`Tempo' employees and its shareholders may part ways

`Tempo' employees and its shareholders may part ways

JAKARTA (JP): The employees and shareholders of the defunct
Tempo news magazine may part ways with each planning to establish
their own magazines.

This became apparent after a shareholders' meeting on
Wednesday during which the employee representatives demanded an
explanation from the Jaya Raya Foundation, holder of 40 percent
equity, about rumors that it had struck up a deal with other
investors to form a new magazine.

The employees themselves collectively own 20 percent of
Tempo's many assets, which they now believe would be sufficient
for them to start a new magazine on their own. The other 30
percent is owned by the magazine's founding member.

Ciputra, the businessman who represented the foundation at the
meeting, said the foundation had established a new company with a
powerful investor with the intention of starting a new magazine.
Many suggested that the investor is timber tycoon Mohamad (Bob)
Hasan.

Bambang Budjono, a spokesman for the employees, said yesterday
that Ciputra told the meeting that the new magazine would not
collaborate with PT Grafiti Pers, the holding company which owned
Tempo.

"The government wouldn't allow it," Bambang quoted Ciputra as
saying. He added that there have been no further discussions on
the matter since then.

Tempo lost its publishing license in June after the government
accused it of repeatedly ignoring official warnings about its
controversial editorial content. The move effectively means the
closure of the magazine and it can only resurface under a new
management and with a new name.

Two other news magazines lost their licenses at the same time
-- Editor and DeTIK. The government has resisted pressures to
allow the three magazines to reappear but promised to give them
new licenses if they applied.

Bambang said the 320 journalists and employees of the magazine
have agreed that they could start their own magazine and are now
starting the process of applying for the publishing license.

He said the shareholders meeting on Wednesday, which was the
first since the ban on Tempo, mainly discussed the activities of
PT Grafiti Pers after the ban. The issue of a new company or
publication was not among the meeting's main priorities, he said.

Bambang was quoted by Kompas as saying that the employees were
certain that they were able to manage a new magazine without
additional funds from new investors.

Bambang said Tempo would continue to fulfill its obligations
to its employees, including providing salaries and facilities,
until October.

He said the employees have also agreed to appoint him as chief
editor of the new magazine. The employees are currently waiting
for the new license which the government has promised following
the ban of the three magazines.(pwn)