In recent months, the International Press Institute (IPI) has become increasingly worried by the application of the Indonesian Criminal Code, formerly the Netherlands Indies Criminal Code, against Indonesian journalists.

Last year, on 27 October 2003, Supratman, the news editor of Rakyat Merdeka, received a six month suspended sentence for breaches of articles 134 and 137 of the Indonesian Criminal Code that makes it a crime to “insult” the president or vice-president. Little more than one month before, on 9 September 2003, the editor-in-chief of Rakyat Merdeka, Karim Paputungan, was given a five month suspended sentence for defaming the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Akbar Tandjung.

At present, the editor, Tengku Iskandar, and journalist, Ahmad Taufik, of the weekly magazine, Tempo, are on trial under the Indonesian Criminal Code for provoking disorder under Article 14 (1) and defamation under Articles 310 and 311. If convicted, prosecutors have called for a sentence of two years for both journalists.

Iskandar and Taufik are accused of defaming Tomy Winata, in an article in Tempo’s 3 – 9 March 2003 edition that implied the businessman had been involved in a fire that destroyed the Tanah Abang textile market on 19 February 2003. The charge of provoking disorder stems from prosecution claims that the article led to an attack on one of Winata’s properties. Tempo has also lost a civil suit of defamation against Winata on similar facts.

According to lawyer Nono Anwar Makarim, speaking in the 29 July 2004 edition of The Jakarta Post, there have been 14 defamation suits against the press in the last year. However, he did not specify how many were prosecutions under the Indonesian Criminal Code.

Legal experts have questioned the application of the Indonesian Criminal Code against the media and there is a strongly held view that Law No. 40/1999 of the Indonesian Press Law should be used because it would be applied against the media organisation and not the individual journalist.

Commenting on the spate of cases under the Indonesian Criminal Code, IPI Director Johann P. Fritz said, “The use of criminal laws to punish journalists for their writing goes against international law in the area of free expression. The state should not reserve for itself the right to sit in judgement regarding an individual’s reputation. This should be left to a civil court to decide or perhaps some other mutually acceptable process for resolving complaints against the media.”

“With regard to insult laws, I do not accept that the reputation of the head of state deserves greater protection than other citizens. It is a fundamental principle of international law that politicians and governments must accept greater criticism than ordinary citizens. Because of their constitutional role and the fact they may be involved in the day to day running of the country, heads of state should accept that this principle also applies to them,” Fritz added.

“I think there needs to be a fundamental reassessment of the laws being used against the media. Indonesia has a thriving media and I am disappointed that, at a time when other countries are encouraging the free flow of information, journalists are being criminally prosecuted for practicing their profession.”