According to the news media, the disappearance was caused by massive purchase of the said magazine by mysterious men, including those wearing the costumes of Police officers. They speculate that the Police want to prevent the circulation of the latest edition of said magazine which titled : “ Fat Bank Account of a Police Officer ”.
In another report, the Deputy Chief of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) i.e. Haryono Umar, was quoted as saying that thje KPK is investigating the Rp 95 Billion (US$ 10.45 Million) bank account in the name of a two stars General of the Police.
However, the Public Relation Officer of National Police Headquarters, Inspector General Edward Aritonang denied these reports saying there has never been any instruction to purchase the magazines. He also said that it is not possible to shut information to the public He further said that this might just be some sort of a marketing strategy (by the magazine), which can be seen from the fact that its price has jumped to Rp 100.000,- four times its normal price.
Until Tuesday morning, the magazine is still not avaliable at the news stands. However, the seller can get one for you if you are willing to pay Rp 100.000,-
In response to the above, management of Tempo magazine decided to reprint another 30,000 copies of the missing edition.
I hope that Tempo, which was forced to stop operation during the Soeharto regime, would be able to find out and explain to the public what exactly happened to its missing magazines.
Related news reports :
- Pemborong Tempo Naik Mobil Polsek
- Temanya Seksi, 'Tempo' Rp 100.000,-, Mau?
- Mabes : Tidak ada Perintah Borong Tempo
- Tempo Raib, Polri Anggap itu Pemasaran
- Tempo Magazine to Reprint its Missing Edition.
- Graft Probe into Rp 95b in Police General's Account
15 comments:
Sad. No wonder if looking back at Tempo reputation, specially in dealing with good governance. I believe if there is tendency to "boycott" from "someone". It seems like another kind of freedom to write obstruction.
Land of Oase,
Tempo has been very persistent in maintaining its independence and
was willing to sacrifice for it.
Now that Indonesia has become one of the most liberal country on earth, any attempt to shut Tempo would surely be in vain.
This certainly gets people to be bemused. Has the police been caught for more for corruption? We need a clear evidence and the police must be cooperative for that..
It seems that what people has believed about the police's mystery appears to be true.
@Edwin,
At a time when the media are selfishly focusing on unimportant high profile but profitable cases like the sex video case, we can only hope that the reports are true.
@Blog Ekspor Impor,
In this case, it is a bit too early to make allegations on the police.
Though the police have denied that they bought up the copies of Tempo edition, I firmly believe that it could be some persons relating to the police department who hogged the copies. Since this country enjoys the freedom of press, authorities who are unhappy with the reports contained in mass media cannot shut down the media at their will, so the only way to prevent the news from spreading amongst the people is by doing silly things like hogging all the copies of the media, etc.. it's ridiculous.
Yari,
It would be ridiculous indeed if those 30,000 copies were bought by the police. It would be a wasteful attempt in today's liberal press era. At the end of the day Tempo will benefit from the additional printing of 30,000 copies.
Its a good thing that Indonesia is enjoying free media.Freedom to be independent is truly precious.Not many countries on this side of the hemisphere has that.With so many corruption cases pending investigation..wonder when the culprits going to be brought to justice.
Umihoney,
Freedom of the press should be implemented side by side with the concept of supremacy of law, equality before the law and presumption of innocence. Otherwise it would be catastrophic for a nation. As long as the press always use their freedom based on people's interests, there will not be a problem.
Mysterious.
Yesterdays edition of my regular (Dutch) newspaper, NRC, had a page 4 report on the subject. It's headline is: "Politie Jakarta koopt blad op" (= "Jakarta Police buys up newspaper edition".
The correspondent leaves no doubt about the reason: Tempo's investigative journalism had revealed the amazingly huge bank accounts of some top ranking police officers.
If it is true, this in a way is another good-news item for http://goodnewsfromindonesia.org/; it is another proof of Indonesian quality journalism.
Colson,
I just watched on TV Wahyu Muryadi, Chief Director of Tempo. The host said that yesterday police PR: Edward Aritonang told her that Tempo has humiliated the police corps. because its cover show image of a high ranking police officer pulling many piggy banks.
Considering majority Indonesians are Moslems who thinks Pig as Haram (forbidden), it is reasonable if the police felt that way.
I love freedom of the press but I believe that its implementation should honor social values.
If there are police officers who are alleged of wrong doings we must not judge that the police as a whole is wrong.
As a matter of fact we should always respect the police as an institution, because we truly need them.
Of course I do agree with you that any country needs a solid and reliable police force.
But do we have to take serious a Police organization which can't deal properly with critical publicity? Police officers who claim to have been seriously hurt by the drawing (a drawing ? That does ring a bell - in recent history there were quite a number of drawings which showed there are some people who get easily offended), but on second thought probably will not sue Tempo. And in the heat of their fury try to sideline the main issue, that is the revelation of the bank accounts?
WOW! What an interesting read. Journalists like you are what make the world a more connected and responsible place. Spread the TRUTH and keep doing what you're doing!! Thanks for adding MANIC in The City on Blog Catalog and hope to 'see' you soon.
Colson,
I would like to emphasize that I love freedom of the press, as long as its implementation is in line with laws, regulations, customs and tradition in Indonesia.
There are many things that I don't like about police officers incl. what was mentioned by Tempo. But just because some officers were alleged of wrong doing doesn't mean that the whole police force has been damaged.
I prefer to see the police as a sick person who should be cured.
And you cannot cure a sick person by humiliating him.
AllisongsNYC,
Thank you very much for the kind words, they really mean a lot to me.
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