Rather than make use of the press law to settle a dispute with Tempo magazine, chief welfare minister Aburizal Bakrie has chosen to file criminal charges against the magazine for allegedly defaming him.
Aburizal, an influential politician and one of the country’s wealthiest people, accused the investigative magazine of “character assassination” by defaming him in a report on the plight of the Bakrie Group’s plummeting shares, published in its Nov. 17-23 edition.
The report described the coordinating minister for the people’s welfare as one of the biggest sponsors of the 2004 presidential campaign of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono-Jusuf Kalla.
Another offending item was the magazine’s cover, which had the number 666 prominently marked out on the minister’s portrait. The number is considered a negative symbol among certain groups.
“Pak Aburizal insisted on filing a lawsuit against Tempo. Hopefully the report will be filed on Monday next week with the Jakarta Police,” Aburizal’s spokesman Lalu Mara Satriawangsa told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.
The report, which quoted unnamed sources, claimed Aburizal’s huge contributions to the Yudhoyono-Kalla campaign earned him the post of coordinating minister for the economy.
Aburizal was retained in the Cabinet as coordinating minister for the people’s welfare, despite Yudhoyono’s dismissal of several other ministers for their poor performances, it added.
“Probably because of this (funding), Aburizal was only moved from the post of coordinating minister for the economy to that of coordinating minister for the people’s welfare,” the report, “Who cares about Bakrie”, read.
Mara said the report was very unbalanced and breached the press law by spreading “slanderous news” about Aburizal.
He said the minister refused to use options in the press law to settle the case — including having a rebuttal published in Tempo or reporting the case to the Press Council — because the magazine had clashed with Bakrie Group many times in the past.
“It is unbalanced because so many lines are dedicated to making accusations against Pak Aburizal, and only one paragraph for him. Tempo could have requested an interview. It is necessary to report it to police to teach them a lesson,” Mara said.
Tempo chief editor Toriq Hadad dismissed Aburizal’s claims, saying his magazine had followed all journalistic standards in publishing the report.
“What we reported were the facts. We never meant to expose the negative aspects of anyone, including Pak Aburizal. This is just a regular disagreement between the media and a newsmaker. So we should use the press law and the Press Council to settle the case,” he told the Post.
Toriq said a Tempo reporter had submitted a request for an interview with Aburizal, but had received no reply in time for the press deadline.
University of Indonesia legal expert Rudy Satrio said any dispute over press reports should be solved using the press law rather than the Criminal Code.
“(Aburizal) can file a report with the police if he has a legal basis for that,” he said. “But any good police officer will use the press law as the basis for handling this case.”
Senin, 24 November 2008
A tale of the Tantulars, Rivsi
The Tantular family first entered the banking business when communism was still on the prowl in Indonesia. In 1965, Hashim Tantular formed Bank Central Dagang (BCD), which eventually folded in 1998.
In 1989, Hashim transformed his money changer business Century Intervest Corporation into Bank CIC, which was controlled by Hindarto Tantular and later Robert Tantular.
A Washington University graduate, Robert resigned from CIC's management in 2000 but remained a dominant influence at the bank. He still has a 9 percent stake in Century via PT Century Mega Investindo following the bank's merger and probably also owns public shares in the bank.
Robert, who failed a central bank "fit and proper" test in 1999, was summoned by the Corruption Eradication Commission in 2006 as witness in the Unibank bond fiasco.
Also prominent figures at Bank Century are Rafat Ali Rivsi and Hesham Alwarraq, representing shareholder in the bank First Gulf Asia Holding, formerly Bahama-based Chinkara Capital.
First Gulf had a 65 percent stake in Bank Pikko, a 55 percent stake in Danpac and a 16 percent stake in CIC before the three banks merged in 2004.
Rivsi is a British national holding a bachelor's degree in chemistry from the University of Essex. He is also chairman and CEO of Bermuda-based Tembusu Investment Holding.
First Gulf is also said to have a link with one of the country's most noted clerics, Panji Gumilang, who runs the exclusive Al-Zaitun boarding school in Indramayu, West Java. (dis/hwa)
In 1989, Hashim transformed his money changer business Century Intervest Corporation into Bank CIC, which was controlled by Hindarto Tantular and later Robert Tantular.
A Washington University graduate, Robert resigned from CIC's management in 2000 but remained a dominant influence at the bank. He still has a 9 percent stake in Century via PT Century Mega Investindo following the bank's merger and probably also owns public shares in the bank.
Robert, who failed a central bank "fit and proper" test in 1999, was summoned by the Corruption Eradication Commission in 2006 as witness in the Unibank bond fiasco.
Also prominent figures at Bank Century are Rafat Ali Rivsi and Hesham Alwarraq, representing shareholder in the bank First Gulf Asia Holding, formerly Bahama-based Chinkara Capital.
First Gulf had a 65 percent stake in Bank Pikko, a 55 percent stake in Danpac and a 16 percent stake in CIC before the three banks merged in 2004.
Rivsi is a British national holding a bachelor's degree in chemistry from the University of Essex. He is also chairman and CEO of Bermuda-based Tembusu Investment Holding.
First Gulf is also said to have a link with one of the country's most noted clerics, Panji Gumilang, who runs the exclusive Al-Zaitun boarding school in Indramayu, West Java. (dis/hwa)
Langganan:
Postingan (Atom)
