Alvin Darlanika Soedarjo, Jakarta – Media workers and lawyers have criticized the Supreme Court's decision to award former president Soeharto US$106 million in a lawsuit he brought against Time magazine, accusing the court of lacking in "rationality and the reform spirit".
Soeharto sued the US-based magazine over an article titled Suharto Inc.: The Family Firm, in its May 1990 issue, which stated that he had stashed a massive amount of his wealth abroad.
"Time magazine has done its best to write a balanced investigative piece. Neither Soeharto, his family nor his lawyers spoke out when Time reporters were out covering both sides," said Atmakusumah Astraatmadja on Wednesday at a press conference.
Atmakusumah, an expert on journalistic ethics, said that the Supreme Court justices's decision to award the ex-autocrat over the libel was mostly based on emotion. "There was no check and re-check done by the justices."
Press Council vice chairman Leo Batubara said the council would send a letter to the Supreme Court asking it to further protect the freedom of the press. "Their decision could truly damage the freedom of the press in Indonesia," he said, adding that Time's findings did not have to contain the absolute truth.
The Time article stated that the magazine had traced the accumulation by Soeharto's family of $15 billion during an investigation by a number of its correspondents in 11 countries over a period of four months. The Asian edition of the publication said it found documents proving that the Soeharto family had received around $73 billion in assets, although the amount had allegedly been reduced over the years by mismanagement and the 1997 financial crisis.
Time magazine's lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis said that he still had not received the verdict from the Supreme Court. "We don't know yet the exact legal consideration that the court has used so far to (award) Soeharto. We'll study the document and continue to fight for our cause," Todung said, adding that this would be a setback for law enforcement in the country.
He added that the magazine had not drawn conclusions on its own regarding the transfer of money, citing that the editorial used the words "Time has learned...". The full sentence from the article was "TIME has learned that $9 billion of Suharto's money was transferred from Switzerland to a nominee bank account in Austria."
Legal expert Nono Anwar Makarim said that fighting for the freedom of the press in the country should not be a "seasonal fad, occasionally jolted only by an issue like this".
In a separate development, Soeharto's lawyer Mohammad Assegaf scolded the United Nations and the World Bank for including the former strongman on a list of alleged embezzlers.
A report by both bodies released Monday gives details of the Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative, a new scheme aimed at helping developing nations recover assets misappropriated by corrupt leaders.
"It is really deplorable that the report, when mentioning Soeharto, uses the words 'estimates of funds allegedly embezzled'. If they want to be serious, then they should conduct their own investigation," Assegaf told AFP.