''Bintang Timur'' ( Indonesian: ''"Star of the East"''), also spelled Bintang Timoer before 1947, was a popular daily newspaper published in the

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, which ...

and Indonesia.

History

The newspaper was launched in September 1926 by

Parada Harahap Parada Harahap (born 1899 in Sipirok, Dutch East Indies, died 1959 in Jakarta) was an important journalist and writer from the late colonial period and early independence era in Indonesia. In the 1930s, he was called the "king of the Java press". He ...

, then editor of

Bintang Hindia Bintang Beer ( id, Bir Bintang, literally "Star Beer") is a brand of beer from Indonesia and is produced by PT Multi Bintang Indonesia Tbk, part of Heineken. The beer is styled as a pale lager, gold in colour with an ideal serving temperature of ...

. Before its first issue, the

Dutch language Dutch ( ) is a West Germanic language spoken by about 25 million people as a first language and 5 million as a second language. It is the third most widely spoken Germanic language, after its close relatives German and English. ''Afrikaans'' ...

newspaper

Algemeen handelsblad voor Nederlandsch-Indië Algemeen handelsblad voor Nederlandsch-Indië (Dutch: General trade newspaper for the Dutch East Indies) was a Dutch language newspaper which was published in Semarang, Dutch East Indies from 1924 to 1942. History The ''Algemeen handelsblad'' w ...

was already recommending it to "the natives" due to Harahap's reputation for hard work and dedication to good journalism. The editorial lineup in the first year, aside from Harahap, were G. Soetadipradja, Kadar, Hatnid and Abdullah Badjrei, with assistant editing by

Saadah Alim Saadah Alim (1897-1968) was a writer, playwright, translator, journalist and educator in the Dutch East Indies and in Indonesia after independence. She was one of only a handful of Indonesian women authors to be published during the colonial period ...

. The paper noted that ''Bintang Timoer'' would be independent of any religious or political faction, and that it had a more modern layout than most Malay language papers, with illustrations and more space given to content. Since the paper was not involving itself in politics, it even promised that while "the importance of Indonesia will be kept in mind, since no party interests are served, Indonesia will be understood as a 'geographical concept' not in the meaning of a 'political concept'." ''Bintang Timur'' apparently resumed publication in early 1953 after being unable to publish during World War II and the

Indonesian National Revolution The Indonesian National Revolution, or the Indonesian War of Independence, was an armed conflict and diplomatic struggle between the Republic of Indonesia and the Dutch Empire and an internal social revolution during Aftermath of WWII, postw ...

. Under its new guise in independent Indonesia,

once again became president-director and head editor, and promised that the paper would have a "national progressive" line and to present the news in a responsible and neutral manner. In its later years it was the organ of the Indonesia Party (Partindo).

S. Tahsin Soeraedi Tahsin (born July 6 in Pandeglang, died February 25, 2003 in Amsterdam), also known as Eddie Soeraedi, was an Indonesian journalist and diplomat. He was the founding editor of the publication ''Berita Indonesia'' ('Indonesian News'), the f ...

served as the editor-in-chief of ''Bintang Timur'', later followed by Tom Anwar. As of the late 1950s it was estimated to have a circulation of 25,000.

References

{{reflist Defunct newspapers published in Indonesia 1926 establishments in the Dutch East Indies