R

enowned intellectual Daniel Dhakidae has recently come out of retirement to return to his "old vice" - Prisma, this time as the magazine's chief editor.

There are those who claim Prisma, a revived version of the popular and highly respected social and political magazine of the 1970s and 1980s, should have found a young editor, someone who is more representative of the Internet generation.

Others believe Daniel is just the right person for the job.

During a discussion among some of the country's intellectuals at the June launch of the revived Prisma, one was heard to remark, "A younger editor would not have the air of authority necessary to criticize Vedi R. Hadiz's article the way Daniel does."

Vedi, a former Prisma editor, is a renowned political scientist and now an associate professor at the Department of Sociology at the National University of Singapore (NUS).

Media researcher Ignatius Haryanto, or Hary, said there was little doubt that Daniel, with his reputation for intellectual rigor, would be able to restore Prisma to the position it held in the past.

"The challenge is for him to find a new generation of editors and writers," Hary said.

Born on Aug. 22, 1945, in a small village on Flores in East Nusa Tenggara, Daniel was not really a fan of formal education until he went on to do postgraduate studies at Cornell University's Department of Government.

"*Historian* Taufik Abdullah offered me *an opportunity* to study at Cornell *University*. I said OK half-heartedly because I couldn't see myself sitting in a classroom again," Daniel said. "The education experience I had had before was not really a prospect I wanted to go over again."

Daniel was educated in Catholic seminaries from the age of 12. After graduating from the Middle Seminary of St. Johannes Berchmans in Todabelu, he continued on to the High Seminary St. Petrus in Ritapiret and the High Seminary St. Paulus in Ledalero, all in Flores. He did not finish his seminary education, instead moving to Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta to complete a secular education.

After graduating from Gadjah Mada University in 1976 with a degree in public administration, Daniel began work at the Institute of Research, Education and Illumination of Economics and Social Science (LP3ES).

Although he wrote an essay full of fond memories of his days at the middle seminary for an anthology to celebrate the seminary's 75th anniversary, Daniel said the type of education where he was required to sit quietly while listening to teachers speak was not the kind he aspired to. He imagined that his experience at university in the United States would be more or less the same.

But in 1984, after working for LP3ES for eight years, Daniel went anyway, although without any great expectations.

"Upon arrival, I was interviewed and asked what I wanted from the program, and I said *I've come here to listen'," Daniel said. To his surprise, the interviewers were pleased with his answer. Later, Daniel was taught by prominent specialists in Indonesian and Southeast Asian Studies such as the late George McTurnan Kahin and Benedict Anderson. Prof. Susan Buck-Morss was also one of the inspiring professors Daniel remembered.

During his first semesters, Daniel received a scholarship to pay for his tuition and other expenses, but later he entered a teaching assistant scheme, using his teaching income to cover his expenses.

"I learned more when I taught," he said.

His half-hearted decision was something he did not regret; Daniel still wears his ring from Cornell.

In 1990, Daniel returned to Indonesia, after completing his dissertation The State, the Rise of Capital and the Fall of Political Journalism: Political Economy of the Indonesian News Industry. In his thesis, one of the publications he studied was Kompas newspaper.

Back in Jakarta, Daniel "put his bag at LP3ES" and shortly afterward received an offer from Jacob Oetama to join the Research and Development Department at Kompas. After two years working there, Daniel was appointed as acting head of the department; in 1995 he was made the head of department.

"Never in my life have I sent a job application. I worked at LP3ES also after Ismet *Hadad* found me and made an offer," Daniel laughed.

Daniel is one of those few people who can brag about their achievements without being hated for it. He is known as a straightforward intellectual who is rigorous in his thinking but also fair. These qualities are what make many people believe that Daniel, whom with Vedi edited a book in 2005 titled Social Sciences and Power in Indonesia, is the right editor for Prisma.