`Tempo' clampdown

`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 Now the question for us is, is Tempo really not to be
published again?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