LONG LIVE Suharto Inc.!
The Indonesian Supreme Court decided in favor of Suharto in his lawsuit against Time magazine. The weekly news publication has also been ordered to publish an apology in a number of media and pay the former Indonesian President the sum of Rp1 trillion in compensation.
Time was found guilty on two counts. Accordingly, an illustration in the magazine depicting Suharto hugging a large house constituted defamation, because the house reportedly did not belong to him. Time’s report citing a transfer of US$9 billion of Suharto’s money from a bank in Switzerland to an account in Austria could not be proven.
This verdict over creativity and journalism clearly spells a death knell for freedom of the press. But to Suharto (and his Cendana family) who currently faces the prosecutor’s civil legal case over his wealth, the Supreme Court decision must come as a welcome relief.
September 18, 2007
HE was portrayed in a jacket and black peci cap, carrying some items in his arms: a rice sack, a porcelain plate with a drawing of a Javanese woman and a luxurious European-style home. In the illustration, which appeared in the Asian edition of Time’s May 24, 1999 issue, he was depicted as being preoccupied and unwilling to let go of what was in his hands.
Such was Suharto, the ‘Big General.’ The woman pictured on the porcelain plate was S
...