Legendary Newspapers Denny JA Collections

Sinar Terang - Batavia (Jakarta)

by JJ Rizal

Be careful! Don't confuse the Sinar Terang newspaper, which was published in Batavia, with Sinar Terang, which was published in Surakarta. Sinar Terang published in Surakarta, the first sample number was launched on October 31, 1885 by Vogel van der Hayden & Co in Surakarta. Meanwhile, Sinar Terang, which was published in 1886 in Batavia, was initiated by Yap Goan Ho, a printing businessman who specializes in printing books and printed materials for office and school purposes. Initially this newspaper was published regularly, only since June 25, 1888, Sinar Terang has been published regularly. Its first editor was an Indo (European descent) named W. Meulenhoff. Before becoming a journalist, Meulenhoff was a head of department at the Department of Public Works, then an editor at Pemberita Betawi. Except for one distributor in Serang, all of Sinar Terang's distributors are Chinese living in Bogor, Bandung, Cianjur, Sukabumi, Garut, Cirebon, Semarang, Demak, Surabaya, Tegal, and Padang.

Yap Goan Ho is apparently a businessman who wants to go all out in the mass media business. The scale of the printing company and the business that Yap had planned in the press and printing sector was enormous. According to Regeeringsalmanaak 1893, Yap invested up to 5000 gulden. Yep, for example, in 1894 attempted to publish a new newspaper called Chabar Berdagang. This sample edition of the newspaper devoted to commercial advertisers did not last long, as it failed to get an encouraging response from customers. In fact, two years before Chabar Berdagang was published, Yap had also tried to set up another printing company in Semarang, but there was no news of this printing activity after his birth. The financial crisis due to heavy investment is suspected to be the root cause of the bankruptcy and the closing of the Sinar Terang newspaper in 1898.