Jakarta – Judges yesterday rejected a 20 billion rupiah (S$3.9-million) defamation lawsuit brought by a businessman against Indonesia's leading weekly news magazine, Tempo.

The Central Jakarta district court rejected the lawsuit by prominent businessman Tomy Winata because he failed to name enough plaintiffs in it, the Detikcom online news service reported.

Mr Winata sued Tempo and Ahmad Taufik, one of the magazine's editors, after Detikcom published a chronology of how Mr Winata's supporters allegedly assaulted Mr Taufik and several of his colleagues at a Jakarta police station last year.

The assault came after Tempo published an article allegedly suggesting that Mr Winata stood to profit from a fire in a Jakarta textile market last February.

The judges said the tycoon should have also named Detikcom and Didik Supriyanto, a member of the Alliance of Independent Journalists, as plaintiffs.

Koran Tempo newspaper, from the same group as the magazine, has been ordered to pay Winata US$1 million (S$1.6 million) following a separate lawsuit. The newspaper has appealed against the judgment.