E. Java stops buying papers

SURABAYA (JP): The East Java provincial administration is saving money by canceling its subscriptions to 34 newspapers and magazines.

An official said the administration had decided to cancel 90.8 percent of all subscriptions before March 1 to save money for the May 29 general election and National Sports Week in 2000.

Governor Basofi Soedirman's office now subscribes to only three Jakarta-based newspapers, Kompas, Republika and Suara Karya, and five local newspapers.

Some journalists reporting on the East Java provincial administration have been outraged by the decision. They have signed an open letter criticizing the administration's public relations office for "terminating communication with the mass media".

The journalists said the cancellation meant the provincial administration could no longer see what the press wrote about it. The reporters also questioned the administration's reasoning, saying there were separate funds for the general election and sports week.

The reporters demanded the office reveal the true reason behind its decision.

The public relations office has an annual budget of Rp 25 million (US$10,200) for subscriptions to publications.

Basofi told The Jakarta Post yesterday that he knew little about the cancellation. "We must admit, sometimes the content of these publications is the same," he said.

The Post's source at Basofi's office said the administration was running out of money after it had bought 617 Isuzu Panther vans last August for every subdistrict head in the province as part of a plan to help Golkar's campaign. The provincial legislature has protested that the vans were bought without its approval. (nur/swe)