Indonesia’s Press Council has no statistics on Chinese media, so gauging scale is difficult. But one of the more successful offerings is Guo Ji Ri Bao, or International Daily News, which has been in circulation since late 2000, not long after the 1998 fall of former dictator Suharto that paved the way for the liberalisation of Chinese media.
Originally set up by three media outlets in Hong Kong, mainland China and the US, the paper carries news on Indonesia, China, international affairs, social issues, economics and Chinese-Indonesian communities. The broadsheet draws revenue from paid advertisements and obituaries. It claimed a circulation of about 70,000 copies as of October 2020 and has a website and a digital version.
Other prominent titles include Metro Xin Wen, said to be the country’s first Chinese-language TV news provider. It is run by Indonesia’s Metro TV, one of the country’s top stations that mainly carries Indonesian-language news and programmes.
And Yin Ni Xin Bao – which translates as New Indonesia Newspaper – is published every other day. And Shangbao Indonesia publishes business, financial, political and other news.
But Chinese press, radio and television titles have just a fraction of the audience of Indonesian-language counterparts, such as leading daily newspaper Kompas, with an average daily readership of more than one million, according to its media profile.
Indonesia had at least 1,799 media outlets as of June covering print, television and online titles, based on figures from the Press Council.
Sophia Lie, Guo Ji Ri Bao’s assistant marketing manager, said that the Chinese-language media industry is keen to not “be left behind. Everyone has a will (to develop it).”
Indonesia has a population of more than 270 million, the world’s fourth largest, though the government in its most recent census in 2020 did not offer a breakdown by ethnicity.
The 2010 version reflected that some 2.8 million of the country’s then-237 million people identified as being ethnic Chinese. Experts, however, say numbers are likely higher as some may be reluctant to report their ethnicity.
Despite roots in and contributions to the country going back centuries, Chinese have suffered intense discrimination, which came to a head in the 1960s under the authoritarian and staunchly anti-communist Suharto government.
It banned public Chinese cultural displays, the teaching of Chinese in schools and private Chinese-language media ownership among other restrictions during more than three decades in power. A single Chinese-language newspaper was published under official supervision.
But after his ouster in May 1998, those shackles came off and the community could openly celebrate Chinese New Year and use their Chinese names, while Chinese media proliferated.
Thousands of Indonesians in recent years have gone to China and Taiwan to learn Mandarin – the standard variety of Chinese – while others have enrolled in classes at home. The increasing role of China – a major investor in Indonesia – in the global economy has been a factor in that interest, but enthusiasm has not translated into sharply increased demand for the local Chinese press.
“There are many who learn it, but those willing to stay until (acquiring) enough proficiency to read a newspaper, it is probably still not (many),” said Budi Kurniawan, head of the Chinese department at Petra Christian University in Surabaya, Indonesia’s second-largest city.
Mandarin Station offers Chinese radio programming including news and talk shows as well as educational and cultural content and has an online presence including on YouTube and Instagram.
Station manager Haryono said it began broadcasting in 2000 and its announcers were schooled in Malaysia, Singapore, China and Taiwan.
The station did not find it difficult to attract advertisers before 2015 from the property and other sectors. But they started to disappear from 2018 as social media grew in popularity. And then came the pandemic.
“For two years of the pandemic, the owner was badly hit and had to cover the losses,” said Haryono, who goes by one name. “We also laid off some employees.” But things have improved and Mandarin Station had about 200,000 listeners in the first three months of this year.
The wider Indonesian-language media industry has also struggled during the pandemic. Several companies have laid off workers, reduced salaries and delayed wages as cost-cutting measures.
Ade Wahyudin, executive director of Indonesia’s Legal Aid Center for the Press (LBH Pers) which advocates for journalists, said it had received 259 complaints from April 2020 – one month after Indonesia reported its first infections – until June this year. But the number of complaints, in which one can involve more than one person, did not give a full picture, he said, as they were only for the Jakarta Metropolitan Area.
Another issue facing the Chinese press is that not all Chinese-Indonesians understand Mandarin as some may have grown up speaking other varieties such as Hakka, Hokkien or Teochew. And even if they do, many speak Indonesian, the national language, more fluently. And many also speak Indonesian, rather than Mandarin, with family and relatives.
Chinese media are also finding fewer fans among the younger generation. Kurniawan said people aged 60 to 70 and above tend to read local Chinese print newspapers. But younger people prefer social media content.
“What I hear, especially from the older generation, they always express concern,” he said, adding it is especially so for those working in newspapers.
“The industry may need a lot of support from the ethnic Chinese community, from educational institutions to provide understanding, to encourage students or the younger generation with Mandarin language skills to get involved,” said Kurniawan. “It is not easy.”