Jakarta – One of Indonesia's top news weeklies apologised Wednesday about the cover of its latest issue, which depicts Suharto and his children in a composition mimicking that of Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper.
The cover for the 4-10 February edition featured a sketch of former president Suharto, who died last month, taking Jesus Christ's central place at a table surrounded by his three daughters and sons instead of apostles, triggering complaints from Christians.
On page two of Koran Tempo, a daily published by the same outfit as the weekly, a large headline over an apology read, "Tempo Magazine Apologises," with a subheading: "We had no intention of hurting Christians." The magazine edition, with the theme "After his departure", covers the legacy of Suharto, who ruled Indonesia with an iron fist for more than three decades until 1998, and his six children, all of them active in various businesses.
Suharto left behind a mixed legacy in Indonesia, bringing economic stability to the sprawling nation but being accused of massive corruption and rights abuses for which he was never brought to justice.
"We had no intention of hurting Christians. We were only inspired by the composition of the Leonardo painting, and not in the concept or context of the event told in the holy bible," Tempo chief editor Toriq Hadad said in the apology.
"For anything unacceptable arising from the publishing of that cover, I, in the name of the Tempo institution, offer an apology," Hadad said. The apology is to also run in the next edition of the weekly, he added.
About a dozen representatives of several Christian groups as well as inter-religious organisations converged on the Tempo office on Tuesday to complain over the cover, Koran Tempo reported.
The Jakarta Post reported that representatives of some Catholic organisations would travel to some predominantly Catholic areas in Indonesia to ensure mass protests were not held following the apology.
Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim nation with more than 90 percent of its 234 million people followers of Islam.