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'Panjebar Semangat': Iconic Javanese magazine faces approaching twilight
After nine decades in print from prerevolutionary to modern Indonesian history, legendary Javanese magazine 'Panjebar Semangat' is nearing its end.
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Near-forgotten 'classic': The editorial offices of 'Panjebar Semangat', a Javanese-language magazine that has been declared Indonesia's oldest magazine, reflect its history and age. (JP/Courtesy of Adryan Prayoga)
I
n one of his most famous speeches, national hero Dr. Soetomo said, "A society that reads is a society that progresses." For him, one of the most important means of sustaining the embers of resistance was to regularly provide people with reading materials.
To that end, on Sept. 3, 1933 the doctor began publishing a magazine called Panjebar Semangat, which means “spirit spreader” in Javanese. In 2013, after 80 years in print, the Indonesian Museum of Records (MURI) declared Panjebar Semangat the country’s oldest magazine.
The magazine is still in print and publishes a new edition every Thursday, but its dwindling readership could mean it will have to close down soon, a historical loss by any measure.
Panjebar Semangat's editorial offices located headquartered on a small street just 2 meters wide in Bubutan district of Surabaya, East Java, next to Soetomo’s grave. Across the building is the magazine’s printing room, which is entered through a 3-meter-high teak door that is padlocked with a rusty iron chain, somewhat reflecting the publication’s age.
"Do you mind waiting a bit? Thirty minutes after this, we will begin printing. Tomorrow’s edition will be published, it’s a new one,” said Kukuh Wibowo, Panjebar Semangat’s literary editor.
Kukuh is one of the magazine’s youngest employees He is still considered “new” even after nearly 23 years on the job, because he joined the publishing division in 1998 at the age of 23, intrigued by the magazine’s “glory” when he first picked up a copy in the mid-1980s.
