Democrat to Take Asia Sentinel to Court over SBY Article

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Following the news piece published by Asia Sentinel linking the Bank Century case with Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY), the Democrat Party announced that it would take legal steps despite the Hong Kong-based news agency had apologized and took the original article down. 

“We will continue to take steps that we deem necessary,” said Democrat’s legal aid and advocacy division Chief Ferdinand Hutahaen on Thursday, September 20. 

Asia Sentinal issued a letter of apology in the form of an article on their website asiasentinel.com yesterday, September 19. 

Other than Asia Sentinel, the Democrat Party will also take legal steps against several Indonesian news media, either online or television, that took advantage of Asia Sentinel’s misreporting and reported it in a non-balanced way. 

“We will not only report them to the Press Council, KPI, but we will consider taking it to court and demand compensation,” said Ferdinand. He even went as far to suspect that the domestic news agencies published articles linking to Asia Sentinel’s reporting were not for news-sake but to run their own agenda.

Previously, Asia Sentinel published an article entitled; “Indonesia’s Vast Criminal Conspiracy,” which was published on September 11 that accused sixth Indonesian President SBY's involvement in Indonesia’s largest criminal conspiracy. The article reviewed a 488-page investigation related to the Bank Century bailout. The investigation report was included in the lawsuit filed by Weston Capitol International to the Mauritanian Supreme Court last month.

Dewi Nurita