Ismira Lutfia – The Alliance of Independent Journalists announced on Thursday that it would honor a journalist and a kiosk owner for their exceptional contributions toward freedom of the press and freedom of expression.

The Udin Award was this year awarded to Jupriadi "Upi" Asmaradhana, a freelance journalist from Makassar for his fight against criminalization of the press.

Upi publicly protested a call in May 2008 made by then provincial police chief, Insp. Gen. Sisno Adiwinoto, for local officials not to hesitate in filing charges against journalists they thought had defamed them in their news reports. A defamation charge was then leveled at Upi because of his protests.

"Upi was victimized by the defamation clauses in the penal law," alliance chairman Nezar Patria said, adding that Upi was not even brought to trial because of his reporting but because of his protest action.

Kiosk owner Kho Seng Seng, also known as Aseng, received the Tasrif Award – an award for people not in the media who uphold the values of freedom of expression. Aseng was found guilty of defamation by the East Jakarta District Court for writing a letter of complaint to the press about a developer who sold him his kiosk in a deal gone bad.

The Udin Award was established in 1997 as a tribute to Muhammad Fuad Safruddin, more commonly known as Udin, a journalist from the Bernas daily newspaper in Yogyakarta who was killed for reporting a corruption case in 1996. The Tasrif Award was named after journalist cum lawyer, Suardi Tasrif, who is revered as the father of the journalists' code of ethics in Indonesia.

Upi, who is now the coordinator of the Coalition of Journalists Against Criminalization of the Press, said that his defamation trial was still pending and that he had attended 25 court sessions so far in the past eight months. "I will have to go through three more sessions before the court announces its verdict," Upi said.

In addition to the criminal charges, Upi also faced a civil suit seeking Rp 10 billion ($1 million) in damages, which has since been withdrawn.

Upi said he was surprised by the award, however, he felt that did not deserve it as there were many other journalists whose contribution to press freedom was even more exceptional than his. "However, I hope that this award could add more ammunition to fellow journalists to uphold press freedom," he said.

Meanwhile, Aseng said that despite being given a suspended jail sentence, he would file an appeal to the high court. "We plan to file the appeal within two weeks," Aseng said, adding that he planned to attend a mediation meeting today with the developer and the Press Council.

Aseng was found guilty by a panel of judges in July for defaming the property developer based only on the wording of his letter published in a newspaper.

In his letter to the editor, Aseng wrote that the developer failed to inform him that the kiosk he bought was classified as only giving him the right to manage but not to build, and that the land the kiosk was on was actually owned by the city of Jakarta.

"Hopefully the high court judge will be able to see the case clearly," Aseng said, adding that he hoped his case would not discourage others from writing complaint letters to the media, as long as the letters were grounded in solid facts and proof.