Jakarta, Sept. 16 -- Indonesia's Ministry of Agriculture has insisted that its lawsuit against Tempo Inti Media, the publisher of Tempo magazine and newspaper, over a news report is not an attempt to silence the press.

"This action underscores that the Ministry of Agriculture does not intend to criminalize journalists or gag the media," said Indra Zakaria Rayusman, head of the ministry's legal bureau, in a statement on Tuesday.

He said the Rp200 billion (over US$12 million) civil lawsuit was filed to hold Tempo accountable for what the Press Council ruled as an ethical violation.

According to Rayusman, ministry monitoring of Tempo's coverage of its activities and the agriculture minister showed that 79 percent of the reports were negat...