Departure of AG, "The Explorer"

On Tuesday, 15 Oct. 2019, on the fourth floor of the Kompas R&D, we met and conversed for a long time.

ST Sularto

· 6 minutes read

https://cdn-assetd.kompas.id/BkUyqOvVBVB-n_XFwnjPbrZx_PA=/1024x576/https%3A%2F%2Fkompas.id%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F10%2F20191017_ENGLISH-OBITUARI-AGUST-PARENGKUAN_C_web_1571321028.jpg — ARSIP KBRI ROMA
Italian President Giogio Napolitano (left) shakes hands with Indonesian Ambassador to Italy August Parengkuan at a 18 Dec. 2014 meeting with ambassadors to welcome the New Year at Quirinale Presidential Palace in Rome.

On Tuesday, 15 Oct. 2019, on the fourth floor of the Kompas R&D, we met and conversed for a long time. Agnes Aristiarini from the Kompas Opinion Desk and Patricius Cahanar from Kompas Publishing were also there.

We talked about many things and also joked around. As usual, Mas August “AG” Parengkuan’s warmth was a comfort to us all. We even spoke about Kompas Publishing’s plan to publish a biography of Soemadi Brotodiningrat that Mas AG had edited, which turned out to be his final work.

I was shocked the moment I heard of his passing on Thursday morning (17/10/2019). Wasn’t he perfectly healthy on Tuesday? Martin Heidegger is apparently correct, “being unto death”. Life is merely delaying death.

From when he was born in August 1943 in Surabaya to the military family of Lieut. Col. (ret.) Jacob Parengkuan and B.P. Parengkuan until his death at the age of 76, the history of August Parengkuan unfolded. Known as AG, he was among Kompas’ first generation of reporters and worked his way up from the bottom to the top of Kompas Gramedia. After he retired, he served as the Indonesian ambassador to Italy (2012-2017).

He had immersed himself in the world of writing since his high school days in Makassar, South Sulawesi. He regularly sent articles to a weekly publication in Makassar that frequently published his works. After graduating high school, he dreamt of becoming a soldier before changing his plans to becoming a diplomat.

AG left for Jakarta in 1963 to find work at the Foreign Ministry. However, as the recruitment period had closed, he decided to apply to Kompas, which was preparing for its launch in 1965. He was accepted and assigned to cover court news in his first year. Afterwards, he was assigned to cover politics, which became his home ground.

AG then moved up in the Kompas newsroom from politics desk editor, to managing editor and finally, to deputy editor-in-chief. His responsibilities at Kompas included managing the entire newspaper for printing every day.

AG’s “explorations” moved beyond journalism. As deputy editor-in-chief, he also served as Corporate Communications Director of the Kompas Gramedia Group (KKG), a new company he managed for several years after he retired from journalism in 2003. He was also among the pioneers of Kompas TV.

As Kompas TV director since 2001, AG encountered an experience that was different from his print media days. He once said that he had no problems with working 24 hours a day, as he had often done as a print journalist since 1965.

‘Gluprut’

AG’s “explorations” through the organizational positions in Kompas and Kompas Gramedia almost mirrored his assignments as a journalist. During Kompas’ first years, AG, who focused on political coverage, experienced the daily’s ups and downs, including during the New Order and subsequent political eras.

It can be said that AG was a witness to history as a result of his explorer’s spirit as a journalist who recorded the nation’s development in the years since 1965. AG was a reporter that truly lived by the words of his senior, Jakob Oetama: “A journalist must be willing to go into the field and get gluprut [dirty] in a variety of issues.” AG strived to be omnipresent through his brain and heart, like Jakob Oetama had suggested.

AG’s willingness to “get dirty” proved his mettle as a journalist who sought materials and found them in the field. Books were not his only sources; the field was always his No. 1 source. AG worked with his brain and his heart. As a journalist, he relied on his feet – an idiom that refers to a journalist venturing into a “war zone”.

AG was aware of, experienced and was directly involved in various events, both internally at Kompas and in the affairs of the state. He was once arrested by the Tjakrabirawa presidential guard while he was following Bung Karno. He journeyed through West Kalimantan to cover a counterinsurgency military operation, and spent weeks in East Timor before Indonesian forces moved in. He covered the war in Afghanistan and the assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1981.

Through his wealth of experience as a field reporter, AG established special relationships with decision makers and national security figures. He was a deft lobbyist. His hugely important job of covering State Palace news and reporting on various important state decisions, gained him widespread fame.

Through his knowledge and experience, AG gained the trust of his seniors and juniors at Kompas. Jakob Oetama and P. Swantoro, two of his seniors and discussion partners, complemented his concepts and ideas through implementation, grounding them. Jakob focused on improving human dignity and politics, Swantoro had a history background and AG was a field operator.

AG also honed his journalism skills in West Berlin in 1968, and at the Australian National University in Canberra in the 1970s.

AG learned many things through his own experiences. Through his work at the Indonesian Journalists Association (PWI), he developed a strong sense in determining what statements and facts should be made public. This was why AG made several breakthroughs in corporate development strategy. Jakob launched Kompas’ Sunday edition with the idea of meeting the readers’ demand for light reading on the weekend. AG was tasked with overseeing the edition along with Rustam Affandi, in addition to managing Kompas TV. AG also honed his journalism skills in West Berlin in 1968, and at the Australian National University in Canberra in the 1970s.

Among AG’s strategic policies was his decision to publish Kompas on Easter Sunday. Easter always falls on a Sunday and is a national holiday. Newspapers were never published on Easter Sunday, but AG proposed that Kompas be published on the national holiday. Despite the initial polemic surrounding the decision, we still publish Kompas on Easter Sunday to this day.

Leaving behind his wife Sonya Kusler and four children (Charles Ronald, Ira Melanie Sigar, Nadia Putri Parengkuan and Atika Gadis Parengkuan), AG departed this world at 5:50 a.m. on Thursday at Medistra Hospital in Jakarta. His wake was held at the Jakarta Army Hospital funeral home and is to be buried on Monday (21/10) at the San Diego Hills Memorial Park in Karawang, West Java.

AG was a friendly, sociable person who loved to joke, and was deeply loyal to Kompas. He leaves behind a wealth of history: Journalists must be gluprut, omnipresent and a lifelong learner.

Farewell, Bung August Parengkuan!

– ST Sularto (Kompas reporter, 1977-2017)

Editor:

naranasrullah

kompascetak august parengkuan