Magazine sells out, but editor doesn't
Magazine sells out, because editor doesn't
By James Balowski
In most countries, the editor of a magazine that sold out within a few days and can now be purchased only at more than 10 times its cover price would be expected to be rather pleased. Instead, Margiono found himself sacked, suspended from the Association of Indonesian Journalists, questioned by police and now likely to be charged for insulting the president.
The source of the controversy was the cover of the March 7 Detektif dan Romantika, which portrayed Suharto as the king of spades. It appeared during the special session of the People's Consultative Assembly which culminated in the "re-election" of Suharto.
Information minister Hartono said it was degrading because "Suharto is not a king and we do not have a kingdom here". The director general of press and graphics, H. Dailami, said it had misled readers by suggesting that "Suharto becomes president because he was treated as a king".
Numerous polls over the last year indicate that most Indonesians think Suharto has been in power too long. A popular joke in Jakarta at the moment goes: "Sukarno [Indonesia's first president] was made president for life, Suharto is president as long as he lives".
According to the independent news service SiaR on March 6, in Medan, Bandung, Surabaya and Yogyakarta, copies of the magazine (if they could be found) were selling for as much as 50,000 rupiah. SiaR also reported that at the prestigious Hotel Indonesia in Jakarta, it was selling for as much as 100,000 rupiah. The cover price is normally 6700 rupiah.
A number of D&R staff formerly worked with Tempo magazine, which won a wide following for its reporting and was banned in June 1994, after it carried a report on a controversial B.J. Habibie project.
Last year, D&R was forced change the cover of its June 5 edition (even though it had already been printed and the cover had been advertised in a number of newspapers) which had a picture of a polling station official looking at an invalidated ballot paper. The title "Criticising the Elections" and the lead story on election fraud also had to be dumped.