Price For "Defaming" A Dictator? $106M

Indonesian Court Orders Time Magazine Pay Former Dictator Suharto For Article Alleging Ill-Gotten Fortune

(AP)  The Supreme Court ordered Time magazine to pay $106 million in damages for defaming former Indonesian dictator Suharto by alleging his family amassed billions of dollars during his 32-year rule, officials said Monday.

The May 1999 cover story in the magazine's Asian edition said much of the money had been transferred from Switzerland to Austria before Suharto stepped down amid riots and pro-democracy protests in 1998.

Suharto, who said the article defamed him and the state, filed a lawsuit with the Central District Jakarta and later the Jakarta High Court, both of which ruled in Time's favor.

The Supreme Court overturned the decisions on Aug. 31.

"Time magazine has to pay $106 million for defaming Suharto," said Supreme Court spokesman Nurhadi, who like many Indonesians uses only one name. "The article and photographs hurt the image and pride of the plaintiff as a great retired army general and the former Indonesian president."

Suharto's lawyer, Muhamad Assegaf, welcomed the "surprise verdict."

The former dictator, now 86, seized power in a 1965 coup that left up to half a million people dead and ruled the country with an iron fist for the next three decades, killing or imprisoning hundreds of thousands of political opponents.

He has evaded prosecution on charges of embezzling state funds, with lawyers successfully arguing he is too ill to stand trial, and has never been tried for human rights abuses.

The Time article, titled "The Family Firm," alleged that Suharto and his children amassed $73 billion, the bulk from oil and mining, forestry, property, banking and petrochemicals, but lost much of it during the 1997 Asian financial crisis.

It alleged that the family still had $15 billion in 1999.

Time could not be immediately reached for comment about the court ruling, details of which were not made public. But earlier, the magazine, owned by Time Warner Inc., said its article was based on four months of reporting in 11 countries that uncovered a complex network of corporate investments, bank transfers and property holdings in Switzerland, Uzbekistan and Nigeria.

[finewoven]

"he Supreme Court ordered Time magazine to pay $106 million in"

OUR right wing BUSH appointed Supreme court??

LOL good luck collecting this money, we don''''t owe this idiot a cent he''''s a dicatator!
Time should tell him to take a hike
Posted by newster1 at 10:03 PM : Sep 10, 2007

Newster1 you give left wing politics a bad name. Get your story straight or learn how to read. It''s the Supreme Court in Indonesia. Don''t make me apologize for being liberal when there''s a chance I''m associated with people like you who jump to stupid conclusions. I gotta watch my rep.

[old5hita55]

All I can tell is that that there ******** is got himself a winky eye and my Momma told me to watch out for them people whose got a winky eye and you can look for yourself and see that eye is winky. He ort to just not sue everybody for what they write and just take it like everybosy els thakes it when they get wrote up in the newspaper and it aint real good stuff they write. H e aint nothing but a winky eye ******** who cant take the heat.

[brianbwb-2009]

"...unless we gave 15% of the equity in our local venture to the appropriate department Minister... Posted by MITDGreenb

And if you did not have to give the 15% to the minister, what would you have done with it, donate it to help the Indonesian people?

I doubt it.

[brianbwb-2009]

Posted by MITDGreenb,

In an earlier post on this topic, I ended it with "I wish I could say the same for his children, unfortunately I cannot".

I agree with your assessment about his children. Between Tommy, and Bambang, there is a tremendous amount of corruption, Tutut has a monopoly on toll roads and Sigit is a "local partner" in many multinational corporations that do business there. It is how you play, if you want to play the game there, just like in the US, if you are friends with Bush, you get no bid tenders, if not, you bribe your way into access with the decision makers.

Having said that, I still say that had Suharto not existed, Indonesia would be nothing more than a group of disconnected islands, each one held in slavery from European, American, and Australian slave masters. No one else could have played all the factors Suharto played to keep his country stable for 30+ years.

[mitdgreenb]

Brian,

It seems you knew this awful man personally. I hope you bathe regularly to remove the taint. You portray the practice of bribery as one instituted by the outside companies... that Suharto was tryig to put an end to it. BULL! In the mid 1990''s, I was in Jakarta trying to do business. It was made very clear to us that we would not be able to conduct business... to get the necessary permits or to avoid hassles with the police... unless we gave 15% of the equity in our local venture to the appropriate department Minister... who happened to be Suharto''s son. This was not equity for the counry to own, equity with which people could be helped. This was equity for the FAMILY PERSONALLY for their own pockets.

We refused. We did not do business there. I am proud of that decision even today. I don''t need to wash any taint. Brian -- you certainly do.

[brianbwb-2009]

As for the money he amassed, it is estimated that 70% of it came from foreign oil, (US and Dutch) timber, and mining companies bribing their way into his office for agreements that stand (but are now being questioned by unhappy locals, who got none of the benefits)even today.

Much like the early America, the soldiers were allowed to take assets for operational expenses from the general public. This habit became so entrenched that today it still exists in the form of bureaucratic, military, and police corruption. In a conversation I had a conversation with him shortly after his wife passed away, this was the last task he wanted to accomplish, the elimination of this practice, however he could not even start this effort, as the forces of change, led by an international press fresh off of the Philippines "people power" news, was relentlessly pushing him from office.

Shortly after he left office, a series of deadly riots started in Jakarta, with the indigenous people trying to expel the ethnic Chinese, an event unthinkable under his rule.

[brianbwb-2009]

Posted by rudy654,

Again, apples and oranges.

Because a man is not fit to defend himself, does not mean his lawyers are not fit to defend him. The lawyers launched and conducted the suit, not him. He did not testify in the suit, his contribution was to sign the complaint papers, less stressful than undergoing probably years of intense interrogation.

Again, you demonstrate a lack of knowledge about the politics of a new country. How does a new government establish itself to be the sole ruling authority? By quelling dissent, many times violently. This is true in 99.9% of cases, including the USA. Most times it gets ugly, witness the new countries of the former Soviet Union, Haiti, Iraq, and Palestine for examples.

Now picture 14,000 islands with no transportation or telecommunications infrastructure, with a 3,000 year history of warring tribes and cultures, where the Japanese had just finished raping and pillaging, after 400 years of the Dutch, the Portuguese, and England having done the same.

Then tell me how you would have created a nation that, without support from either of the two superpowers (prompting it''s first president to coin the phrase "third world"), nevertheless remained unified, and experienced very slow but steady improvement of its populations'' living conditions.

[rudy654-2009]

Posted by brianbwb at 02:14 PM : Sep 10, 2007

Well gee, Brian, last I knew this man was not mentally or physically fit to stand trial for his crimes against humanity or his corruption. Obviously he is fit enough to sue for any accusations, whether they are true or not. But hey, Brian, I have always found it it odd, if not hypocritical, that you of all people criticize your US government for all its bad deeds, while you freely defend murder (genocide), corruption and oppression from other governments. I like the "nice guy" defense you use for this fellow. Gee, he raised cows. Ain''t that swell? He cannot be all bad if he raised cows.

[name_verify]

The worlds largest Muslim country doesnt have freedom of the press. So what else is knew? Yawn..... Time wont pay. Maybe Time can cover the region from an Australia office.

[nothappyatall]

"he Supreme Court ordered Time magazine to pay $106 million in"

OUR right wing BUSH appointed Supreme court??

LOL good luck collecting this money, we don''t owe this idiot a cent he''s a dicatator!
Time should tell him to take a hike