How a laundry room startup became Indonesia’s most influential English-language daily newspaper
In short: Born in 1983 from a desire to counter foreign bias against Indonesia, The Jakarta Post began in a repurposed laundry room. Despite early financial struggles and government censorship, it evolved into a critical training ground for journalists and a rare survivor of the 1997 Asian financial crisis.
The Jakarta Post was conceived by Information Minister Ali Murtopo and politician Jusuf Wanandi, who sought to create a high-quality English-language daily to represent Indonesia on the international stage. To ensure credibility, they secured backing from competing media groups, including Kompas and Tempo. The paper launched on 25 April 1983 with a modest eight-page edition, initially operating out of a former laundry room where staff manually laid out pages using pica poles.
In its early years, the publication struggled to attract advertisers and relied on recycled stories to avoid the scrutiny of Suharto’s New Order government. However, under the leadership of Susanto Pudjomartono, who became chief editor in 1991, the paper shifted toward more original, pro-democracy reporting. This editorial pivot helped it survive the 1997 Asian financial crisis, a period that saw six other English-language dailies in Indonesia collapse.
The paper is noted for its adoption of the inverted pyramid style, a direct approach that contrasts with the more circuitous, passive-voice traditions of local media. Wanandi famously remarked that one cannot be evasive in English the way one might be in Javanese. Today, the publication remains a significant training ground for reporters and has earned numerous accolades for its investigative work, including a 2020 gold award for reporting on events in Wamena.
While the paper has faced challenges, such as the 2016 cessation of its Sunday edition due to declining print revenue, it has aggressively pursued digital transformation. By 2017, it introduced online subscriptions and has since partnered with international organizations like the Google News Initiative to strengthen its digital capabilities. It remains a vital source for both foreigners and the educated Indonesian middle class.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: The Jakarta Post
- Also: Wikidata — The Jakarta Post · CC0
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