An article published last week by online news outlet Asia Sentinel with the headline “Indonesia’s SBY Government: ‘Vast Criminal Conspiracy’” [link goes to Google cache of an update on the article that has since been taken down], which detailed accusations of corruption against former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his administration, has been the source of major controversy this week after SBY and his Democratic Party blasted the article as defamatory and threatened to sue the publisher.
John Berthelsen, Asia Sentinel’s editor-in-chief and the author of the article, initially responded by saying that the site would take down the article temporarily while it prepared a follow-up, telling the Jakarta Post, “We are confident that we can defend what we have written” and “We stand by our reporting.”
But the article did not return to the site and yesterday Asia Sentinel published a press release entitled, “Apology to President Yudhoyono and the Democrat Party of Indonesia” that goes well beyond a standard mea culpa.
In addition to retracting the story, the release says the publication “unfairly passed on numerous allegations related to an ongoing lawsuit over the fallout from Bank Century.”
Asia Sentinel apologises to SBY. And rightly so. The article it published was poorly researched without supporting evidence for its outlandish claims. https://t.co/VrjtTWzE9J
— Ross Tapsell (@RossTapsell) September 20, 2018
Adding to the self-criticism, the release says, “We acknowledge that we did not seek fair comment from the persons named in the article and that the article was one-sided and violated fair journalistic practice. It also carried a headline that was inflammatory and unfair to former Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.”
Getting down to the release’s sorry section, it says, “… we further wish to apologize completely and unequivocally to former President Yudhoyono, the Democratic Party, and any others who were insulted by the article in question and beyond that to the people of Indonesia for any insult we may have caused with the story.”
After saying they “deeply regret the pain this lapse of judgement and fairness has caused,” the release ends with praise for the former president: “Finally Asia Sentinel would like to express its high regard for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who has served his country with distinction and is widely respected as an Asian statesman.”
SBY has not yet made any statements in regard to the apology but Democratic Party deputy general Andi Arief took to Twitter this morning to write, “Finally John Berthelsen and Asia Sentinel apologizes to SBY and the Democratic Party. This is not over yet, we will pursue the parties inside the country that shared this defamatory information.”
Akhirnya John Berthelsen dan Asia Sentinel meminta maaf pada SBY dan Partai Demokrat. Ini belum selesai, fihak dalam negeri yg menyebarkan info fitnah akan kami kejarhttps://t.co/oLhe8r4tAz
— andi arief (@Andiarief__) September 19, 2018
The outspoken Democratic Party official told Liputan 6 that they were still sending representatives to Hong Kong, the United States and Mauritius to clarify matters regarding the article. He also said they were going to press the Indonesian press council to get various media outlets that reported on the accusations contained in Asia Sentinel’s original article to also issue apologies.
The original article claimed to be based upon “an investigation filed by a Mauritius-based investment concern in a Mauritius court into financial irregularities by top Indonesian officials” pertaining to the Bank Century scandal.
It is not yet clear if SBY or the Democratic Party will drop their previously threatened legal action against the publisher following the apology.
There have also been allegations that members of current President Joko Widodo’s administration were working with Asia Sentinel to defame SBY, who is supporting Jokowi’s rival, Prabowo Subianto, in the 2019 presidential election. The palace has denied that it has any connection to the publication.
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