced Justice Djoko Sarwono, the Supreme Court spokesman and a member of the panel of justices.

The Supreme Court overturned the decision of the lower courts, which had found Bambang guilty and sentenced him to a year in prison for libeling Tomy. The case stemmed from a story that Tempo ran in March 2003 under the headline Ada Tomy di Tenabang? (Is Tomy in Tanah Abang?).

In the story, it was suggested that Tomy won the right to renovate the Tanah Abang textile market, one of the largest in Indonesia with over 5,000 stalls, before a fire devastated the market, raising questions about whether the businessman had a hand in the blaze.

Djoko said the justices unanimously agreed to hear the judicial review under the Press Law instead of the Criminal Code, which allows for the jailing of journalists for defamation.

"We want to ensure journalists have protection," he said, adding the caveat that such protection was only afforded journalists who worked according to journalistic ethics.

Bambang welcomed the decision, saying, "This is not my victory, but a victory for all Indonesian journalists." He added that Tempo would make sure journalists and the legal authorities across the country heard about the decision, and the precedent it set for future defamation cases involving journalists.

Lawyer Darwin Aritonang, who represents Tempo, said the case was a milestone because of the Supreme Court's decision to use the Press Law to hear a defamation case involving the media. "This is truly a victory for all journalists in the country," he said.

However, Djoko said the decision did not establish jurisprudence for other defamation cases involving journalists. "We chose to improvise because journalists would not be protected if we used the Criminal Code," he said.

To serve as jurisprudence, the Supreme Court's decision must be used by the courts to decide other defamation cases involving the media, Darwin explained.

"Journalists here still have more work to do, which is to convince justices and judges to apply this decision to other cases," he said, adding that the Supreme Court is currently hearing a judicial review involving Tempo reporters Ahmad Taufik and T. Iskandar in a separate case.

Tomy launched a series of criminal defamation cases against Tempo magazine, Koran Tempo daily and Tempo senior journalist Goenawan Mohamad after the Tanah Abang story ran in March 2003. Several of the defamation cases are pending.