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Last week Tempo magazine celebrated its 40th anniversary in a glittering show of force with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as the guest of honor.

Given that the magazine was closed down back in 1994 for four years by the Suharto administration, its subsequent return to power and influence is a remarkable achievement. Credit should be given to the single-mindedness of the charismatic founding editor/owner, Goenawan Mohamad, the ebullient Fikri Jufri, Bambang Harymurti and their team.

For those of us writing elsewhere in the region, Tempo has long been a beacon of journalistic independence and integrity — certainly there is no equivalent of the magazine in either Malaysia or Singapore where most media practitioners are reduced to being little more than quasi-government spin doctors.

Over the decades the stand-alone magazine has expanded to include a daily newspaper, Koran Tempo, an English-language weekly magazine, a lively Internet service and a host of other ventures. Indeed, it’s arguable that Tempo — the perennial outsider — is now very much a part of the Indonesian mainstream with the various alternative Internet services assuming the “outsider” role once occupied by Tempo. Moreover, the many pages of government advertising in Koran Tempo are an interesting twist to the group’s often contentious relationship with power.

Nonetheless, Tempo appears to have retained its credibility. Desi Anwar, the prominent Metro TV anchor, explains with characteristic straight-forwardness: “Tempo is still the most respected and the only credible news magazine around. The fact that SBY came was more an acknowledgement of Tempo’s influence.”

Still, the magazine has its detractors. Indeed, one local publisher saw the magazine as being overly skeptical and bitter, going on to add: “I think the media should function like a ‘coach’ — be hard when they need to be, but cheer the nation on when there is reason to be optimistic. Tempo needs to do more of the latter.”

Despite (or maybe because of) the criticism, Tempo has worked hard to retain its reputation for investigative reporting. In the last 12 months alone Tempo has broken stories on police corruption (the abnormally large bank accounts of some senior police officers) as well as the coal-mining related shenanigans of certain members of the Democratic Party leadership.

Certainly the magazine has been courageous enough to challenge Indonesia’s all-powerful tycoons, taking on Tomy Winata and natural resources magnate Sukanto Tanoto.

Nonetheless, Tempo’s influence extends far beyond the political. In this respect the magazine reflects Goenawan Mohamad’s interests as a poet and essayist — maintaining an ambitious modernist and humanist agenda in its coverage of sociocultural issues, Indonesian history and foreign affairs. Indeed, Tempo’s breadth of coverage is quite startling, especially as other news magazines are in retreat.

Tempo’s editors are secular-minded and transformational. Disregarding the wishes of the powerful, they seek to expand the canon of public knowledge and understanding, intervening in order to empower and enlighten the ordinary reader. Indeed, there appears to be a strong sense of the obligation owed to the public. For example, instead of reinforcing racial and religious bigotry they have actively challenged their readers to think — something readers elsewhere in the region can experience very rarely.

Rosianna Silalahi, one of Indonesia’s most highly regarded independent broadcasters, says: “Tempo has a clear vision and perspective. Even though they are a major media player they don’t follow the mainstream opinion. Moreover, they are committed pluralists through and through: In this respect, Tempo is irreplaceable.”

Perhaps the most enlightened move has been the thrust to rewrite contemporary Indonesian political history. Tempo has devoted thousands of man-hours to researching and then writing about little-known and half-forgotten leaders such as communist revolutionary Tan Malaka, Communist Party (PKI) leader Aidit and Sutan Syahrir, an independence advocate and 1940s-era prime minister. By promoting the Indonesian left, the magazine is essentially charting out an alternative to the many Islamist groups that occupy the conservative political spectrum.

Tempo is a potent icon for Malay/Indonesian-language journalism. Indonesia’s open public debate reminds us that Southeast Asians can cope and indeed will thrive with greater media freedoms. I’m waiting for the next 40 years.

 

Karim Raslan is a columnist who divides his time between Malaysia and Indonesia.