The Jakarta Post: Practices of criminal defamation, here and (hopefully not) always

Tulisan ini dimuat di The Jakarta Post beberapa waktu lalu. Saya kopi dan letakkan sebagian disini. Saya nulis ini saat sedang kesal karena kasus pencemaran nama baik (terutama dengan hukuman kriminal) tiada hentinya di sini. Well, kemudian ada banyak debat soal lalu apa obatnya untuk pencemaran nama baik?? Persoalannya, dalam pemahaman saya, sudah nggak beken lagi ada penggunaan pendekatan kriminal untuk pencemaran nama baik …

Shita Laksmi ,  Jakarta   |  Thu, 01/07/2010 10:09 AM  |  Opinion

Back in 2004, Toby Mendel from Article 19, an organization based in London that promotes freedom of expression, wrote a paper on defamation.

The paper was presented at an international seminar held by the Aksara Foundation. He began his paper by saying, “The issue of defamation law has become a serious one in Indonesia in recent years, with a growing number of defamation cases exerting a significant chilling effect on freedom of expression.”

Later in the paragraph, he mentioned a famous criminal defamation case, the 2004 Tomy Winata vs. Tempo.

Five years have passed and defamation cases remain famous lawsuits filed by people or organizations: politicians and businessmen versus the media, politicians versus politicians, the public versus businesses and the last one, infotainment versus celebrity.

The majority of media organizations have been trying to eliminate criminal defamation from the Indonesian legal system.

This effort perhaps began mid 2000 when the media first experienced the consequences of their work in upholding freedom of the press.

Lanjutan: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/01/07/practices-criminal-defamation-here-and-hopefully-not-always.html