"Sometimes news stories are made for sensation and not based on facts but on mere rumors," he said to newsmen at the vice presidential office here on Thursday.
He made the statement after attending an internal meeting led by Vice President Boediono and attended also by Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Hatta Rajasa, Coordinating Minister for People`s welfare Agung Laksono and Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa.
Tifatul said a revolution or a coup would no doubt be reported after, and not before, it happened.
He said the coup report was only an analysis and media are free to do it. "It is alright to make analysis but it is not factual as it is only an analysis," he said.
Asked if the government would file a complaint in connection with it the minister said he could not do it. "So long as they are not violating the rules in our country we cannot conduct a legal action against them. There are also a lot of analysis stories at home," he said.
Some retired three-star generals were reported by Al-Jazeera television station to have been behind the anti-Ahmadiyah campaign so far and also the acts of violence against its followers.
The generals had secretly supported a hardline organization because they said they had a common goal with the organization. namely to topple President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who they thought was too weak and reformist.
The president`s special aide for information affairs Heru Lelono meanwhile said the Al-Jazeera report about the coup plot was exaggerated.
"Retired generals have been trained to observe the soldiers` oath (Sapta Marga) and therefore they know well about statehood. I think this is far from the truth," he said in a statement received by ANTARA here on Thursday.
Heru believed the generals were also former soldiers that had fought for the country while those who are still active have sworn they would never be involved in politics. He said it was impossible for a coup to be done without the involvement of those who are active.
He said "it is possible that some retired generals have concerns but have expressed them in harsh words and therefore considered as provocative towards others.
He said he believed the majority of retired generals had no intention to disrupt order, moreover to launch a coup.
"However if there are some who have been thinking of doing it I believe they have been contaminated with dirty political idea of justifying all means to gain power," he said.
This group, he said, must be made to understand or action must be taken against them with regard to maintaining the progress of development of democracy in the country.
(L.A017*G003/H-YH/HAJM/R013)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
