Why friends from
indonesia forgot to write an abstract of this Indonesia''s oldest
newpaper ? I do not really know the answers.
The newpaper has been in existence for almost 70 years. She is established almost in the same year of Indonesian year of independence, i.e. 1945. Its place of birth was in Jogjakarta, which that time became a temporary capital of Free Indonesia, and now the capital of Jogjakarta province.
KR, the nickname of Kedaulatan Rakyat, enjoyed its glory in the 50''s to 70''s. In the 50''s the newspaper became an icon for the Indonesian newspapers, even she published a yellow
magazine to accomodate the readers'' demand of life style, fashion and entertainment. Minggu Pagi was the name of the magazine. To reach the kids, KR issued a weekly kid magazine called Gatotkaca. She even published a java-language magazine called Mekarsari. At the time KR group (KR, Minggu Pagi and Gatotkaca) almost reached all region in Indonesia. At 70''s Minggu Pagi even very wellknown as the source of Indonesian''s best future artists such as Rendra, Umar Kayam, Emha Ainun Najib, etc.
The 80''s is the turning point of KR Group. The aggresive Jakarta''s Newpaper and Magazine has made her sweeped aside from national scene: Minggu Pagi changed format into weekly
newspaper while Gatotkaca and Mekarsari merged into KR as a special page.
Now KR only could cope Jogjakarta, the southern part of Central Java, and a little East
java region.
As a modern neswpaper, KR could be noted as a very conservative newspaper: axcepting front and back page, all the pages are in white and black. Its tipography is very simple and calm, its lay out very simple also that always remind me of old fashioned newspaper in the library.The modesty, it could be the reason for the newpaper to be forgoten by friends from Indonesia.
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