Up to the rather sad end of Soeharto’s Orde Baru, being a journalist was not considered a prestigious job. Or a well-paying one, unless you happened to be on a higher plane of existence at Kompas. The old joke referred to the “Five D’s” of Indonesian journalism:
Datang ( = show up)
Duduk ( = take a seat)
Dengar ( = listen to what is being told to you carefully, and what you are expected to write, verbatim, and not comment on)
Diem ( = keep your mouth shut and don’t ask any questions or cause any trouble)
Duit ( = as you leave you can pick up your manila envelope with the cash inside, for “expenses”).
Since the advent of reformasi, following the terrible events of 1998 and the inauguration of a more representative style of governance, journalism has pepped up. With the return of many Indonesians from university overseas there is better writing in the business world. Still, the encouragement to write well, as opposed to tossing off whatever is appealing to you at the moment, is not there.
What do we need? More encouragement for good writing: blogs, journals, conferences, prizes and money for writing. Not so easy in the current stressed-out economic environment, to be sure. As an ideal, it is something to be championed.