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Jakarta Post

In Memoriam: Sima Gunawan: The smiling journalist

JPI could never tell whenever she smiled if she was being cynical or friendly

Endy M. Bayuni (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Fri, January 20, 2012

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In Memoriam: Sima Gunawan: The smiling journalist

J

span class="inline inline-left">JPI could never tell whenever she smiled if she was being cynical or friendly. If anyone had the ability to combine the two, Sima Gunawan was it. Although I had known her since 1984, I could never guess whether she was being cynical in a friendly way, or friendly in a cynical way. She smiled a lot.

A dear friend, a great colleague to work with, and a damn good journalist, Sima passed away in Bumi Serpong Damai near Jakarta on Thursday after years of fighting a malignant cancer. She was 51.

Her smile is one of the features many will remember her by. The smile concealed one characteristic anyone who knew her noticed: She was tough, even stubborn at times.

I worked with her when I joined The Jakarta Post in 1992. Sharing the same desk, I had my share of fights with her. Once or twice, in my desperation, I had to show rank. “Just do as I say,” I told her. And there was that smile.

Sima joined the Post in 1984. Like all cub reporters, one of her first assignments was to cover court hearings. She stuck to that beat because she did a good job reporting cases of human rights abuses.

By the early 1990s, her knowledge of the complex legal system was such that she was getting calls from senior judges and lawyers who wanted to tap her brain. If most of these lawmen were looking at the trees, she was looking at the forest. With her knowledge and network, she could have switched to the legal profession but she stuck with journalism instead and did it with passion and dedication.

When I was National Desk editor in 1994, I pulled her out of the legal beat.

“You’ve been dihukum [punished] long enough,” I joked. Dihukum also means “doing the legal beat” and she had been doing it for too long and it was time for her to move on.

She rose through the ranks in the newsroom, as deputy and later as editor in charge of different desks, including City, National, Features and the Sunday Post.

A colleague recalls the time she rejected an article submitted on behalf of one of the Post’s shareholders, saying it was too much of a fluff piece. We thought we had convinced her to just go along with it when she pointed out that the piece was too poorly written to be published. She prevailed. I could just see her smile then.

One day in early 2003 — I was then deputy editor-in-chief — Sima came to my room carrying a white envelope, usually a resignation letter. It was a difficult year for the Post with many disgruntled staff leaving.

“Not you too. You’re not leaving us?” I asked. Of all the people in the newsroom, Sima was the last person I expected to leave.

She smiled and nodded. “I am just so tired.”

“Take a long break, go for a month and then come back fresh. But don’t leave us. This is your home too.”
“No Endy, I am really, really tired,” she said.

“Take a longer break, then. Three months?”

“No. I want to quit.”

“You already have another job waiting?”

“No. But maybe after resting awhile can I freelance for you?”

“There is not that much money in freelancing. You have a career here, you’re doing great. You’re still rising higher,” I tried to argue. Not that our salary was great, but money was apparently not the issue for her.

Her mind was clearly made up. This time, she didn’t smile. I was upset and even a little offended at seeing her walk out on me. But I respected her decision.

A few months after she left came the tragic news: She was diagnosed with cancer.

She went for treatment, including chemotherapy. In 2006, she returned to the Post at our request to help coach new journalists. Her students described her as a “killer” because she was tough and probably cynical.

Her cancer caught up with her and in May of 2011 she became bedridden. The Post continued to retain her to do some editing from home. She had asked to continue working. It helped keep her spirits high.

“She was an extraordinary human being, exceptional journalist, with a passion for writing,” says Meidyatama Suryodiningrat, the Post’s editor-in-chief, at the news of her passing on Thursday.

“Sima represented the first generation of Jakarta Post journalists entrenched in ideals of plurality, social justice and civil society that this newspaper stands for.

“But most of all, we were in awe of her spirit for life. At a time when those ravaged by cancer would feel sorry for themselves, she refused to succumb, never letting the debilitations command what she truly believed is a beautiful life.

 “I know Sima’s spirit lives on, through the editorial passion of the Post, and the cub reporters she helped rear,” added Meidyatama.

May her soul rest in peace.

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