The Riddle of the Governor's Letter
TEMPO has discovered an irregularity in Governor Sutiyoso's letter that was included as evidence against the magazine in court. EVIDENCE may make a case clearer, but likewise, it may also make it more obscure, even suspicious. This became apparent in the case of TEMPO's chief editor Bambang Harymurti, and two other editors of this magazine, Iskandar Ali and Ahmad Taufik, held in the Central Jakarta District Court. They were charged with spreading false news in the article Getting Burned in an edition at the beginning of March. To prove his case, the plaintiff, Tomy Winata (boss of the Artha Graha Group) handed over to the police as evidence, a letter from Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso. Oddly, there is an irregularity in the dates inserted in the governor's letters and other relevant documents. From this it is clear that the confiscation of the evidence was carried out before the governor's letter--the evidence itself--was issued. Consequently, last Wednesday, Bambang Harymu...