`Tempo' clampdown

Late last month I waited and waited for the Indonesian news magazine Tempo, the only magazine in the Indonesian language that I subscribed to for Indonesian studies. But it did not arrive. Eventually I left Beijing for Seoul and learned from The Korea Times, July 4, that Tempo was banned by the Indonesian government together with other two magazines Editor and DeTIK.

To my surprise, I cannot believe the fact. During our subscription, my colleagues and my students who were learning Indonesian, and myself (a professor teaching Indonesian studies) were always loath in being late reading every issue of Tempo. The simple motivation being; we want to learn and follow the developing trends of Bahasa Indonesia. Its brief reports (Selingan or interlude) are also interesting, providing background that we often used as basic material in informal lessons. Now the question for us is, is Tempo really not to be published again? If true, how sad we will be! We can only express our regret. But anyway, we hope the Indonesian government will continue its democratic and open policy.

JU SAN-YUAN

Beijing, China