Owner Bob Hasan reshuffles 'Gatra'

JAKARTA (JP): Timber tycoon Mohammad (Bob) Hasan, who controls PT Era Media Informasi, publisher of the Gatra weekly, has sacked the magazine's directors and chief editor for unclear reasons.

Herry Komar, one of the dismissed directors and the weekly's former chief editor, told The Jakarta Post here yesterday that their dismissal was announced in the meeting of the company's shareholders on Nov. 20, but they have yet to receive an official letter notifying them of their dismissal.

The other three directors were Lukman Setiawan, Haryoko Trisnadi and Mahtum Mastoem.

"We recently were told by Budiono Kartohadiprojo, Hasan's man in the magazine, that they were no longer unable to cooperate with us," Herry said.

He said that following a shareholders meeting, Budiono appointed himself as director and Widi Yarmanto, former reporting coordinator, as the new chief editor.

Herry said that they did not know precisely why they were being replaced.

"If it is said that it must have something to do with the weekly's recent main reports which are against Hasan's interests, the editorial has been independent since its first edition," he commented. He acknowledged that the magazine has run stories on Hasan and former president Soeharto as main reports in several editions.

The weekly reported on Hasan's loan scam in his Bank Umum Nasional as main stories in its editions of Sept. 5, 1998 and Sept. 26, 1998 and the conflict between Lt. Gen. (ret.) M. Jasin and Soeharto in the Nov. 7 edition. Hasan is one of Soeharto's closest associates.

Hasan, who was minister of trade and industry from March 11 until May, 1998, has also withdrawn his investment from ParOn tabloid after its last edition bore the front cover headline Tanah Keluarga Cendana Seluas Jakarta (Cendana Family's land is as large as Jakarta), causing the tabloid to collapse.

Hasan, who according to the management has 55 percent of shares in Gatra, has pledged that he would not dictate the magazine's editorial content.

The Association of Indonesian Journalists (PWI) has expressed its deep concern over the replacement of the weekly's directors and chief editor, saying it would offer mediation to seek a peaceful solution to the problem.

"We will mediate between the two sides in seeking a peaceful solution to the problem," PWI Chairman Tarman Azzam said after receiving Herry at his office on Thursday.

Herry said that despite the sacking, they would not quit from the magazine until a win-win negotiation was effected.

"We will resign only if the shareholders offer fair compensation because we have made a big contribution to the magazine since its first publication more than four years ago," he said.

Gatra was founded by a number of Tempo employees who accepted Hasan as the investor, several months after the latter weekly was banned.

Separately, Director General of Press and Graphics Dailami Rusli said Thursday that demonstrations against the press had reached an "intolerable" level, and that this reflected mutual distrust within society. The press, he said, must also help to build a constructive atmosphere. However he declined to comment on whether certain political groups were trying to intimidate the press.

The private SCTV station recently faced a protest from a group of 30 people who called themselves as Islamic Committee for Press Monitoring, saying SCTV was no longer objective when it reported a student rally involving a car driven by a student which hit soldiers.

On Thursday afternoon 75 students demonstrated in the grounds of the state-run TVRI's Studio 2, saying the station must now practice balanced reporting instead of only voicing the government's version. TVRI was set up in 1961.

Dailami had addressed a workshop among journalists from Southeast Asian countries entitled 'The Journalists and Economic Trends and Development in ASEAN Countries'. (rms/anr)