BM Diah dies of heart failure, buried as hero
BM Diah dies of heart failure, buried as hero
JAKARTA (JP): Burhanuddin Muhammad Diah, whose illustrious
career included stints as journalist, cabinet minister,
ambassador and hotelier, was buried at Kalibata Hero's Cemetery
yesterday.
B.M. Diah, as he was better known, died of heart failure at a
Jakarta hospital in the early hours of yesterday. He was 79.
In a testament to his popularity and respect, President
Soeharto and Vice President Try Sutrisno and many other statesmen
as well as fellow journalists were among those who paid their
last respects at his residence yesterday morning.
A planned meeting between the military chief spokesman and
chief editors had to be rescheduled as virtually all of the
editors went to B.M. Diah's house yesterday morning.
Minister of Information Harmoko, who in his younger days
worked as a cub reporter for B.M. Diah in the 1960s, led the
burial ceremony at the Hero's Cemetery.
In earlier interviews, B.M. Diah, the founder and proprietor
of the Merdeka daily newspaper, said that it had been his teenage
ambition to become a journalist. And this continued to be the
profession he loved and returned to after stints in the
government, and later in his family's hotel business.
His writings earned him various ambassadorial posts from
President Sukarno between 1959 and 1968 with assignments in
Czechoslovakia, Britain and Thailand. He was the first journalist
entrusted with the task of representing Indonesia abroad.
After Soeharto came to power in 1967, he was given the job of
minister of information in 1968. He retired from public office a
year later to start the hotel business with the Hyatt Aryaduta.
But it was in journalism that B.M. Diah, born in Kotaraja,
Aceh, on April 7, 1917, really made his name.
His legacy in the profession include his initiative to draft
the 1966 Press Act, which was renewed twice, in 1967 and 1982. He
chaired the Association of Indonesian Journalists in 1971 and was
executive of the Press Council, the industry's watchdog, for a
period of 15 years.
While studying at the Middelbaar Nationale Handel Collegium in
Bandung, he asked his teacher, Douwes Dekker -- better known by
his Indonesian name of Setiabudi -- when a person could become a
leading journalist. Setiabudi answered: "At 40."
He started his career at the Sinar Deli daily in Medan in 1938
and became editor of the Asia Raya daily in 1945.
He and a group of friends founded Merdeka on Oct.1, 1945, the
first daily set up after Indonesia proclaimed independence that
August. Two years later, the newspaper became his when the other
main co-founder, Rosihan Anwar, left after a row. Since that day,
Merdeka was his personal political vehicle.
In 1942, he married Herawati, who had then just returned from
studying at the Barnard College of Columbia University in the
U.S. The couple founded the English-language Indonesian Observer
daily in the 50's.
He was considered a staunch nationalist, some would say he was
a "ultra-nationalist", a reputation he earned with the scathing
editorials he wrote for Merdeka.
The icing on his journalistic cake came in 1987, when be
became the first Asian journalist to be granted an interview with
then Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
B.M. Diah is survived by his two wives, Herawati Diah and
Julia Manaf, and five children. (31/emb)