''Indonesia Raya'' was an Indonesian newspaper co-founded in 1949 by

Mochtar Lubis Mochtar Lubis (; 7 March 1922 – 2 July 2004) was an Indonesian Batak journalist and novelist who co-founded ''Indonesia Raya'' and monthly literary magazine "Horison". His novel ''Senja di Jakarta'' (''Twilight in Jakarta'' in English) w ...

. Before its permanent closure in 1974, it was banned numerous times during the

Sukarno Sukarno). (; born Koesno Sosrodihardjo, ; 6 June 1901 – 21 June 1970) was an Indonesian statesman, orator, revolutionary, and nationalist who was the first president of Indonesia, serving from 1945 to 1967. Sukarno was the leader of ...

and

Suharto Suharto (; ; 8 June 1921 – 27 January 2008) was an Indonesian army officer and politician, who served as the second and the longest serving president of Indonesia. Widely regarded as a military dictator by international observers, Suharto ...

governmental period.

History

''Indonesia Raya'' was co-founded in 1949 by

. It received irregular funding from military intelligence officers and operated under the opinion that, for the free press, the government was "adversary number one". By 1956 its circulation was 40,000, but after 1957 ''Indonesia Raya'' was banned six times. Mochtar Lubis Kesusastraan Modern Indonesia p216

Mochtar Lubis Kesusastraan Modern Indonesia p216

In October 1958, ''Indonesia Raya'' was banned and Mochtar Lubis imprisoned. The daily did not resume publication until 1968, when the New Order government permitted its publication. Former employees and staff were asked to return and continue their work. Beginning in 1969, ''Indonesia Raya'' published many articles regarding corruption in Pertamina. Although some newspapers, including ''

Kompas ''Kompas'' () is an Indonesian national newspaper from Jakarta which was founded on 28 June 1965. The paper is published by PT Kompas Media Nusantara, which is a part of Kompas Gramedia Group. Its head office is located at the Kompas Multimed ...

'', supported ''Indonesia Raya'', others claimed that ''Indonesia Raya'' had a conflict of interest with Pertamina and accused it of trying

blackmail Blackmail is an act of coercion using the threat of revealing or publicizing either substantially true or false information about a person or people unless certain demands are met. It is often damaging information, and it may be revealed to fa ...

the oil company. Eventually, in August 1970 ''Indonesia Raya'' was told to desist their reports or face serious repercussions. ''Indonesia Raya'' covered the 1973 Thai student demonstrations and the downfall of the regime. This coverage has been suggested to have been one of the causes of the Malari incident. In 1974, following the incident, ''Indonesia Raya'' was banned again; this was due in part to the newspaper's coverage of corruption in

Pertamina PT Pertamina (Persero), formerly abbreviated from ''Perusahaan Pertambangan Minyak dan Gas Bumi Negara'' (lit. 'State Oil and Natural Gas Mining Company'), is an Indonesian state-owned oil and natural gas corporation based in Jakarta. It was cr ...

. Mochtar Lubis and several other journalists were imprisoned without a trial, while others were

blacklist Blacklisting is the action of a group or authority compiling a blacklist (or black list) of people, countries or other entities to be avoided or distrusted as being deemed unacceptable to those making the list. If someone is on a blacklist, t ...

ed. It was eventually decided to discontinue the newspaper.

References

Bibliography

* * {{cite journal , last1=Kakiailatu , first1=Toeti, year=2007 , title=Media in Indonesia: Forum for political change and critical assessment , journal=Asia Pacific Viewpoint , volume=48 , issue=1 , pages=60–71 , doi= 10.1111/j.1467-8373.2007.00330.x, url=http://www.acicis.murdoch.edu.au/hi/docs/JPP-3.Kakiailatu.pdf, citeseerx=10.1.1.525.9292 Indonesian-language newspapers Censorship in Indonesia