Chinese paper launched here

SURABAYA, East Java: To coincide with the Chinese New Year, a new Chinese language daily, named Naga Surya, was launched here on Saturday.

"The newspaper will be published in Chinese characters," the daily's chief editor Dondy Ariesdianto said, as quoted by Antara.

Dondy said the newspaper for the first few weeks will only be published twice a week before it goes daily on Feb. 24.

The New Order regime banned all newspapers using Chinese characters with a government regulation issued by the ministry of information in 1988.

However, the new government under Abdurrahman Wahid has relaxed such restrictions.

"The biggest problem is finding translators who can work with the young journalists we have," he added. The newspaper currently has six translators and expects to hire nine more.(04)