Chinese publications face rivalry

By I. Christianto

JAKARTA (JP): Only a small percentage of people in Indonesia can speak Chinese, let alone read the characters. But new local magazines and newspapers in Chinese are now available in the capital.

The publications are openly sold by most street vendors in hectic Chinatown in the Glodok area in West Jakarta -- a situation not seen until recently after the government lifted the over-three-decade ban on Chinese religion and culture in the country.

Among the new publications, mostly published in Jakarta, are three magazines: Weekly Bulletin, Indonesia and ASEAN (based in Bandung) and the Voice of Indonesian Chinese (Yinhua Zhisheng). The daily newspapers include Peaceful (Harian Umum Perdamaian/Ho Ping Ri Bao), The New Life (Harian Hidup Baru/Xin Sheng Ri Bao) and Indonesia Shang Bao, the Chinese version of Bisnis Indonesia. In addition, there is the 34-year-old Harian Indonesia, which is published under the government's auspices.

Under the New Order government, the use and teaching of Mandarin, the main Chinese language was banned in public in order to support the Chinese-Indonesian assimilation scheme. The total prohibition of any Chinese facets dates back to 1965 following the failed communist coup as the government believed that the coup was supported by China. Harian Indonesia was the only paper licensed by the government as was printed under the authorization of the special executor and commander for the restoration of security and order in 1972.

President Abdurrahman Wahid, who gained power last October, has revoked some discriminative policies against the Chinese.

Yinhua Zhisheng is run by Eddy Untung, 62, who previously worked for a tourism magazine. The 52-page monthly magazine was firstly published in July last year.

"We target Chinese-Indonesians and those who understand Mandarin. I think they are senior Chinese-Indonesians of over 50 years as most the younger generation under 40 years don't understand Mandarin," he said.

He said that he worked only with two other colleagues as it was a kind of family business.

"Indonesia is now new. We want to promote the awareness about this. There are also other interests, including to support the government in increasing the sense of a new Indonesia, that Chinese-aspects are not forbidden anymore, to some extent," he said, adding that the magazine was independent.

Yinhua Zhisheng is priced at Rp 5,000 (63 U.S. cents) per copy and has a circulation of between 4,000 and 5,000 copies, with content mainly politics and literature.

"Our costs reach Rp 10 million (US$1,025) per month, and for sure, we haven't reached break even point yet," he said, adding that he was optimistic about surviving.

Eddy, who also runs a photocopy service, said that putting the magazine in as many as possible outlets in Glodok was the best marketing strategy for the magazine.

"The only challenge is rivalry. There are so many Chinese language publications now, including those owned by media giants and the well-established Harian Indonesia."

In the efforts to be different, he admitted that sometimes he used the coverage of overseas magazines, "Just like the recent report on (former Army Strategic Reserves Command chief) Prabowo by Asiaweek."

Another challenge, according to Eddy, was the lack of advertisers, though his rates are moderate: Rp 2.5 million ($315) for the back cover.

"The market is there, we believe that there's still a segment seeking Chinese-language media," said Eddy.

Other publishing companies appear to agree.

The respected Indonesian business newspaper Bisnis Indonesia has recently expanded its market by printing Indonesia Shang Bao.

"We target the Chinese-Indonesians as well as industrialists in East and Southeast Asia," said businessman Sukamdani S. Gitosardjono of Indonesia Shang Bao.

"It's different from other Chinese-language papers as it focuses on economic and business affairs," he said.

The 12-page daily has a circulation of 25,000 copies, while Bisnis Indonesia has at least 20 pages and with a circulation of between 70,000 and 75,000 copies.

Newspaper vendors in Glodok said that Harian Indonesia was popular, while retail prices were quite competitive.

A vendor said that he sold about 10 copies of the Chinese language newspaper. Indonesia Shang Bao is sold at Rp 1,700 (22 U.S. cents), Xin Sheng Ri Bao Rp 1,500 and Harian Indonesia Rp 1,300.

Chinese healer Yiu, 70, said that Harian Indonesia had good coverage of domestic affairs while Xin Sheng Ri Bao lead with its world and foreign news.

Ping Ping, 33, said that she read several newspapers every day and found the contents about the same.

Akiko, a shop owner in Salemba, Central Jakarta, said he had been subscribing to Harian Indonesia for years. Interestingly, one of the columns that he always reads is the obituaries as this keeps him informed about those in the Chinese community who pass away.

"In recent weeks, I got some other Mandarin newspapers freely. I don't understand why there are so many papers in Mandarin now, albeit with the same contents," he said.

The local media are now enjoying greater freedom after enduring years of ex-president Soeharto's authoritarian rule. The process to get a publishing license has been simplified. During the New Order regime, a number of publications lost their publishing licenses because of contents that the government did not agree with.

Atmakusumah Astraatmadja of the National Press Council and the Dr. Soetomo Press Institute said that the Chinese-language newspapers would enrich the journalism in Indonesia.

"It's good to show that Indonesia is quite diversified. We have to be accustomed to diversity as it enriches us in understanding each other. What I regret is that there's no new media in regional languages as Indonesia has a lot of dialects. We need to provide for local cultures as well," he said.