The Last Supper of Suharto

(source: google.com)

One of the Indonesia’s top news weeklies, Tempo has apologized regarding the cover of the 4-10 February 2008 issue which portrays former president Suharto and his children in a composition impersonating Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper.

Christian activists visited Tempo’s building, to protest on the cover of the Suharto. They were offended as the Tempo magazine compared it between Suharto to Jesus.

On page two of Koran Tempo, a daily published by the same outfit as the weekly, a large headline over an apology read, "Tempo Magazine Apologises," with a subheading: "We had no intention of hurting Christians." "We had no intention of hurting Christians. We were only inspired by the composition of the Leonardo painting, and not in the concept or context of the event told in the holy bible," Tempo chief editor Toriq Hadad said in the apology.










(source:google.com)

Ethical Publishing
The right and ethical thing that should be considered by everybody is taking responsibility for one’s action (Weber, 1995). The sketch of Suharto offended the Christian community as the Last Supper painting is considered a holy symbol. By imitating Suharto’s picture on Last Supper might be an aspect of entertainment to some readers but it insults the Christian readers. They should take into consideration on religious matters that is highly sensitive in all community.

Cultural/Situation Context
According to Schirato & Yell, “For any text to be recognizable and readable, it must draw upon a ready established and shared set of meanings.” Obviously, Christians do not tolerate jokes which are related to their religion when others take it as a source of entertainment. This shows that a shared set of meaning is not established by these different groups of readers.

The Christians were unhappy with the picture of Suharto depicting Jesus Christ, their Lord and Savior. The picture created controversies due to cultural differences where misunderstanding of links between the compositions of Leonardo’s painting and the context of the event told in the Holy Bible were being questioned. According to Haynes, “what exactly is considered blasphemy can vary between religious groups and people.” (Michael 2007)

Publishing Regulation
In Malaysia, I think these issues will never be published as we have a strict censorship under the Printing Presses and Publications Act. Religion is a very sensitive issue as we’re from a diversified culture. For example, the movie “The passion of the Christ” (2004), has been barred from cinemas and churches due to "religious sensitivities" (asianews 2004) The Malaysian Film Censorship Board has restricted the film in the primarily Muslim country.

With regards to the issue, I personally think that the cover of Tempo imitating the last supper was undeniably wrong and unethical. It violated the respects to cultural and religious differences among the people.

References:

‘Indonesian weekly apologises over Last Supper Suharto cover’ 2008, ABC.net, viewed 12 June 2009, http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/02/06/2156269.htm

‘Malaysian Muslims offended by "The Passion"’ 2004, Asianews.com, viewed 12 June 2009, http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=584

Michael, M 2007, ‘Freedom of Religion Confronts Journalism’, BCHeights.Com, viewed 12 June 2009, http://media.www.bcheights.com/media/storage/paper144/news/2007/03/26/News/Freedom.Of.Religion.Confronts.Journalism-2791570-page2.shtml

Schirato, T & Yell, S 1996, Communication and cultural literacy: An introduction, Allen and Unwin, St. Leonards NSW.

Weber, J H 1995,’Ethics in scientific and technical communication’, WISENET Journal 38, viewed 12 June 2009, http://www.jeanweber.com/newsite/?page_id=22