Dear subscribers

As some of you may already be aware, the bill for your subscription of The Jakarta Post at the end of this month will be higher than that of the last few years. That is because, as of September, we have raised the monthly subscription rate from Rp 77,000 to Rp 90,000. The retail price for each copy remains at Rp 5,000.

The increase in the subscription rate was inevitable.

The last time we raised it was in October 2003, and we held back from increasing it further as long as we could.

Meanwhile, the cost of producing the newspaper has gone up significantly, particularly in the past year as fuel prices were raised and the rupiah weakened. These developments eventually impacted on our production costs, from the newsprint and printing costs to the fees for the many news services and syndicates we make use of, to the salaries of our staff and honorariums for our regular columnists and contributors.

Rest assured, however, that The Post remains committed to providing you with a high-quality newspaper that strives to achieve excellence in journalism. We know that you, our readers, are becoming much more discerning in the way you obtain your news and information, and that you have plenty of alternatives to choose from. And we understand that, ultimately, it is the credibility of our newspaper that determines our readership.

To improve the quality of our newspaper, The Post has invested in education and training programs, particularly for our journalists. Training young Indonesian university graduates to become fine reporters who are proficient in written English has been a real challenge. We are proud of our record. Many of our journalists have subsequently moved on to other careers where writing in English is the main prerequisite. But we also realize that it is becoming more and more expensive to train and retain our journalists.

Through raising the subscription rate we are able to provide our staff with advanced training and education, thus providing you with a better product. We thank you for your loyalty and continued patronage.