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)