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THURSDAYApril 25, 2013 SPECIAL ANNIVERSARY ISSUE Vol.31 No.001

The Indonesian government hasstubbornly refused to ratify the FrameworkConvention on Tobacco Control (FCTC)due primarily to a lack of local evidence onthe harmful effect

The Jakarta Post

JAKARTA

In celebrating 30 years o exis-tence in 2013, The Jakarta Post canjustly claim to be a national institu-tion in its own right. Our journalistsand sta can take pride in how overthe course o its history, the paperhas joined in the nations struggleor democracy and established itselas an important part o Indonesiasemerging democratic institutions.

Ever since the papers rst edi-tion hit the streets on April 25, 1983,thePost has consistently ought ora more democratic Indonesia. Flip-ping through old and new editionsalike, a reader can nd a commonthread in our stories and editorials:a push to support reedom and de-mocracy.

We have our own selsh reasonsor doing this. To best practice ourart and crat to serve the publicinterest, journalists need the spaceand reedom that only a democraticsociety can provide. We will not hes-itate to break our commitment toimpartial reporting when it comesto the deense or promotion o ree-

dom, particularly the reedom ospeech and its essential adjunct, thereedom o the press.

The Post and its journalists havebeen part o the national struggle orthe reedom o the press since thepapers inception. This was the goodght, started by the ounding editorsand continued by their successors tothis day. It is the duty o any decentnewspaper to saeguard and pro-mote reedom and democracy.

As an English-language newspa-per serving a non-English speakingcommunity, the Post may be smallin its reach and audience. However,the size o our Indonesian reader-ship has been growing, and, sincethe mid-1990s, has surpassed ournumber o non-Indonesian read-ers, the original target audiencewhen we started publishing in1983. The mix o Indonesians andnon-Indonesians among the papersreaders continues to be refected inour print edition. And, with the ad-vent o the Internet, our global reach

has widened.While both groups o readers are

equally important, the large size o theIndonesian readership is testamentto the acceptance o the newspaperat home. In Asia, we can claim to beas good as the best English-languagenewspapers in the region. At home,we can claim to be as good as the bestIndonesian-language newspapers.

There is no secret as to how wepulled it o. We simply paid greaterattention to the quality o Englishused in the newspaper and investedlarge sums to build a strong team ocopy editors and develop our edito-rial sta.

We also built our credibility as anewspaper by coming up with ourown stories; exclusives; memorableheadlines, rom time to time; andeven a scoop or two.

May 1998 was a milestone or In-donesia as well as or the Post. Thepaper came o age amid one o themost crucial moments in the na-tions history, preserved in print inseveral key stories:

OnMay 22, thepaperpublisheda memorable banner headline,

in huge bold letters, readingI QUIT. We quoted a state-ment that then president Soehartomade a day earlier, when he va-cated power ater acing relentlesspressure rom a series o student-led people power demonstra-tions. The headline emerged aterlengthy discussions between theeditors. We went over Soehartosspeech again and again until wewere convinced that he did not re-sign or step down. The presidentsimply quit. We couldnt havecome up with a more dramaticand punchy headline.

MoresignifcantwastheeditionoMay 21, when we pulled o whatmust count as one o the biggestscoops in Indonesian media his-tory. The Post was the only news-paper that carried a story that saidthat Soeharto would announce hisresignation that morning rom thePresidential Palace. Our editorsrelentlessly worked the phonesthe previous night. We even held

the presses or almost two hours,at the risk o missing the deliveryvans. It was worth it. We checkedand rechecked rumors about theold mans plan to step down andwaited until we had conrmationrom our sources beore going toprint. It was a scoop that every-one who was directly or indirectlyinvolved with can be very proud o.

OnMay12,the Post established itscredibility as the only newspaperthat got the story right about theshooting o Trisakti Universitystudents by unknown gunmen.While all other national and in-ternational media outlets werereporting six deaths, we reportedonly our. I remember the ollow-ing day getting bullied by angrystudents and readers not tomention by my ellow journalistsin the newsroom accusing us obelittling the sacrice o the stu-

dents by reporting ewer deaths.However, as it turned out, therewere only our slain studentswhen the universitys rector thenext day bid goodbye to the ourheroes o reormasi rom thecampus. Those involved in writ-ing the news knew that we wereright all along. One o our youngreporters managed to get into thehospital where the bodies o thestudents had been taken. We hadan exclusive and we stuck toour belie that we got it right, evenwhen everybody else was report-ing otherwise.

Running a newspaper is aboutbuilding credibility and gainingthe trust o readers. Even with thesupport o the our major mediagroups in the country that ormedthe newspaper Suara Karya,Kompas, Tempo and Sinar Hara-pan the ounding editors, mostlyrecruited rom the parent compa-

nies, knew rom the beginning thatthey would eventually have to de-velop stories and a style o reportingthat would be vastly dierent romIndonesian-language newspapers.

For a new newspaper in the early1980s when the press was tightlycontrolled by the government building credibility was already a tallorder, especially building creditabil-ity with non-Indonesian readers, whowere critical and would not acceptrepublished government propaganda.

Like a ew o our Indonesian-language peers, we took our chancesand pushed the lines o reedom asar as we could while most oth-ers timidly played it sae. Whilein those days there was no ocialcensorship, oending the govern-ment meant risking your publishinglicense, which meant the death oa publication. Editors had to guesswhere the invisible line was that

would be acceptable to the govern-ment. Some o our peers, such asTempo magazine in 1994, paid theultimate price.

Little did we realize that bypushing the line with journalismas critical as the condition allowed,we earned plaudits not only romreaders who learned the ne arto reading between the lines and oturning to Page 2 or the real news but also rom government ocials.Then oreign minister Ali Alatas, orexample, oten touted The JakartaPost to visiting oreign ministersas an example o press reedom inIndonesia. We were happy to playalong, always making sure that wehad a strong editorial critical o thegovernment on the dayPak Ali en-tertained oreign dignitaries.

As an English-language publica-tion, we enjoyed a tad more ree-dom than Indonesian publications not a whole lot, but enough tomake us stand out rom the pack.

The government assumed that ourreadership was limited and that ourreports could do little harm. Wetook advantage o this to the ullest,which helped to build our reputa-tion and credibility as an indepen-dent newspaper. It was good whileit lasted.

When the military raided theheadquarters o the IndonesianDemocratic Party (PDI) in July1996, storming the place whereanti-government activists and sup-porters o Megawati Soekarnoputrihad holed up or months, we gaveno-holds-barred reports o the vio-lence. A couple o weeks later, oureditors were summoned by then in-ormation minister Harmoko, whoshowed us a axed copy o the storyand asked: Why was this distribut-ed in a mosque in some small villagein East Java?

We had little idea o how ar ourreach had gone. In those days, e-mail and the Internet were still anovelty. Facsimiles were the pre-erred means to distribute subver-sive pamphlets. The stories wereaxed and copied across the nation.Ater that episode, the government

got wind o the extent o our reader-ship. We lost some o that reedomand our editors started to get morerequent calls and summonses romthe Inormation Ministry or theIndonesian Military.

I, in its rst 15 years, The JakartaPost built its reputation by work-ing around government censorship,in the papers second 15 years since1998, we have tried to build ourcredibility in a much reer press en-vironment. The press licensing sys-tem was lited as soon as Soehartostepped down, and the Indonesianpress has not looked back since.However, this has also meant thatwe lost one o our competitive ad-vantages over Indonesian-languagemedia. Everyone now enjoys thesame reedom.

In a more democratic andmore competitive environment,The Jakarta Post has risen above theray by maintaining a critical voiceand speaking out on issues that oth-ers neglect, orget or play down.

Democracy, reedom, the abuse opower, corruption, accountability,discrimination and the persecutiono minorities and a whole lot oother issues remain our ocus.

We take pride in becoming a na-tional institution that has producedmany outstanding journalists, as wellas preparing, through our recruit-ment system and in-house trainingprograms, a host o young collegegraduates recruited as reporters orother equally rewarding proessions.Many o our alumni have gone on towork in diplomacy or at the UnitedNations, or or international agenciesand business es whose work includespublic relations, academia, politicsand civil society organizations. A ewhave even gone on to work or inter-national media.

Meanwhile, our opinion pageshave become a virtual public squareto engage in a healthy discourseon current aairs. More and moreIndonesians are expressing theirviews reely, thanks to democracy,and more them are expressing thoseviews in English. Were only too hap-py to accommodate and provide col-umn inches or these diverse views.

Thirty years ater The JakartaPosts launch, a new generation oeditors and reporters are running thenewsroom. They have the unenvi-able task o grappling with the ercecompetition unleashed by the moreopen and ree media environment and with the Internet revolution thathas dramatically changed the waypeople access news. We must alsochange with the times, and we are inthe process o becoming a more digi-tal news organization.

However, our commitment topromoting and strengthening de-mocracy, reedom and basic humanrights will continue. The newspaperhas grown, prospered and been ableto contribute to the nation-buildingprocess in no small measure be-cause o our commitment to democ-racy and to upholding the values andprinciples o good journalism.

This article was written bySenior Editor Endy M. Bayuni.

This was the good ght, started by thefounding editors and continued by their

successors. It is the duty of any newspaper tosafeguard freedom and democracy.

TUBAGUS DJOKO TUNGGONO,Business ManagerCirculation Ofce:Jl. Kerajinan 3, Jakarta BaratMonthly Subscription Rp.4,000Advertising Ofce:Jl. Gajahmada 105, lantai II, Jakarta BaratPhone 622558Advertising Rate Rp. 1,000/mm columnBanks: BNI 1946 Jakarta Kota

acc. no. 11.02.005.14383.9Citibank Jakarta Pusat

The journal of Indonesia today

MONDAY, APRIL 25, 1983VOL. 1, NO. 1

PT Bina Media Tenggarapublishes this daily newspaperunder license no. 01512/SK/Ditjen PPG/SIT/1982

MOHAMMAD CHUDORI, PublisherSABAM SIAGIAN, Chief EditorAMIR DAUD, Managing Editor

Editorial & General Dept. :Jl. Palmerah Selatan 15, Jakarta PusatP.O. Box 85 Palmerah Jakarta BaratPhone 543008 ext. 165

A MESSAGE FROM THE PUBLISHER

Introducing your new morning daily newspaper:

The making of a great newspaper

JP/Alex Lumi

First and foremost: The then inormation minister, Harmoko (second rom right), receives a copy o the rst edition oThe Jakarta Post on April 25, 1983. Also on hand on the historic day werethe dailys rst chie editor, Sabam Siagian (with pipe), publisher Mohammad Chudori (center, in dark suit), business manager Raymond Toruan (behind Chudori) and Kompas Gramedia chairmanJakob Oetama (right). The moment was captured by the latePostphotographer Alex Lumi.

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II|Special Anniversary Issue THURSDAYApril 25, 2013

The picture o then president Soeharto signing a new loan agreementwith the International Monetary Fund as IMF managing director MichelCamdessus stood nearby with arms olded, tells many stories, dependingon your political perspective. To some, the photo, shot in Jakarta on Jan.15, 1998, and published in The Jakarta Post the next day, symbolizes theultimate national humiliation, as the country, on the verge o bankruptcyand acing a mountain o unpaid debt, virtually surrendered its economicsovereignty to the IMF.

For others, it marked the beginning o the end or Indonesias strong-man, proving that the general who had ruled the nation or more thanthree decades turned out to be weak and not so inallible ater all. Januaryalso saw the start o the student-led people power protests that eventu-ally orced Soeharto to quit in May.

The big mess the IMF made out o the bailout and urther economicdeterioration added to the pressures on Soeharto. This photo is one o thebest and certainly the most memorable image captured by the late AlexLumi, thePosts longtime photographer.

It was a simple, straightorwardstory based on a guided tour ostate-owned airplane manuac-turer PT IPTN in Bandung. But Iremember it due to the responseo BJ Habibie, then science andtechnology minister and one oSoehartos most trusted Cabinetmembers.

We headlined our report o thetour, Saudi Arabia cancels ordersor CN-235 aircrat rom RI, tak-ing a dierent tack rom other me-dia covering the story.

As the business news editor, Imade the call to emphasize thatangle, based on comments madeby a senior executive speaking on

The beginningof the end

Flying offthe handle

STORIES THAT CHANGED OUR LIVES

MANAGING EDITOR1989-2001

Vincent Lingga

EDITORS PICKS

Jakob Oetama was oneo the ounders oTheJakartaPost, alongwith Jusu Wanandi,

Muhammad Chudori,Eric Samola, Fikri Juri,

Goenawan Mohamad, H. G.Rorimpandey and Harmoko.On the occasion o thenewspapers 30th anniversary,Jakob spoke about the originso the Post, his initial limitedexpectations or the paper andabout journalism in general.

Question:What were your frstimpressions when you were asked tohelp establish an English-languagenewspaper in Indonesia?

Answer:I elt that it was anecessity to have a newspaper inEnglish. In a globalized world,our young people must not onlyread, but also write [in English].Its establishment involved severalindividuals, including theninormation minister Ali Moertopo,Jusu Wanandi and the chairmano the Indonesian JournalistsAssociation (PWI), Harmoko.

Didnt Pak Harmoko type up aletter o recommendation on behalo the PWI to establish the Post?Yes, he did.

Did you imagine that what wasinitially a small newspaper wouldsurvive and expand over the long run?No, because it was the rst[attempt]. That it has lasted orthis long is quite an achievement.

What role didKompas play in thePosts early days?Our role rom the start was inits printing. We also managedcirculation. We didnt have a handin the editorial content.

Competing publishers such asTempo, Sinar Harapan andKompas, came together to establishThe Jakarta Post. Was this uniqueor Indonesia or or other countries?

Yes, o course. What came out othat competition was an English-language newspaper. I gured,why dont we synergize?

The Post was not the only newspaperpublished in English at that time.There were also the IndonesianTimes and the IndonesianObserver. Why do you think TheJakarta Post has excelled while itscompetitors have since olded?

The Post was more proessional.It provided inormation and viewsthat even though they had somesubjective elements never letpolitical views deeat the truth. Thatwas the oundation. As a consequence,it is trusted, it is credible. The newsis necessary even opinions arenecessary but credibility is veryinfuential or the very existence andthe development o the relationshipbetween a medium and its readers.

Whats the job o an English-language newspaper in Indonesia,beyond serving oreign readers andoering a window to the nation orreaders overseas?[The number o] Indonesianintellectuals has grown. Theres aneed or a newspaper in English,especially since it has been trustedas independent and has beenproven through its content.

Youve used the words credibilityand independence, which arekey words in the media industry.How independent and credible isjournalism in Indonesia today?There are many newspapers now.Many people rely on them or aliving. We have to be honest andconsider the economic dimension.[Our independence] has beenaected by our own subjectivity. Itis unavoidable. Some people expresstheir opinions coarsely and abruptlyand others in a smart and subtle way.

What is the uture o English-language media in Indonesia?I think they will exist and even grow.The world is more interconnectedand one o its most eective toolsis the media. To understand eachother, we need a bridge - and thatis through English. Plus, readingEnglish newspapers produces aeeling o esteem.Its intellectually [challenging] or

an educated, uture-oriented andglobalized people. So ar Englishhas been a measure o intellect andprogress.

It is trusted, it is credible

Jakob OetamaCHAIRMAN

KOMPAS GRAMEDIA GROUP

Theres a needfor a newspaper

in English,especially since it

has been trustedas independent

and has beenproven through

its content

What do longtime readers want?IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE JAKARTA POSTS 30TH

ANNIVERSARY, THE DAILY CONTACTED SEVERALREADERS, MOSTLY LONGTIME SUBSCRIBERS. HEREARE THEIR THOUGHTS ON THE NEWSPAPERS

DEVELOPMENT OVER THE YEARS.

handramouli, a loyal subscriberto The Jakarta Post since 1983,said he loved the way the Postcommunicated to its readers withwell-structured English. The Ja-

karta Post delivers quality news on democracy tobuild public opinion, which helps create awarenessabout the good and the bad. Thats how a newspa-per should serve the public, he said.

Chandramouli enjoys the Opinion section themost as he thinks it covers a variety o topics on adaily basis and reaches out to the people. He hopesthe Post continues to encourage people to speakup to boost citizen journalism. He would like thepaper to present more news about Asia, especiallyon how its countries continue to grow. Chandra-mouli would also like to see the Post become amedia outlet that brings more Asian countriestogether or cooperation.

Even though the Post satises his news needs,he suggests that it should approach dierent plac-es and people in Indonesia, so the world can learnmore about Indonesia. He also suggests thePost toeducate more about the English language.

A. Hidayat MS, another subscriber since 1983,said he subscribed to the Post because it was thebest English-language newspaper in Indonesia andcovered a variety o issues including health, socialproblems, politics and more.

Hidayat enjoys the headlines because they con-sistently contain breaking news. He particularlyliked how in May 1998, thePost provided the latestnews and photographs o the riots on its ront page.

His avorite section is its National page, whichmostly contains political stories. He appreciates theway the news is presented, with good word choiceand the most important inormation placed in therst paragraph o articles.

Hidayat also believes that inormation in the ar-ticles comes rom respectable sources. His least a-vorite section is Features, which he would like seereduced to make more space or political stories.

Because he eels the paper would be o interestto university students, he thinks the Post shoulddedicate a section that ocuses on the activities andinterests o university students, which he believescould also expand the papers readership.

Gamal Ahimsa, a palm oil businessman who hassubscribed since 1984, said he was able to nd in-ormation not available any other newspaper.

He enjoys reading the Opinion section; especial-

ly the articles by oreign experts who have positivethings to say about Indonesia. He would like to seemore international perspectives on dierent in-dustries that could help guide businesses here. Thepalm oil industry in Indonesia, according to him,has been portrayed negatively by the internationalmedia.

Gamal said he missed the WEEKENDER maga-zine as it provided readers with insight into currentsocial trends and the younger generation. He, how-ever, likes The China Daily and The InternationalHerald Tribune, two insertions in the Post. Heenjoys doing the daily crossword puzzles, but hewould like them to be enlarged and placed at eitherthe top or bottom o the page so he can old the pa-per to do them easily.

Nerendra Daswani, who started subscribing ol-lowing his ather who subscribed or more than 20years, said he chose thePost because liked readingEnglish. He also highly enjoys Sudoko, which isavailable in the paper.

Christina Yulianti Siahaan, a subscriber since2010, said the Post was the most trusted Englishnewspaper in Indonesia. She enjoys articles thatdiscuss liestyle because she thinks they explorephilosophies. She would like thePost to urther de-velop its Readers Forum.

Paul H. Brown, an engineer and a subscribersince 1983, said he liked the Post because its inde-pendent and well-written. He loves the Archipela-go section as he always wants to learn more aboutIndonesia.

He does not like reading the Sports section becausehe preers to watch sports coverage on TV. He chal-lenged thePost to urther develop its Sports section.

Gamal named his avorite writers as Lin CheWei, Veeramalla Anjaiah, Jusu Wanandi and JuliaSuryakusuma, all o whom he thinks capture the es-sence o each subject presented.

Chandramouli, however, said his avorite jour-nalist at thePost was Kornelius Purba. Mr. Purbawrites bravely and talks to readers as i hes giving aheart-to-heart. His writing is easy to understand.

Brown concurred with Chandramouli in choos-ing Purba.

Christinas avorite journalist was Bruce Emond.

Haeril Halim, M. Edy Soyan, Utami DiahKusumawati and Sebastian Partogi

contributed to this article.

C

I requently recall this storyo election day in East Timortogether with its main photo.The events o the entire dayconronted and smashed the en-trenched psyche o Indonesians,as their ellow citizens silently

East Timor votes

MANAGING EDITOR2004-2012

Ati Nurbaiti

For the November 2010 editionoWEEKENDER, we had an exclu-sive prole the love child o sing-er Frank Sinatra and actress EvaBartok, now back in her childhoodhome o Jakarta. A scoop, or sure,but it was not cover story material.

And then a pitch came in or aphoto essay about a woman pho-tographer in Central Java. The di-erence was she used a speciallymodied camera; her arms hadbeen amputated. Thats your cov-er, chie editor Meidyatama Suryo-diningrat said, peering at the shotby Adi NW oIbu Rusidah detly

cleaning her lens.

Disabled people are rarely seenin the media here, unless its a tear-jerking exercise. The act we chose

this grainy cover testies to thePostssupport o pluralism in every orm.Nobody well, not within earshot griped it was not pretty enough.The cover got attention: a bank do-nated a camera to Rusidah and sheappeared on a major talk show.

Its not right to use the worddisabled to describe Rusidah; toborrow a phrase, she has a bold andindependent spirit. That, I think, isalways reason or pride.

A portrait in

courage

EDITOR WEEKENDERMAGAZINE, 2007-2012

Bruce Emond

CHIEF EDITOR2004-2010

Endy Bayuni

Everyone remembers the I QUIT headline that The Jakarta Postpublished on May 22, 1998. But it was the previous days story thathad actually been more infuential in setting the tone or impendingchange.

The New Order was a dierent time and a dierent era and despitea dierent level o pervasive ear, thePost remained deant, epitomiz-ing the bold and independent nature o newspapers at their best. Thestory published on May 21, 1998, took a risk by suggesting that the endto the New Order era had arrived.

It was headline news, written in the last minutes beore dead-line, with editors rushing to seek conrmation. It was also a head-line written with much trepidation: I was among two editors whomade the trip to the printing press to oversee the nal run justin case we decided to change the headline at the last minute.God knows what might have happened to the Post and Indonesia iSoeharto had a change o heart ater the paper hit the streets.

Were thankul he did not.

Nation awaits

new government

CHIEF EDITOR2010-PRESENT

MeidyatamaSuryodiningrat

said, Were done with you. We votetoday in spite o the deadly risks toourselves and our amilies.

The photo o long lines o peo-ple waiting in the heat still raises alump in my throat, especially whenI see those petite elderly citizens.

Unsurprisingly and despitelooming risks these older peoplequietly and joyously voted to dis-card their Indonesian citizenshipin what must have been the mosttriumphant moment o their sunsetyears.

I remember the ront page romApril 23, 2013, whenever I thinkabout how many Indonesians stub-bornly hold that no one has any goodreason to leave the sacred UnitaryState o the Republic o Indonesia no matter what weve done to them.

the condition o condentiality, andwe produced a story critical o thehigh-tech project. Tight govern-ment controls o the press meantthe criticism could not be direct,but the message o the story wasloud and clear.

A urious Habibie summoned thePosts then chie editor, Sabam Sia-gian, to reprimand him, threateningto sue i potential buyers canceledorders because o the article.

We stuck by our story.

Tsunami sweepsSumatra

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR2011-PRESENT

Riyadi Suparno

Despite its terrible toll, thetsunami, ironically, also broughtmany good things in its wake.

When I arrived in the prov-ince a week ater the tsunami, Iwas enguled by ear, especiallywhen distant gunshots rang outat night.

The tsunami orced the war-ring parties to sit down at thenegotiating table. Aceh nallygot its peace ater years o con-

fict, with the reedom to mind

its own business.Indonesia also learned many

things, including introduction o atsunami warning system and disas-ter preparedness, and adoption ogood governance practices in man-aging oreign aid.

This was one o my biggest pro-essional journeys because I had towrite headline stories almost everyday. It also carried personal mean-ing or me.

I set out to discover the ate oan Acehnese riend; we had studiedin Birmingham, the UK, only a ewmonths beore the disaster.

I ound his house, now fattenedto the ground. Among the rubblewas a toy we had bought togetheror his baby. We never ound hisbody, or knew or certain his ate,but I was content to have at least

ound his home.

Dec. 27, 2004

Sept. 1, 1999

May 30, 1988

Jan. 16, 1998

November 2010

May 21, 1998

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THURSDAYApril 25, 2013|Special Anniversary IssueIII

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