Unity and Future of the Republic, That is Our, Kompas Commitment

KOMPAS/ANGGER PUTRANTO DAN ANTARA FOTO/TIM BPN

Presidential candidate Number 1 Joko “Jokowi” Widodo takes a selfie photo with his supporters at a campaign event in Banyuwangi, East Java, on Monday. The Jokowi-Maruf Amin camp is aiming to get at least 60 percent of the vote in East Java. Jokowi promised to fight against hoaxes and fake news. (left). Presidential candidate Number 2 Prabowo Subianto arrives at a campaign event in Merauke, Papua, on Monday. On the second day of the open campaigning Prabowo greeted his supporters in the easternmost province of Indonesia.(right).

"Kompas has long been known as a media outlet that brings coolness. I think that\'s all that needs to be continued at a time when politics is heating up.” (Message of Vice President Jusuf Kalla to Kompas’ leadership in a meeting at the Vice President\'s Office, Thursday, March 21, 2019, as quoted by Kompas-Gramedia CEO Lilik Oetama).

Monday, March 25, 2019. What discourses were intriguing in the Kompas editorial room? Of course, one of them was the mass rapid transit (MRT), which one day earlier on Sunday (24/3/2019) was inaugurated by President Joko Widodo. The others were the formation of the Lebaran coverage team and attendance at the WAN-IFRA Conference in Singapore in May.

Those discourses sound ordinary, but the discussion was passionate and professional, accompanied by enthusiasm and perseverance to present quality journalism, which is at the same time enlightening and beneficial to the wider community. Dedication to the community, nation and state has been undertaken by Kompas for nearly 54 years.

In its journey, Kompas realizes that life is not always decorated by a "full moon". Different from the discourses in the newsroom, it is also different when we look at gadgets, at least within the past week after the newspaper published a survey on the electability of the presidential candidates on Wednesday (20/3/2019).

Reactions emerged mostly through social media. There were those who questioned the research methods, but the next was even more aggravating when there were those who questioned the motives of the survey. It did not stop there, opinion writers on social media examined the figure and background of the Kompas chief editor.

KOMPAS/DAHLIA IRAWATI

Presidential candidate Number 1 Joko “Jokowi” Widodo meets with supporters on Monday evening at Ken Arok sports hall, Malang, East Java. On the campaign, Jokowi said Malang was one of the priority places to win votes in the presidential election. Malang, according to Jokowi, should be an example for other regions in the country because of the city’s record of tolerance.

Social media wildly discussed the survey and Kompas’ chief editor and later there appeared calls to stop subscribing to the daily.

In the era of openness, Kompas sincerely accepted all accusations and unilateral analysis, in part by applying "science" of otak-atik gathuk (matching things according to their own version). Please allow us through this short article to try to explain some things related to what is being questioned by the public.

15 times

Following caveat of “facts are sacred, opinion is free” (CP Scott, Manchester Guardian, 1921), Kompas treats surveys as sacred facts, which cannot be tampered with. The method has been tested in 15 similar surveys conducted previously.

Kompas treats surveys as sacred facts, which cannot be tampered with.

With a range of acceptable errors, the previous surveys were not a problem. However, Kompas is open if there is indeed a method or interpretation error, as happens occasionally in handling the news.

In the Editorial record, Kompas never received any objections, both from the National Campaign Team of the candidate pairs of Joko Widodo-Ma\'ruf Amin and the National Winning Body of Prabowo Subianto-Sandiaga Uno. A part of each of the camps even saw the positive side of the survey. One saw the survey as a wake-up call that the work had not been completed and the others were more excited because they saw there was still a chance to rise.

An important message from the survey results is the high number of voters with voting rights who have not made a choice, 13.4 percent, who may not be exercising their voting rights. We want to encourage them to vote on April 17.

With regard to the chief editor, she is the highest authority in the editorial room. However, that does not mean that she can at will use the authority of her leadership. All parties in the editorial room understand that newspapers are open. For loyal readers, by reading the news, even just one paragraph of the news, they can guess what is meant and where the direction of Kompas will be.

The Kompas editorial department holds meetings twice a day, morning and evening. The morning meeting is to evaluate the news that has been published and plan news tomorrow, and the evening is to determine what news and what page will be run. Both meetings are chaired by the managing editors or their representatives. The chief editor oversees the meetings and makes decisions when there are different views or if there is complicated news.

There are also weekly meetings and meetings on each desk. Every month there is a meeting with the Ombudsman (consisting of outsiders from various disciplines) to evaluate and provide input to the Kompas editorial department. With regard to important coverage that demands balance, Kompas content is controlled by the Kompas R&D and the Kompas Ombudsman.

ANTARA/TIM BPN

Presidential candidate Number 2 Prabowo Subianto arrives at a campaign event in Merauke, Papua, on Monday. On the second day of the open campaigning Prabowo greeted his supporters in the easternmost province of Indonesia.

The current condition is different from the era when Kompas founder Jakob Oetama was actively in command. Now, in the seventh generation of leadership, egalitarian characteristics are more real, the attributes of the chief editor are real, but her figure is primus interpares (the first of the equivalent).

That is the fact. Of course Kompas does not deny the existence of individual political aspirations because this is a right that is respected in a democratic country. However, the editorial policy is a corridor of a collective product, which is separate from the political bias of individual editors.

However, the editorial policy is a corridor of a collective product, which is separate from the political bias of individual editors.

What is more important is its mandate

In the post truth era, people "believe what they want to believe". So, a lengthy explanation of the actual facts of the above-mentioned questions may still be conquered by the perceptions adopted by post truth people.

However, do believe, one thing that remains the identity of Kompas is the love of the country. Promoting democracy is one thing, but the rest is the vision of Indonesia with a bright future that is our dream.

Awareness of the love of the Motherland, through various expeditions to the outermost islands, helps awaken awareness of life in the Ring of Fire, continuing to become a torch that never goes out. Kompas offers to look at Indonesia with a different approach, seeing from volcanoes, from rivers, from under the sea, which is manifested in a number of expeditions.

KOMPAS/ BAHANA PATRIA GUPTA

Tourists enjoying the beauty of Batur Mountain Geopark tourism area in Kintamani district, Bangli regency, Bali, Wednesday (4/10). Many tourists that visit the area are those that have changed their mind about going to Mount Agung in Karangasem.

Kompas knows how to behave. Precisely at a time when the media industry is hit by a storm, it becomes a priority to clean up the kitchen, with the hope that Kompas would become a survivor that could become a media reference in the country.

That today Kompas is in a political vortex, this does not in the least reduce the commitment of Kompas to continue to defend the interests of the Republic. In what way? If being "independent" is no longer the right slogan, Kompas\' choice is "in a credible way".

Kompas is determined to be the torch that continues to guide the nation to achieve the noble ideals in welcoming 100 years of an Independent Indonesia, which is strong with Vision 2045. This is the only choice when great powers in the world are now competing to become a superpower in artificial intelligence (AI), as well as an efforts to be winners in the Industrial Revolution 4.0.

KOMPAS/ HERU SRI KUMORO

Mohammad Abrar (right), a researcher of Oceanography Research Center of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), uses a measurement when he carries out his research activity on coral reefs around Babua Island, Jailolo, West Halmahera, Thursday (27/7).

In that perspective our togetherness and unity are no less important than the contestation, which is held once every five years, especially if it is filled with baseless news. We catch the echo of the Washington Post\'s daily slogan, that "Democracy will die in the dark".

Kompas realizes that the mainstream media is being directed to move from conventional media to social media. However, social media is social media, whose truth requires verification.

More than that, what is needed by the Indonesian people is the existence of sincere communication because that is how the nation will grow into a noble nation. In this connection Kompas agrees with the message of Vice President Jusuf Kalla as quoted at the beginning of this article.