Journalist Alliance: BG's Wealth is Public Information
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Selasa, 3 Maret 2015 18:08 WIB
Tempo magazine cover for the January 19-25 edition. TEMPO
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Independent Journalist Alliance (AJI) said that Tempo Magazine did not violate banking confidentiality principles by reporting mysterious accounts allegedly belonging to Commissioner General Budi Gunawan. AJI claimed that the information can be published because public official's wealth is subject to transparency.
"Indonesan law system categorizes information on state official's wealth as public information," said Head of AJI, Suwarjono, in a press conference on Tuesday, March 3, 2015.
Suwarjono said that the article was meant to fulfill Indonesian citizens' constitutional right in obtaining information, as cited in Article 28F of the 1945 Constitution. "It is obvious that public needs to know facts about state official's wealth. It is also obvious that Tempo Magazine helped [the people] to fulfill their right. Therefore, it is nonsense that the article is charged with a felony," he said.
Previously, Tempo Magazine's article on Commissioner General Budi Gunawan was brought before the crime unit of the National Police Headquarter by the Head of the Indonesian Grassroot Society, Fauzan Rachman. Fauzan believed that the article violates confidentiality principles, as regulated in the Banking Law and Money Laundering Law.
