Kanisius publisher braves rough waves of time at age 80

Tarko Sudiarno, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

"A witness to history." This must be the most appropriate tag for Kanisius, a publisher and printing shop in Yogyakarta. With a sailing boat as its logo, Kanisius celebrated its 80th anniversary on Jan. 26, 2002, perhaps the oldest firm in this line of business in Indonesia.

Kanisius may take pride in the fact that it has helped improve the Indonesian people's level of intelligence with the books it has published since 1922. It is interesting to know that in the course of its history, Kanisius has also been involved in other areas beside book publication.

Kanisius was actually established to publish spiritual books. However, it was later involved in activities relevant to the history of the nation, either directly or otherwise. Its logo - the sailing boat on a wavy sea -- indicates that the company will continue sailing, braving the weather, whether the sea is calm or rough.

At first, the company was called Canisius Drukkerij and had as its main business the printing of Catholic spiritual books, particularly in Javanese. Then, when the Indonesian young people of various ethnic groups closed ranks in 1928 by declaring their Youth Pledge in 1928, namely one country, one nation and one language -- Indonesia -- Kanisius took part in this great undertaking. It published simple newspapers called Swaratama (Voice of Excellence) and Tamtama Dalem (God's Army), to forge this unity through the print media.

During the era of the Indonesian revolution for independence, Kanisius also served the nation. On Oct. 30, 1946, the newly established Republic of Indonesia issued its own money, known as ORI (the money of the Republic of Indonesia). (The date, which marked the first emission of ORI, is now observed as the Finance Day of the Republic of Indonesia.)

Some time later, however, ORI was rivaled by money issued by the NICA, the Netherlands Indies Civil Administration, the administration of the Dutch colonial power when it returned to Indonesia following the proclamation of the Republic of Indonesia on Aug. 17, 1945.

To block the circulation of NICA money, the government of the Republic of Indonesia circulated ORI currency to the entire Indonesian territory. In this context, Kanisius was then one of the places where ORI, of the second to the fifth releases, was printed.

"At that time our printing shop was still near Kidul Loji Church, to the north of the Northern Alun-Alun (town square) of Yogyakarta," said president director of Kanisius, Emmanuel Surono.

When the Indonesian Communist Party under Muso rebelled against the Republic of Indonesia in Madiun in 1946, Kanisius was also affected. This firm refused an order to print Patriot, a magazine containing Communist and atheist teachings. A Kanisius employee was paraded by communist sympathizers under the name of "the people".

Today, this company employs some 300 people and has modern equipment. It publishes not only books but also multimedia products such as CDs, cassettes, videotapes and CD-ROMs.

At present Kanisius does not only specialize in the publication of spiritual books. It also publishes books of general interest. "Most of the Kanisius products today are for the general public. Sixty percent of our books are for general interest while the remaining 40 percent are for spiritual purposes," Surono said.

Managerially, Kanisius is divided into five book divisions. The first handles books related to liturgical matters, such as theology, catechism, liturgy, prayers, holy books, spiritual readers, history and pastoral materials.

The second deals with the humanities and is focused on philosophical studies. The books published under this division invite people to get into a systematic, critical, profound and comprehensive study of thoughts. The books published include those on management, psychology, sociology and culture.

The third is the social division, which produces practical books for the community in areas involving agriculture, cattle breeding, fishery, planting, community health and appropriate technology.

The fourth division publishes children's books. These books are expected to develop children's memory, creativity, imagination, sensation and behavior.

The last focuses on school textbooks, particularly those for vocational and English studies at secondary schools.

To be able to publish books of a great variety, as referred to above, Kanisius has established cooperation with local writers and also teams up with foreign parties. It has, for example, published a number of foreign books in Indonesian translation with a license from the copyright holders. This kind of cooperation, for example, has been established for LOGICO products made by Germany's Finken Verlag and "Tell Me More" of France's Auralog.

As it can now boast a great variety of products, Kanisius is now ranked as one of Indonesia's largest publishers. "In a year, our target is to publish about 250 new titles. Thank God we have always been able to reach that target. At present there are about 2,500 titles published by Kanisius in bookshops across the country," said Surono.

It has not been an easy job for the management to ensure that Kanisius could reach its eightieth year in a satisfactory state, and it is even more difficult to maintain this achievement.

Perhaps only loyalty and strong discipline will ensure that Kanisius can continue to exist. In terms of discipline, Kanisius has often been criticized for enforcing very strong discipline upon its employees. To outsiders, this strong discipline may appear inhuman.

Discipline is the key to success, though. "One of the things that enables us to survive is discipline. If an employee comes late -- though only by a few minutes -- he will be penalized. His salary will be cut. This seems inhuman but it is important to ensure that discipline works in this company," said Surono.

Another key to success, he said, is the working ethos of the employees. From very early they have been told that this company depends for its survival on its own personnel, not on other people, let alone subsidies from the church.

"We do not receive a single rupiah from the church, although we are under its authority. The survival of this company depends entirely upon its employees."

So, when someone is accepted to work for Kanisius, he must become something, and not own something. "Try to be something; avoid material thoughts," is what all employees of Kanisius always remember in their hearts.

Perhaps, this message has become part and parcel of the soul of the employees so that the company continues to survive despite frequent obstacles, many of which were so huge they could have caused the collapse of the company. In the New Order era, for example, the government took over the supply of most school textbooks through its projects.

Kanisius, as a result, had to find another entry point for its book business. Then in 1988 there was a devaluation, and the debts of the company tripled.

"We were close to bankruptcy then, but thanks to our hard work, we were able to survive the crisis," Surono said.

Perhaps, as an institution with a noble mission, Kanisius was strengthened by going through all these ordeals. Again, this shows the appropriateness of its logo. The boat continues sailing, come hell or high water. Perhaps the story might have been different if the logo had been a sailing boat on a calm sea.