Govt orders 'Sarinah' to resolve conflict

Govt orders 'Sarinah' to resolve conflict

JAKARTA (JP): The government has ordered the management of
Sarinah, a women's magazine, to suspend publication until it has
resolved an internal conflict that has already confused readers.

A split in the management has resulted in the publication of
two versions of Sarinah's Jan. 23 edition. Both hit the streets
on Tuesday, prompting the Ministry of Information to write a
letter to the management telling it to halt publication until the
problem had been resolved.

Yesterday, a group of 35 journalists and employees from one of
the bickering camps attempted to see Director General of Press
and Graphics Subrata in order to explain their position and
request that they be allowed to continue publication.

The group, led by senior journalist H.K. Usman, said they came
to ask for assistance in resolving the dispute.

However, the group was unable to meet with Subrata, who was
out of town, and was received by the head of the press licensing
division of the directorate general, Bambang Wahyudi.

Usman displayed the two rival versions of the bi-weekly
magazine. Although each uses different cover girl, both versions
use the same layout and style.

"The resemblance is undeniable because they stole our assets
and some of our articles," Usman said.

The dispute involves Soegiarso Soerojo, the publisher, chief
editor and founding member of the magazine, and Hoedi Sujanto,
the president of PT Mangkujaya Abadi, the company which publishes
the magazine.

Usman says he came to the Ministry of Information yesterday to
represent Soegiarso.

Hoedi was not available to comment on the conflict.

Yesterday Usman and his group also visited the secretariat of
the Indonesian Journalist Association (PWI), the PWI's Jakarta
Office, and the Association of Indonesian Newspaper Publishers to
submit the same petition.(imn)