Bob Hasan to give help to unemployed journalists

JAKARTA (JP): Timber tycoon Mohammad (Bob) Hasan, widely rumored to be linked with the establishment of a new magazine to replace the defunct Tempo newsweekly, insisted yesterday that he simply wanted to accommodate the displaced journalists.

"Yes, I'm thinking of helping them out," he told reporters yesterday when he was pressed about his intention of establishing a new magazine employing the former journalists of Tempo.

"They could be employed in my company or they start a new magazine. We'll have to think this through," said Bob, who is also the proprietor of two magazines, Paron and Sportif.

He said that as a matter of policy, he never interfered in the day to day editorial decisions of his magazines. "In business, I want everyone to be professional."

However, he said that he would interfere in editorial decisions if the national interest is at stake. "If an article attacks the government, then I will have to intervene on the editorial board."

The government revoked the publishing license of Tempo in June saying that the magazine has repeatedly ignored its warnings about the editorial content.

Since then, various factions in the magazine have apparently been competing to establish a new magazine with a new license and new shareholders and a new name. The government has promised that it will issue a new license to former Tempo employees.

One camp within Tempo is believed to support the entry of Bob Hasan but the majority prefers to go it alone, using the 20 percent equity the employees had in the magazine as the capital to start a new magazine.

On Wednesday, Bambang Bujono, who claims to have the mandate of former Tempo employees, said that out of Tempo's 78 journalists, only 14 wanted to join Bob Hasan.

Bambang and his colleagues early this month applied for a new publishing license for a magazine they call Opini (Opinion). (amd/emb)