Fate of laid-off journalists

Fate of laid-off journalists

From Kompas

I belong to one of the 30 Berita Buana journalists laid off after the afternoon paper was taken over by the management of Bakrie Capital Investment (BCI). I was declared nonactive on June 2002 upon the completion of my eye surgery at Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital (RSCM). I was suffering from ablasia retina, damaged optical nerves, when other journalists were being laid off in mid-1998.

Since BCI, a financial institution under the Bakrie Group, took over the paper, we have been living in misery.

My position as senior editor was demoted and my salary was drastically decreased from Rp 1.25 million to Rp 500,000, and is always paid late (sometimes three months afterwards). We are now looking forward to receiving our health care and insurance, as well as holiday allowances, which were promised to us in writing in 1997, but have not yet been provided.

Under such miserable conditions, my family was forced to sell some of our belongings, including an old car, to make ends meet. And perhaps due to my passion for reading and learning to use the computer, as well as all the benefits of old age (I am now 61), I underwent three other eye operations at Dharma Nugraha Hospital in August and September, and at RSCM in March 2002.

I thank God for saving me from blindness. Berita Buana, or BCI management, has promised to cover the cost of the operations which amounted to nearly Rp 20 million, but so far I have not received a single penny from either Berita Buana or BCI management.

EDDY LESTARYONO, Jakarta