Rewriting history through libel?

PRESS freedom advocates across Southeast Asian have assailed a decision by an Indonesian court that found an inflight airline magazine guilty of defamation for referring to a convicted murderer as just that – “a convicted murderer.”

ABC Radio Australia reported that a court in South Jakarta has ordered the publishers of the inflight magazine of Indonesia’s national airline Garuda to pay $1.5 million to Tommy Suharto, youngest son of former Indonesian president Suharto, as compensation for allegedly defaming the former. The report was circulated through the Southeast Asia Media Defense Network, of which the Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) is an associate. PCIJ is a founding member of SEAPA.

The case stemmed from an article in Garuda’s inflight magazine that mentioned a hotel resort owned by Tommy Suharto. THe young Suharto was described in the article as a convicted murderer, as he had been sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2001 for hiring hitmen to murder a Supreme Court judge. The judge had earlier found the young Suharto guilty of corruption in a real estate deal. Suharto had served only four years in prison before he was released.

But in the libel case against Garuda’s inflight magazine, the South Jakarta court ruled that since Tommy Suharto had already served his sentence, he has already fully recovered his rights as a citizen, “including his right not to have his past mentioned,” Radio Australia reported.

Aside from paying the $1.5-million fine, the magazine was also ordered by the court to print a full-page apology in each of its next three issues.

In an interview with Radio Australia, Bambang Harimurti, group editor of the Tempo media group of Indonesia, said the verdict was a major setback for press freedom in the region.

“This is really a very bad verdict for the climate of freedom of speech in Indonesia, because as you know, in countries where truth is not a defense in libel, it will create this chill in freedom of expression,” Harimurti said.

Harimurti added that the Press Council of Indonesia will support any move by the magazine to appeal the decision.

Advocates from all over the region reacted strongly to the court decision, with messages of support going out to the embattled magazine from the Philippines, Thailand, and Cambodia.

In the Philippines, several journalists expressed surprise and dismay, especially since some high-profile political personalities who had also been convicted by the courts in the past are still very much in the news.

Former President Joseph Estrada, for example, is often referred to by Philippine media as a convicted plunderer. Estrada stepped out of the presidency following a three-day military-backed civilian uprising in January 2001. The so-called second EDSA people power revolt was triggered by the walkout of prosecution lawyers at Estrada’s impeachment trial at the Senate.

Estrada eventually faced plunder and perjury charges at the Sandiganbayan anti-graft court. On Sept. 12, 2007, The court found Estrada guilty of plunder but acquitted him of perjury charges, and sentenced him to 40 years in jail.

Then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, however, granted Estrada executive clemency and ordered his release on Oct. 25, 2007, or just five weeks later. At the time, Estrada had served about six years under hospital arrest, and later under house arrest, even as the law imposes a penalty of life imprisonment for the crme of plunder.

Estrada ran for the presidency again in May 2010, in an apparent bid to reclaim his name. He placed a far second to Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III, who succeeded Arroyo as president in June 2010. – PCIJ, June 2011