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.