... readers, columnists, advertisers miss it

... readers, columnists, advertisers miss it

JAKARTA (JP): A gloomy shadow fell over regular readers of
Tempo weekly as the news magazine with the motto "easy to read
and necessary" (enak dibaca dan perlu) received the "death
penalty" from the government last week.

"I am going to miss it. So far it has been the only news
magazine worth reading ... I could go without reading the
newspaper for a week and find the whole week's news covered in
Tempo," said lawyer Leoni G.I. Silitonga.

She is not the only one to miss the 23-year-old weekly.

M.A. Tamimi, a retired businessman who subscribed to Tempo on
a regular basis described the magazine as "rational and unafraid
to say what it wanted to say." Other magazines are "not as
interesting because they are full of sensational news."

Not all Tempo readers agree to this, however.

Serrano Sianturi, a director of a marketing consultant firm,
admitted that, although he will greatly miss Tempo, "it won't be
as if I lost a girlfriend," he said, admitting that for certain
kinds of news, he relies more on foreign newspapers.

"I don't think Tempo is very daring, but maybe that is because
it is never speculative," said Serrano, who completed his
master's degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
U.S.

Although many readers tend to judge Tempo from its editorial
content, many see it from the point of view of its readers'
social class.

"Tempo is in a class of its own ... Its unique language and
quality allows it to reach a very specific market segment. I will
certainly miss it because reading it has long been a habit," said
Public Relations Director of the Shangri-La Hotel, Riza A. Suryo.

Apart from articles and features by its nationally disbursed
reporters and international correspondents in Bangkok, Tokyo,
Kuala Lumpur, Washington D.C., Vancouver and Paris, Tempo's
contributors include nationally and internationally recognized
scholars.

Among them is Franz Magnis-Suseno of the Driyarkara School of
Philosophy, who pointed out that he is not concerned that he will
now be unable to express his ideas through the magazine.

"That is not the major problem. The question is: what can we
now expect from the press? We do not know what we are allowed to
write now," he said, adding that the government's actions caused
"a very pitiful setback."

Tempo's major readers include the Indonesian-speaking
expatriate community as well as international news agencies,
papers and magazines with their correspondents here.

Paul Jacob, the Singapore Straits Times's correspondent in
Jakarta said that although he will not be at a loss due to the
ban, "since the magazines were, after all, weeklies and not
dailies", Tempo -- as well as DeTik and Editor, which also lost
their publishing licenses -- had actually been very effective
sources of news for elaboration, detail and analysis.

"This is what I will miss. But they are not the only sources,
because we check more than one source," he said.

Jacob admitted that there are no weeklies as yet that have
been as effective.

"At least Forum Keadilan is still around," he said, referring
to a considerably vocal magazine.

Advertisers may also have lost one of their most effective
mediums.

Tempo has been one of the top magazines in terms of
advertising billings. Between 1982 and 1986, it notched as much
as a fifth of all magazine advertising billings. During that five
years, it collected Rp 102.5 billion (US$48 million).

"The ban is very tragic because it concerns the welfare of the
advertising world as a whole," said General Secretary of the
Association of Indonesian Advertising Companies, Juzar Junin.

Tempo was not "just another place to advertise." Among the
printed media, and especially the weeklies, it was the major
advertising spot, Juzar said.

He acknowledged Tempo as having a professional attitude
towards members of the association.

"Tempo is mature in carrying out partnerships," he said,
adding that so far, he has not seen a competitor even come close
to Tempo.

"Maybe I don't intend to look for another magazine yet,
because -- maybe unconsciously -- I am hoping Tempo will return,"
he said. (pwn)