Calculated temerity

Calculated temerity

In your editorial of Dec. 29, 1998, you proposed Indonesia's
university students as the pre-eminent candidates for "The
Jakarta Post's men and women of 1998." I agree heartily. The
students' perseverance, idealism, and courage have been
remarkable, and their dynamic role in this country's current
evolution is now a matter of record.

I would suggest that another force has been of tremendous
significance in this unfolding drama: the press, and the Post in
particular. I have been reading this paper since 1985, and
understand the delicate tight rope walk that was required in the
1980s and early 1990s in order to avoid the fate of Tempo
magazine and other journals which were banned. Beginning in July
1996 (and probably earlier), your paper began reflecting an
admirable, calculated temerity, particularly in editorials. Your
editors' and writers' excellent command of English allowed
subtleties and implications which allowed your readers to make
inferences about issues that were perhaps not able to be more
bluntly reported at that time. Of course, parallel developments
in the electronic media -- and the increasing resignation of the
authorities then to the futility of censorship -- facilitated
this new frankness. The fact remains that the Post's editors and
writers were "sticking their necks out."

Your staff displayed "calculated temerity" in the last month's
of former president Soeharto's regime, and, since the May riots,
your editors have made balanced and articulate calls on
government officials to be forthright, exhibit clear thought, and
take responsible action. All of this reflects a journalistic
relentlessness and courage very much consistent with the
qualities your Dec. 29 editorial attributed to the students.

Bravo, The Jakarta Post.

MICHAEL S. DOUGHERTY

Jakarta