Jacob lends humanity to news<\/p>\n
Berni K. Moestafa, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
His voice is more familiar to Indonesians than his own name.
\nGood reporters are like that, and Jakob Oetama is no exception.<\/p>\n
Indeed he is reluctant to expose himself, shy by nature,
\npeople close to him say. But over the years it is hard to hide
\nthe man behind the most influential newspaper in Indonesia,
\nKompas<\/p>\n
Jakob is set to receive from the University of Gadjah Mada
\n(UGM) in Yogyakarta, the honoris causa an honorary doctoral
\ndegree in communication.<\/p>\n
An alumnus of an undergraduate program at UGM, Jakob will be
\nhonored for his achievement in developing a style of journalism
\nwith an unfailing passion for promoting humanity.<\/p>\n
He and the late Petrus Kanisius Ojong founded Kompas in 1965.<\/p>\n
Today, it is the most popular newspaper with a daily
\ncirculation of more than 500,000.<\/p>\n
Under the Kelompok Kompas Gramedia group, Kompas has paved the
\nway for the development of various other media: radio, tabloids,
\nmagazines and recently its own television station.<\/p>\n
While Ojong takes the credit for developing Kompas into an
\nIndonesian media empire, Jakob has been in charge of the paper's
\nday-to-day operations.<\/p>\n
Both, however shared the same vision that still drives Kompas
\ntoday.<\/p>\n
Kompas was born amid the growing influence of communism in
\nIndonesia. It is essentially a Catholic newspaper, according to
\nveteran Antara reporter Rosihan Anwar in a book Humanisme dan
\nKebebasn Pers (Humanity and Press Freedom) to celebrate Jakob's
\n70th birthday in 2001.<\/p>\n
The founders however wanted Kompas to have a broad appeal.
\nThis was unlike the much younger Republika daily which devotes
\nits pages to Muslim readers, taking advantage of former President
\nSoeharto's loosened stance against Muslim groups during the early
\nnineties.<\/p>\n
With its Catholic background in the world's largest Muslim
\ncountry, Kompas could hardly afford Republika's approach.<\/p>\n
It may not have to. "Jakob is a person of humanity, a humane
\nChristian. Devotion to humanity, isn't that the essence of the
\nChristian concept of redemption and salvation?" said noted
\neconomist Frans Seda in the anniversary book.<\/p>\n
Jakob wanted Kompas to promote a Christian message humanity
\nwhich was transcendent, a value that is well-suited with
\nIndonesia's pluralistic society despite its vast Muslim
\npopulation.<\/p>\n
But Kompas' stance is not one for the sake of marketing. The
\npaper embodies Jakob's humanistic views, as Frans implied.<\/p>\n
This trait is to be found most explicitly on page four of
\nKompas, the opinion page where Jakob writes the editorials.<\/p>\n
"We have seen that in the 38 years since Kompas was
\nestablished Pak Jakob has been consistently developing such a
\nstyle of journalism that does not cause a headache to readers,"
\nsaid UGM rector Sofjan Effendi.<\/p>\n
The no-headache style is another way of describing Kompas
\neditorials, and their non-confrontational approach.<\/p>\n
Editorials reflect a paper's own views over daily news.<\/p>\n
The language of the Kompas editorials is simple and clear. It
\nis hard to find a statement one would disagree with. The
\neditorials do not seem to be taking sides with anything, or
\nanybody, not straightforward is the impression.<\/p>\n
This may be because Kompas editorials discuss problems with a
\nbroad perspective. Its opinion is not about blaming, taking
\nsides, or analyzing events.<\/p>\n
Kompas editorials speak of the nation. They ask us where we
\nstand as a people faced by the issues that make up daily news.<\/p>\n
"The problems of men and humanity are central to him (Jakob),"
\nexplained senior Kompas reporter P. Swantoro in the preface to
\nJakob's anniversary book.<\/p>\n
In the true spirit of his Javanese background, Jakob's
\neditorials rarely deliver in-your-face criticism.<\/p>\n
For three decades this style has helped Kompas avoid the fate
\nof many more vocal publications that were closed permanently by
\nSoeharto's heavy-handed government.<\/p>\n
"Some (newspapers) tend to blow problems out of proportion,
\nand are quite provocative. Some others tend to calm. Kompas is
\nmore of the latter," said Veven SP Wardhana the director at the
\nInstitute for Media and Social Studies.<\/p>\n
Jakob was born on Sept. 27, 1931 in Borobodur, Magelang in
\nCentral Java.<\/p>\n
After a series of teaching posts at junior high schools in the
\nWest Java towns of Cipanas, Bogor and later in Jakarta, he
\nentered UGM in 1961 to study mass communication.<\/p>\n
The university's book of alumni, published in 1999, said Jakob
\ndeveloped his wide-angled perspective from reading the works of
\nexperts in philosophy and mass communication such as Hagemann, De
\nVolder and Wilbur Schramm.<\/p>\n
"He (Jakob) doesn't view the various social problems in black
\nand white. He tends to view these problems from a more complex
\nangle, a process, a view of something of 'becoming'," the book
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
From 1956 until 1963 Jakob was also an editor at the Jakarta
\nbased Penabur weekly magazine, where he met Ojong.<\/p>\n
Afterward, he became the chief editor at the Intisari monthly,
\nan Indonesian version of Reader's Digest.<\/p>\n
Together with Ojong he founded Kompas in June 1965, taking up
\nthe post as chief editor while Ojong led the Gramedia business
\ngroup.<\/p>\n
When Ojong died in 1980, Jakob took over Gramedia's helm.<\/p>\n
He resigned in 2000 to leave the post to a young generation of
\nreporter, Suryopratomo.<\/p>\n
Kompas chief editor Suryopratomo said Jakob still attended the
\ndaily editorial meetings where he spurred debates with his
\nability "to see the other side of the coin".<\/p>\n
In a preface to the book Pers Indonesia, which Jakob wrote,
\nsociologist Ignas Kleden sees in Jakob's drive for humanity the
\npoint where a reporter's job to hunt for news meets its true
\npurpose.<\/p>\n
"Spiritually, man don't just live on knowledge but also on
\nunderstanding; not just on information but also on comprehension,
\nand not just on facts but also on meaning," he said.<\/p>",
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