Owner Bob Hasan reshuffles 'Gatra'

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until May, 1998, has also withdrawn his investment from ParOn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)