Media-elite interactions in post-authoritarian Indonesia

Indonesian press during the New Order and “[w]ith the growth of Kompas its
employees became a mirror of the pluralistic Indonesian society” (Aritonang and
Steenbrink 2008: 973).
By the early 1990s Kompas had developed into Indonesia’s largest media
empire, the Kompas-Gramedia Group (KKG). 11 This was achieved through a
strategy of reinvestment and diversification during the 1980s (Hill 2006: 84). KKG
did not limit itself to the media sector, but also includes hospitality, banking,
agribusiness, and supermarkets (Kompas Gramedia 2016). According to Nainggolan
(2003: 103) this expansion was to take advantage of surplus capital to increase
productivity and to diversify lest there be a sudden press license revocation.
Kompas and its style of journalism are inextricably linked to Jakob Oetama,
one of Kompas’ two founding editors, who later became head of the Kompas-
Gramedia Group. Under the leadership of Jakob Oetama Kompas developed a
unique style of journalism that is non-confrontational, somewhat cautious but never
sensationalist (Magnis-Suseno 2001: 66). As stated by Hill (2006: 84) “Under Utama’s
influence as editor-in-chief, Kompas became synonymous with a style of subtle
indirect and implicit criticism, often dubbed typically ‘Javanese’”. This cautious and
circumlocuitous style of reporting as well as Oetama’s management style to selfcensor
or withdraw publications from the market, or to discipline journalists rather
“than risking a government or public backlash, which may disadvantage the group
as a whole" (Hill 2006: 86) secured Kompas’ survival during the socio-political
turbulences since its establishment in 1965 (Wulandari 2010: 80-1; Kakiailatu 2007:
61).
11
For detailed information on the diversification of KKG see Dhakidae 1991: 340.
14