Surviving our own years of living dangerously<\/p>\n
Susanto Pudjomartono, Chief Editor 1991-2001<\/p>\n
It was August 1991, and the authoritarian regime of Soeharto
\nwas at the peak of its power. With the help of the military, he
\ncontrolled the country with an iron fist that swiftly crushed any
\nform of dissent. Politicians and activists who dared to oppose
\nhim were thrown into prison, many on trumped-up charges.<\/p>\n
As the newly appointed editor in chief of The Jakarta Post, I
\nhad two options. The first was to follow an editorial policy that
\nmany media in Indonesia practiced: to subscribe to \"survival
\njournalism\" by behaving in a \"positive and constructive manner\"
\nto escape the government's wrath.<\/p>\n
The second was to try to push for more freedom.<\/p>\n
The first choice was safer, and the second naturally presented
\na much darker and dangerous path. Any newspapers that dared to
\ntake the latter strategy would have to be ready to be banned, or
\nat least stamped as \"opposition\" or an \"enemy of the state\".<\/p>\n
In all repressive regimes, there is always somebody up there
\nwho is holding a big stick and is ready to bludgeon those that
\ndare to cross the line. During Soeharto's last 15 years in power,
\nthe henchman was none other than Soeharto's trusted and loyal
\nlieutenant, information minister Harmoko.<\/p>\n
By 1991, The Jakarta Post was a reputable newspaper, highly
\nrespected, financially sound and unquestionably the best among
\nthe three English newspapers in the country. From the very
\nbeginning, the Post was designed to be a quality paper of high
\nstandard.<\/p>\n
As a former managing editor of the weekly newsmagazine Tempo,
\nand a journalist since 1966, I believed that by joining hands
\nwith other pro-democracy media and institutions, the Post could
\nplay a more significant role in the building of democracy in
\nIndonesia.<\/p>\n
Therefore, it was heartening that the board of directors (and
\nlater on the board of commissioners) of the newspaper's
\npublisher, PT Bina Media Tenggara, fully supported the idea that
\nthe Post should be reinvented into a bolder, more critical,
\nindependent and finely tuned paper.<\/p>\n
We shared the view that the collapse of the Cold War had
\nunleashed a global movement of change and that it was time was to
\nbring democracy to Indonesia. We came to the conclusion that a
\ndocile newspaper would never able to shift a heap of rocks, but a
\nconcerted effort by an enlightened mass could move a mountain.<\/p>\n
In line with this view, we believed that the Post should help
\nto enlighten and empower the people by providing news and views
\nsupportive to the democratization process.<\/p>\n
We also believed that, as an English newspaper in a non-
\nEnglish speaking community, the Post enjoyed advantages and
\ndisadvantages.<\/p>\n
We knew that the Post would never be able to reach a mass
\ncirculation of, say, hundreds of thousands, as the number of
\nEnglish-speaking readers here is limited.<\/p>\n
But English is a much more straightforward and down to earth
\nmedium than Bahasa Indonesia. Readers did not need to read
\nbetween the lines, like they did with the Indonesian
\npublications.<\/p>\n
The leadership of the Post also decided that the Post should
\nstop relying too heavily on expatriate readers (totaling about
\n65 percent in 1991) and instead expand the number of the
\nIndonesian readers. In short, we wanted to reinvent the Post into
\na critical and influential newspaper, though small in circulation
\nbut reaching the decision-makers, the cream of society.<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, with the full support of its staff, started
\nto reinvent itself. On many occasions we learned the limits of
\nfreedom through trial and error. In 1994, when Tempo, Editor and
\nDetik were banned, most media were afraid to report the ensuing
\ndemonstrations protesting the government's action.<\/p>\n
I was repeatedly summoned to the Ministry of Information,
\nincluding when the Post was the only paper to run a report on the
\ndemonstrations with an accompanying photo. It turned out that the
\ngovernment was enraged because the photo showed noted poet W.S.
\nRendra and labor activist Mochtar Pakpahan, and they feared the
\nimage would be construed as wide-ranging support in society for
\nthe demonstrations.<\/p>\n
We decided to continue to publish similar pictures whenever
\nthere were demonstrations against the Tempo ban. We were still
\nthe only media that reported the events, but with no Rendra or
\nPakpahan nor any non-journalist figures on hand. There were no
\nmore summons, and we learned another lesson in how to push for
\nmore freedom.<\/p>\n
When the situation was \"tense\" and when the Minister of
\nInformation repeatedly issued warnings to the media to \"behave\",
\nwe put our most sensitive items on page two. We soon heard that
\nPost readers were wise to our strategy, and were turning to page
\ntwo before they read the front page.<\/p>\n
Of course, publishing a bold and critical newspaper exerted a
\ntoll. Practically all the Post journalists and employees lived in
\nfear, wondering when the censorship ax would fall. Stress and
\ndepression were the order of the day then, but it was also
\ninvigorating to live so dangerously in the pursuit of a goal.<\/p>\n
It was heartening when in 1996, after years of hard work, our
\nannual readership survey revealed that readers acknowledged the
\nPost not as a \"Kompas in English translation\", as previous
\nsurveys showed, but on its own merits. At last the Post was
\nrecognized and accepted as a real independent newspaper.<\/p>\n
It was also a day of celebration on April 25, 1997, the 14th
\nanniversary of The Jakarta Post, when the paper's paid
\ncirculation reached a record high of 50,000 copies. By then, we
\nhad also reached our goal in changing the readership composition:
\nthe ratio of our Indonesian readers was 65 percent compared to 35
\npercent expatriates.<\/p>\n
In term of quality journalism, the Post takes pride in the
\nbiggest scoop in Indonesian press history as the only newspaper
\nthat broke the news of Soeharto's impending resignation on the
\nmorning of May 21, 1998.<\/p>\n
His long-awaited departure ushered in the era of reformasi,
\nand at last the Indonesian press gained its hard-fought freedom.
\nAs we have found out, freedom also brings new challenges, but
\nthat is another story.<\/p>\n
Regimes may change, but there is always somebody up there in
\nthe corridors of power, or in the society, who hates freedom of
\nthe press. And some of them also carry a big stick and will not
\nhesitate to use it against the media and journalists. We have
\nlearned a good, valuable and lasting lesson: Freedom must be
\nfought for and defended.<\/p>",
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