Message from the Chief Editor: An Ensemble Called The WEEKENDER

What does it take to put together a great orchestra concert?

Let’s see. You need a bunch of people at the violin and viola, others playing the bass, flute, piccolo, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, trombone, tuba, percussion, harp, keyboard and what have you. Each player is a master in his or her craft, but they come together to produce great music, even greater than the sum of its parts.

So does it take to put together a great lifestyle magazine?

You need a bunch of creative people to write the articles, may be throw in one or two columnists, a handful of photographers, and one or two arts and graphic designers. This we did some way back in 2006, and voila, today we have the WEEKENDERr about to mark its second anniversary.

As this edition before you attests, the WEEKENDER brings together some of the best and creative talents in journalism in Indonesia. We now have two columnists who have their regular witty, insightful and at times humorous columns, we have journalists who write regularly for the magazine on all kinds of topics, and we have photographers and arts and graphic designers to turn this into a colorful and picturesque magazine. Each and everyone is great in their respective field, and like the symphony orchestra, their sum is greater than the parts.

The response from readers has been terrific, to say the least. Ever since we put out the first edition, we have readers writing in to tell us that the WEEKENDER fills a huge gap in the limited number of English-language magazine publications about Indonesia.

The idea for the magazine came as we at The Jakarta Post searched for ways of giving more value to our readers/subscribers for their money. One way of doing this is to expand the number of pages, but a preferred option is to come out with a lifestyle magazine whose entire costs would be borne by advertisers.

Essentially, we try to catch high-end advertisers who will take advantage not only of the glossy nature of the publication material, but also of being associated with one of the best products in English-language journalism in Indonesia. Typically, advertisers are slower to respond, but we believe this is just a matter of time. 

From the very beginning the magazine is aimed at exploring Indonesia, which anthropologists the world over consider an unexplored gold mine.

Indonesia is one of the areas in the world that is still heavily underwritten, whether in English or Indonesian publications. The 17,000 islands in the archipelago, the hundreds of ethnic and cultural groups, and the hundreds of language spoken, their lives, dreams and aspirations are there waiting to be explore and told to the outside the world.

The WEEKENDER provides the place and space for such exploration to journalists, writers and photographers, more so than any other existing English language periodicals, including even The Jakarta Post’s daily newspaper.  

This is why the WEEKENDER is also a place for all talents in journalism – writers, photographers and art/graphic designers – to practice their craft to the fullest.

Much to our pleasant surprise, we discovered new talents in the last two years that otherwise probably would not have come out. From the very beginning, we have made it a point that the magazine would be open to talents from outside the walls of The Jakarta Post. We now seem to have come to rely more and more upon them.

Did I mention you need a conductor in a symphony orchestra? In a magazine, you need someone to put together the product of these diverse talents, and from time to time to give direction, and turn this into one edition each and every month. Thanks to our managing editor Bruce Emond and his hard working team, the WEEKENDER has become that desired ensemble of journalistic talents at their best in Indonesia.

But it is more to our readers and their loyal support as well as encouragement that we dedicate this second anniversary edition of the WEEKENDER. We couldn’t have done it without you.

Endy M. Bayuni
Chief Editor 

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