`Detik' staffers still calling the tune at `Simponi'

JAKARTA (JP): Former staffers of the banned DeTIK weekly yesterday launched the first edition of the newly revamped Simponi magazine whose publishing license they bought last month.

Eros Djarot, former DeTIK editor and now chief of media and public relations of Simponi, told a press conference yesterday that the new magazine will retain its independence in the same way DeTIK was managed but with some fine tuning.

Eros said some adjustments were necessary in view of the lessons learned from DeTIK.

For one, Simponi will be less direct in its criticisms, and this can be seen particularly in the choice of words, he said, stressing that Simponi will be "cooler".

DeTIK, known for its reports critical of the government, lost its publishing license in June when the government said that the magazine's publishing license permitted it to solely report on criminal and legal stories. The magazine's in-depth reporting and analysis of current affairs made it an instant success with circulation reaching 450,000 before the end came.

DeTIK's proprietors found a way of circumventing the application process by simply buying the license of Simponi, a magazine associated with former supporters of the now defunct Indonesian Nationalist Party (PNI).

Eros pointed out that the new Simponi will not be a banner for the PNI. "We are not affiliated with anything," he said.

Simponi's masthead still lists Syamsu Hadi as the magazine''s editor in chief, a position that requires the approval of the government. He was absent from the press conference yesterday.

Eros rejected the suggestion that DeTIK had purchased Simponi, preferring to describe it as a cooperation arrangement between the two magazines. "We've no intention of breaking the law and we hope that everything will proceed smoothly," he said.

The decision to join Simponi was taken mainly because the displaced DeTIK journalists, most of whom are in their 20s, needed jobs. "I have a moral obligation to find the solution so that they can go back to work again. It's not good at all if they stay unemployed for too long," he said.

Besides, he acknowledged, obtaining a new license would have been difficult.

There is no doubt however that the former DeTIK staffers are in charge of the new Simponi, and this is apparent from the way the news is presented. It's logo also bears a striking resemblance to DeTIK's.

Eros said 140,000 copies of the new Simponi will be sold on the streets beginning today.

This week's edition delved into the controversy over the alleged role of the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in the student protests against president Sukarno in 1966.

Eros said the weekly would retain the philosophy of "thinking freely", a DeTIK legacy, combined with that of the former Simponi which is "to strengthen the nation's unity."

He also rejected the suggestion that DeTIK was too critical of the government.

He recalled that some of the harsher remarks made by DeTIK's news sources had been edited out. "I believe it was our readers who psychologically think that our reports were harsh," he said. (par)