JAKARTA: The Indonesian Press Council is playing down an unfair dismissal lawsuit filed against it and Kompas newspaper by a former journalist implicated in last year’s coverage-for-stocks scandal.
Reinhard Nainggolan, a former stock exchange journalist for Kompas, was one of four reporters alleged to have solicited shares in exchange for positive coverage of Krakatau Steel’s initial public offering last year.
In a statement released on Monday, Reinhard’s lawyer, Johnson Panjaitan, said the lawsuit was filed with the State Administrative Court on Feb. 25 and that the initial proceedings would begin today.
Johnson said his client had been unfairly dismissed and never received a formal notice from Kompas, only learning he had been fired through media reports.
The controversy centers on allegations that four stock market reporters solicited bribes in the form of stock from the Krakatau IPO in exchange for positive coverage of the state-owned firm’s Nov. 2 market float.
The Press Council, which handles disputes involving the media, ruled that there was evidence of ethical breaches and professional misconduct by the journalists in using their positions to obtain Krakatau shares.
In Reinhard’s case, the evidence was in the form of a BlackBerry Messenger conversation between him and the public relations firm that handled the IPO.
Kompas acted on the council’s findings and fired Reinhard.
Bambang Harymurti, the chairman of the Press Council, told the Jakarta Globe that the council’s rulings on ethical breaches could not be challenged through the administrative court.
The State Administrative Court was established to allow citizens to file motions against state agencies or officials over policy decisions or suspected criminal actions.
“It’s like challenging the Indonesian Council of Ulema’s fatwas on what constitutes haram or halal through the court,” he said.
He added, though, that Reinhard had the right to pursue any legal channel at his disposal to challenge the council’s ruling.
However, he said, the council remains firm in its belief that the administrative court is the wrong venue for the motion because the council is an independent body.
Filing a lawsuit against Kompas, a private company, with the court is even more misdirected, he added.
Budiman Tanuredjo, Kompas’s managing editor, said the newspaper stood by its decision to fire Reinhard.
“We respected the council’s decision that he breached the code of ethics, and therefore we could no longer employ a journalist with such a reputation,” Budiman said.
Reinhard has strongly denied that he accepted bribes or breached journalistic ethics in the Krakatau case, but would not say whether he had obtained stock in the company. - Jakarta Globe/Pacific Media Centre
Ismira Lutfia
