In a move that could signal a shift by The Jakarta Post to have a more aggressive presence online, the newspaper has picked a new chief editor, Nezar Patria, who will assume the role on Feb. 1.

Nezar, 47, is replacing Endy Bayuni, who has served as the Post’s chief editor on an interim basis since 2016.

The Jakarta Post board of directors member Jusuf Wanandi announced the decision on Tuesday during a gathering of newsroom staff in Palmerah, West Jakarta.

“We owe him [Endy] our gratitude for serving in the position in the past two years [...] As for the new chief editor, I hope he can lead this newspaper in this changing environment,” Jusuf said on Tuesday.

Nezar will be the Post’s sixth chief editor since the paper’s first publication in April 1983.

Prior to his appointment as chief editor, Nezar took the helm of the Post’s online department, leading the expansion of the paper’s website since 2015.

Nezar said that although he spent the bulk of his time in online journalism, he had a background in print journalism and a close affinity with the business.

“I left the print business 10 years ago and moved to an online publication, but print media has always been in my blood. My father was a print journalist in Aceh,” Nezar said.

Nezar graduated from Yogyakarta-based Gadjah Mada University’s department of philosophy in 1997 and got his master’s degree from the London School of Economics in 2007. While attending college, Nezar joined student group Indonesian Students Solidarity for Democracy, which was active in opposing former president Soeharto’s New Order regime.

He joined Tempo weekly in 1999 following the downfall of Soeharto the year before.

His career in digital media started when he moved on to found news portal vivanews.com in 2008, before taking the position of the deputy chief editor of CNN Indonesia’s online news site in 2014.

In 2008, Nezar was elected the chairman of the Alliance of Independent Journalists, a position he served until 2011. He was also a member of the Press Council between 2013 and 2016.

Nezar said that under his leadership, the Post, with its reputable position as Indonesia’s largest English-language daily, would continue to contribute to civil discourse while improving the quality of its journalism.

He acknowledged that the challenges ahead would not be easy, given that the Post also served as the window through which the international community could follow current developments.

“Therefore, although we will be gradually shifting to multimedia without leaving the newspaper that we are all proud of, we need to strive higher while maintaining our standard and quality,” Nezar said.

On Feb. 1, Nezar will be the sixth chief editor, following in the footsteps of Endy, who served on an interim basis between 2016 and 2018. Endy had his first term as chief editor from 2004 and 2010 before being replaced by Meidyatama Suryodiningrat, who held the position between 2010 and 2016.

The first three chief editors, Sabam Siagian, Susanto Pudjomartono and Raymond Toruan, served their terms in the first two decades of the Post.

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