'Indonesian Observer' suspends operations

'Indonesian Observer' suspends operations

JAKARTA (JP): The country's oldest English daily, Indonesian
Observer, has currently frozen its operations, as a result of
financial difficulties.

It is the first time the Observer has had to resort to the
temporary freezing of operations, since it was established in
1955, its chief editor, Taufik Darusman, told The Jakarta Post on
Thursday.

"The primary reason? The printer has just refused to print the
newspaper. There are certain financial obligations that we need
to honor, which to date, we have not," said Taufik, who has
worked for the newspaper for a total of eight years.

"It is not that we are closing down, just freezing our
operations temporarily."

He added that the daily's operations would be discontinued for
an indefinite period.

"Soon, we are scheduled to hold a shareholders' meeting ...
from there we will decide what steps to take next," Taufik said.

Their last edition, VOL XLI No. 10,434, was published on
Wednesday, at 16 pages.

Publisher Peter F. Gontha, part-owner of PT Datacom Asia,
could not be reached for comment on the matter.

A source noted that Peter had reportedly warned the paper to
make efforts to somehow try and increase the daily's circulation,
or suffer the consequences.

Taufik noted that the daily, which employs about 100 editorial
and noneditorial staff, enjoyed its heyday in the mid-1980s when
the number of foreigners nationwide was at "its highest level".

"We have informed our employees that this situation is
temporary ... they have decided to stick with us," Taufik said.

Burhanuddin Muhammad Diah, who had published the oldest
national daily, Merdeka, and his wife, Herawati Diah, first
published the Observer in 1955 to mark the first Asia-Africa
Conference, in Bandung, West Java.

The second major English daily,The Indonesia Times, was first
published in 1974. The daily, which tended to support former
president B.J. Habibie, suspended its operation in the late 1990s
following his failure to secure the presidential seat. It has not
resumed publication until today. (ylt)