Herawati Diah: A woman of all seasons
Herawati Diah: A woman of all seasons
By Rita A. Widiadana
JAKARTA (JP): Herawati Diah is often called a woman of all seasons by her younger colleagues in the local media.
No wonder. She was born during the Dutch colonial period. She started her journalistic profession when Japan occupied Indonesia, and continues to contribute to the industry.
A career spanning for more than 50 years places her as one of the country's pioneer women's reporters.
"I am always eager to share my knowledge with young journalists. They have bright ideas and perception of current local and world issues," Herawati opened the conversation in her cozy house in Kuningan, South Jakarta.
Wearing a long, loose and flowery chiffon blouse with black pants and flat-soft-shoes, Herawati still shines in her 70s.
"Being a journalist has given me a strong and important foothold in my present life," soft-voiced Herawati said.
Her profession has enriched her life and broadened her horizons. It also opened doors to intensive relationships with people from different walks of life. It trained her to be more flexible when facing different situations, she added.
Herawati has met international figures such as Mahatma Gandhi, Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Egypt's first president Naguib, Queen Elizabeth II of Britain and many other significant people.
She has also covered many momentous events in Indonesia and other countries.
Her most thrilling experience was when she heard the nation's independence on August 17, l945. Together with her husband, Herawati secretly disseminated the news nationwide. The young reporter also recorded the Rapat Akbar, the big meeting, at Ikada park, (now Monas) where former President Soekarno delivered his charismatic speech defending Indonesia's independence in September l945.
Tough
"Honestly, I am very proud to be a reporter. But, when I first entered the profession, it was very tough," she commented.
Starting in journalism in Yogyakarta in the l940s, Herawati had to face the harsh reality of the male dominated profession.
She was forced to join a Japanese-owned radio station in l942 because she was one of local people who could speak English fluently. It was here that she met her future husband, a young reporter named Burhannudin Muhammad Diah or popularly called B.M. Diah.
They got married and established a newspaper, Merdeka, which they claimed to be the voice of Indonesian aspirations.
In October l954, Herawati set up the nation's first English Newspaper, The Indonesian Observer, to provide the world information about Indonesia. The launch of the newspaper coincided with the Afro-Asian Conference in Bandung in l955.
Its mission was to be the voice of Indonesia and the Third World. In l965, pressured by the now-defunct Indonesian Communist Party (PKI), the government revoked the paper's license. It was renewed a year later.
For a mother of three young children, working as a journalist was very challenging. To keep up with her male counterparts, Herawati worked as hard as possible.
"If I couldn't produce good news, I would rather quit," she insisted.
Unfortunately, social and cultural conditions in Indonesia limited female reporters' ability to freely hunt for the news.
Female reporters were always given "soft" assignments compared to male reporters. They were asked to cover soft news, like cultural, health, education and women's issues, while their male partners were able to cover such hard news as politics and economy.
There is still a misleading perception among media people. Many of them often consider women and children 's issues as second grade news or as women's news. These issues affect half of the globe's population, she pointed out.
Today, female reporters are able to cover the traditionally male dominated area of hard news or choose to carve their name by writing impressive soft news stories.
"I still find discrimination against female reporters," she insisted.
"I always put the family above everything although I have to maintain my career," Herawati explained.
Male reporters had abundant excuses available if they neglected their families. On the other hand, Indonesian society blamed female journalists if their family life didn't meet the norm.
So long as Indonesian society clings to the traditional family view of women in their place doing domestic work and husbands as the only source of income, it will be very difficult for women to be reporters, Herawati explained.
Mission
"Every reporter has the important mission to express the truth and to voice the public's aspirations," she insisted.
Herawati continued that being a reporter could lead to other careers. Winston Churchill, for example, started as a reporter before he become Britain's most famous Prime Minister and a brilliant statesman. Carlos Romulo, the former foreign affairs minister of the Philippines, also started out as a journalist. He was later made Secretary General of the United Nations.
In Indonesia, the late Adam Malik is one of many public figures who began as a reporter. She admitted, however, that being a journalist isn't necessarily a stepping stone to other professions. There a lot of people who are lifetime journalists, such as Rosihan Anwar.
Most journalists willingly face challenges to learn something new, which makes it quite easy for them to adapt to different occupations.
Herawati has skipped from being Achmad Subardjo's, the first foreign affair's minister's private secretary, to a radio broadcaster, to a newspaper reporter and is now a prominent hotelier.
Her husband's stints as Indonesia's ambassador to Great Britain, the former Czechoslovakia and Thailand put Herawati in the role of pendamping (a husband 's companion) but she gracefully followed the bureaucratic agenda of a high ranking official's wife.
Herawati is also known as an avid cultural activist. She is the forerunner of the Mitra Budaya Foundation which actively promotes Indonesia's museums. For her dedication to the enhancement of culture she was appointed a member of the Paris- based International Fund for the Promotion of Culture, an agency under the Unesco.
Loyal
"Although she is now a successful businesswoman, she is still very loyal to journalism. But it seems to me that she was born with a silver spoon in her mouth that enable her to gain her idealism," commented a young female journalist.
Compared to other early female reporters, like Gadis Rasyid, she was very lucky, the journalist continued.
Her upper class upbringing during the Dutch colonial period, allowed young Herawati the rare opportunity of a good education.
Unlike other Inlander (indigenous Indonesia) children who had to enter a public school, Herawati, her sisters and her brother went to a Dutch school. She continued at an American High School in Japan.
Her mother, Siti Halimah, the founder of the country's first women's magazine Doenia Kita (established in l942) insisted on sending Herawati to the United States instead of the Netherlands or other European countries.
"You have to study in a country which does not have a colony. Take the best of their culture and customs and leave the wrong ones," her mother kept telling her.
Recalling her years as a student and a graduate of Columbia University in New York, Herawati said it was very difficult to be the first. She was the first Indonesian woman to graduate from the university.
When she finished her studies, Indonesia was still occupied by the Dutch Colonial government and most of local people were still living in poverty.
When I came home, everybody cheered me as if I was a celebrity and the local media profiled me. Herawati was even asked to play a role in a local movie.
"I would never have become a journalist if I followed that path," she concluded.