'Republika' struggles to throw off 'partisan' image

The following is an excerpt from an interview with Mustoffa Kamil Ridwan, deputy chief editor of Republika, which was set up in 1993 by the Association of Indonesian Muslim Intellectuals (ICMI). In early 2000 the daily revamped its design and added color pages. The interview is part of a series on the Islamic media which ends in the next edition.

Question: What's behind your new design?

Answer: We are anticipating the future of newspapers; many are now slimmer as can be seen from foreign newspapers, so now we have seven columns instead of nine. This will mean learning to write more concisely.... The new format is also easier to read on the bus when you have other passengers to your left and right. We've also added color but we only dare to do that on the front and back pages.

Q: How much money did all that take? You must be quite optimistic about the market...

A: I don't really know about the figures but we decided if we didn't take the risk we could lose more potential readers. Competition is very tight. To merely reach the breakeven point we've long gone past a circulation of 40,000 copies; we now have a circulation of 150,000 but we need to make it higher to make a profit. We've also got better quality paper now and for younger readers we hope to have at least a teenagers' page.

Q: What kind of potential readers are you targeting?

A: There are many Muslim readers which we haven't tapped out of the majority of Muslims in this country of more than 200 million.

The reason is partially technical, because of our limited network; many Muslims live in remote cities and the crisis has heavily affected flights, so that's an obstacle for the paper to reach them.

We could have more readers from the area of Muslim boarding schools (pesantren) in Central and East Java for instance. They already know us, we also contribute the newspapers which are placed on their walls. But we would also like to target the religious teachers in the schools around which many activities are centered.

Q: What media organizations do you consider competition?

A: In East Java, for instance, the Jawa Pos group (under media empire owner Dahlan Iskan) is dominant. We still need a survey as changes are so rapid, particularly regarding the younger generation. Our capital is that we are Islamic but that alone is not enough. We must be a quality paper and we must have good relations with Islamic organizations.

Q: Has the image that the newspaper is one of Muslim urban intellectuals become a constraint to reach more readers?

A: Yes, we try to satisfy all, even non-Muslims, although there are difficulties. Our weekly Dialog Jumat (Friday dialog) is an attempt to reach readers who may not go back and forth to seminars. We have stories on a renowned pesantren figure or on a particular pesantren, which everyone would like.

Q: You're trying to reach all Muslim readers while Islam here is so diverse. What has been the response from your readers? Republika is mostly known as the paper of the formerly B.J. Habibie-led ICMI...

A: You might remember Cipasung (an incident related to the 1994 Nahdlatul Ulama congress in Cipasung, West Java; protesters burnt copies of Republika, which was perceived among others as being against the reelection of the NU chairman and now President Abdurrahman Wahid, or Gus Dur). We realized that was a mistake. We covered the recent NU congress in Lirboyo (East Java) more intensively and the response was quite positive.

We have no problems actually with the various Islamic organizations; the exception is sometimes with hardline groups and also those who are more moderate. We cannot ignore either of them. One wants to be more blunt, so to say, the other wants the opposite.

With cases like the Halmahera (North Maluku) violence, strong reporting is inevitable but we have to find a way to balance all the violence. I'm very happy with today's (Feb. 3) edition where we have the report on Christian militias surrendering themselves and being protected by Muslims.

We don't want this condition (of violence) to go on. We also take into account non-Muslim readers.

We also really hope for feedback or the use of the right of reply from non-Muslims. We once wrote up a denial from a priest on the front page in a larger space than the earlier denied report. We really want to avoid getting trapped into partisanship. That has been our image and we don't want it that way.

We were among the first to report the facts of the Halmahera conflict; that many Muslims were among the victims. We quoted medical staff and representatives of the Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI) who we considered would not lie, apart from local officials. We do have difficulty in reaching the Christian side though we can contact those in Jakarta, so we really hope for their feedback. We strive for balanced, accurate reporting.

Q: Media expert Andi Muis has said that what is missing in the coverage of Maluku, inspite of balanced and cross checked reports, is the discourse on a jihad, so that readers can choose for themselves the dimensions of a jihad; whether they want to be engaged physically or to contribute to victims. Your comment?

A: Yes... we are trying to develop our column on Islamic analysis. We aim to advocate a civil society in which the majority protects the minority.

Q: Has your editorial policy changed now that Habibie is no longer president and chairman of ICMI?

A: Difficulties were never from Habibie; even chairman Achmad Tirtosudiro had told us that "you are what you are -- a newspaper, with close but not unattachable relations with ICMI," not like a stamp to an envelope. So we made our maneuvers and criticized Habibie, but of course our criticism would be different from that of Kompas. Nevertheless, we have not been able to be detached altogether from ICMI.

Things are different now with Habibie no longer president. We still have relations with ICMI and the difference is that now we are more free to criticize the president compared to when Habibie was in office.

Q: Are you anti Gus Dur now?

A: No, we welcomed Gus Dur in our editorial. We said we would remain critical but that we would not condemn him. We have no intention to topple him. That is maybe the perception of some people around Gus Dur. (Foreign minister) Alwi Shihab came to the office recently asking what was it that Republika wanted. Someone near Gus Dur had said he felt like tearing up the paper. But we praise Gus Dur and (Vice President) Megawati Soekarnoputri where they deserve it.

We can't avoid printing sharp criticism from some people regarding controversial issues (around Gus Dur). Then Gus Dur will say he's handling things -- so show us how, don't just talk.

I'm surprised at Gus Dur's reaction over last month's "one million" gathering (to express solidarity for Maluku victims). Doesn't he recall the far cruder remarks made toward Habibie while he was president, who inspite of all that just kept his cool?

Q: Which are the group of hardliners which you said the paper could not ignore?

A: These are groups with an intensive understanding of Islam, but then other groups with also a deep understanding of Islam are moderate. The phrase amar ma'ruf nahy munkar (to enjoin the doing of what is right and forbid what is wrong and evil) stresses that advocating the good does not need to involve bullets, it should be done in a gentle manner, through elegant criticism.

We really feel we are in the middle of both groups (moderates and hardliners). One time near deadline we changed the title of the headline, on students calling for a jihad. We changed the word 'jihad' then, we didn't want people to get the wrong idea. Being a hardliner is needed, for it means you stand up for your principles, but moderateness is also needed.

Q: The news tabloids Adil and Tekad are associated with Republika. What do you need two similar tabloids for and what is the difference between them?

A: We used to help Adil but its under different management now so we ventured to make a tabloid of our own. Both have their own share of readers, their circulation is more than 60,000 each and one good thing is they have to compete really hard.

Q: Adil used to have the image of having an independent line from Republika and it changed ahead of the presidential elections. Employees at Adil once protested before the presidential elections, apparently because they had to toe Republika's line. Would this reflect a desire from journalists who were trying to be independent?

A: In the past those in Adil were indeed more critical. But the protest couldn't be said to be an effort of independence, it wasn't quite free of political interests either. We said they could be critical of Habibie ... but they were too supportive of Megawati.

Q: Republika was unique when it was set up in 1993 as it offered shares to the public. What are the developments now?

A: I don't know the details but there is an annual shareholders' meeting of the publisher, PT Abdi Bangsa. In short, now we feel there is this spirit of remaking ourselves, correcting things one by one as we go along. In the past politics was felt to hold a leading role (which affected the newspaper).

Q: Do you see some Muslims as being more militant nowadays?

A: I haven't seen militancy so far, in regard to the extreme action of trying to topple the government. It's only demonstrations and mass gatherings so far. Militancy has its good side, it shows a solid understanding of one's religion. But again, Islam is rahmatan li'l'alamiyn, a blessing to all nature, so one could also be gentle.

Q: Some media organizations, apart from Republika, have sharply criticized the investigations of the government-sponsored Commission of Inquiry into Human Rights Violations (KPP HAM) in East Timor; some asked why only good Muslim generals are those being questioned. Why is this?

A: We have long questioned why the Tanjung Priok case (1984 shooting of crowds in North Jakarta) and the atrocities in Lampung, for instance, have not been investigated. We need to continue to raise this, to seek a sense of justice among Muslims.

Why was the (recent religious riots in) Mataram case handled so quickly? Why were (Muslim activists) Al Chaedar and Eggy Sudjana so quickly arrested, while the handling of Tobelo (a site of riots in North Maluku) has taken so long?

As long as such traumatic tragedies affecting Muslims are not revealed, such demands will continue to surface. How many Muslim activists have been jailed without trial under Soeharto?

Why have the atrocities in Aceh not attracted international reaction? Why have Muslims constantly been a target of injustice? We continue to raise this as a material for dialog, and maybe one day there'll be some way out.

It has been clear that such concerns have been ignored and they deserve to be questioned. (anr)