Founder of sinaumedia – Who doesn’t know about one of the largest and most complete bookstores in Indonesia, which we know as sinaumedia. Certainly, almost everyone, especially students and university students, have visited this one bookstore. But has it ever crossed your mind, who is the founder of sinaumedia? So, if you are curious about this, in this article we will discuss the history of sinaumedia, who the founders were, and various other things related to the company’s development until now.
So sinaumedia Asri Media is a subsidiary of Kompas sinaumedia which provides various kinds of bookstore networks under the name sinaumedia Bookstores in various regions in Indonesia. This company was founded on February 2, 1970. In the past, sinaumedia started with a small bookstore located in the West Jakarta area. Until 2022, there are already more than 50 stores spread across all regions in Indonesia. sinaumedia Bookstore itself does not only provide various kinds of books, but also school supplies, stationery, sports equipment, musical instruments, and so on.
sinaumedia Company has successfully collaborated with various book publishers, both domestically and abroad. Meanwhile, when viewed from the business group, book suppliers who usually deliver various types of books to sinaumedia stores include sinaumedia Pustaka Utama, sinaumedia Magazine, Elex Media Komputindo, Bhuana Popular Science, Addison Wesley, McGraw, and so on.
On May 9 2015, sinaumedia has launched a new concept and logo. Where this new concept carries the theme New Experience, which means the sinaumedia bookstore concept is divided into rooms or chambers based on various themes. This concept was applied for the first time at the sinaumedia Bookstore in Central Park. Meanwhile, the new logo itself is a logotype with the letter “G” and an inscription sinaumedia which means creativity, flexibility, change, progress, and also the power to provide various kinds of ideas and inspiration in educating the lives of Indonesian people.
Get to know the Founder of sinaumedia: Jakob Oetama
Jakob Oetama is the founder of sinaumedia which used to start from the Kompas Daily company. Where the company has succeeded in bringing the Kompas Group to become one of the number 1 largest media in Indonesia. In 2019, Kompas Daily Newspaper managed to rank fifth in the Top 200 Newspaper In The World version of 4imn.com. If you look at the success of Kompas sinaumedia today, of course it cannot be separated from the struggles and efforts of its founders. For that, let’s take another look at the life journey of the founder of sinaumedia Jakob Oetama.
Comes From a Simple Family
Jakob Oetama was born on September 27, 1931 in Jowahan Village, Borobudur Temple Area, Magelang. Jakob himself was born in a fairly simple family. He is the first child of 13 siblings. His father, Raymundus Josef Sandiyo Brotosusiswa, is a retired public school teacher in Sleman. While the mother named Margaretha Kartonah.
Jakob Oetama successfully completed his basic education and high school education in the Yogyakarta area in 1951.
Following in His Father’s Footsteps Becoming a Teacher
At the beginning of his career, Jakob Oetama decided to pursue a career similar to his father’s profession. Where Jakob worked as a teacher at Mardi Yuana Middle School in Cipanas, Cianjur, West Java. Then after that, Jakob switched to Van Lith Middle School in Jakarta.
In the course of his life, Jakob has also worked as an editor at the Penabur weekly in Jakarta. Before finally he continued his education teaching the Department of History Education and successfully graduated in 1956. After having a graduate education, Jakob, who comes from a Javanese family and has a Catholic background, finally decided to continue his education in Jakarta by majoring in higher education in journalism and graduated in 1959. Then after that Jakob continued his education at Gadjah Mada University by majoring in journalism.
Pursuing a Career as a Journalist
Jakob Oetomo started his journalistic career in 1956. At that time Jakob worked as an editor at the Penabur weekly. Until 1963, Jakob succeeded in establishing Intisari magazine with his business partner who was also a fellow journalist, named PK Ojong. They were originally inspired by the US Reader’s Digest magazine.
Jakob Oetomo, who is usually called JO, succeeded in establishing Kompas Daily on June 28, 1965 together with his earlier colleague named Ojong or Petrus Kanisius (PK). However, Jakob is said to have never given up his identity as a journalist or journalist.
In the eyes of the employees, Jakob is seen as a leader who is “nguwongke” or humanizes and is never proud of his position and status. Jakob Oetomo has always held fast to the transcendental values of humanism instilled in him as the foundation of Kompas sinaumedia. Idealism or philosophy of life has been implemented in every part of Kompas sinaumedia’s business which leads to one goal, namely to educate the life of the Indonesian Nation.
Various Achievements of Jakob Oetomo
In its journey, Kompas Daily has grown from its initial circulation of 4,800 copies in 1965 to around 500 thousand copies in 2014. Even during the era of Suharto’s authoritarian regime which lasted from 1965 to 1998, at that time it was quite oppressive for press freedom and also the media, his personality which is quite calm, polite, simple, and gentle, made Jakob finally succeed in managing a newspaper with national circulation in the midst of repressive conditions.
After a long journey, Kompas managed to reach its circulation peak in 2004, when the daily circulation reached around 530 thousand copies and for the Sunday edition it was 610 thousand copies. In addition, Kompas Daily also managed to get approximately 2.25 million readers. Until 2014, Kompas Daily’s circulation reached 507 thousand, with 66 percent circulating in the Greater Jakarta area.
sinaumedia History
Kompas sinaumedia is a fairly well-known company in Indonesia. The company has had various important events that have become the cornerstones of the journey to success, from its founding to its current development:
1974
This year, the business unit PT sinaumedia Pustaka Utama or GPU was established as a general book publisher. Where the first book published at that time was the novel Karmila by Marga T, which was previously a serial story written in Kompas Daily. The products published by GPU then received a fairly positive response from the public in general. That way, the book publishing business began to expand into various segments, such as recipe books, children’s books, non-fiction books, philosophy books, novels, college books, culture books, science books, and many more.
1985
To meet the growing needs of society related to the diversity of types of books. On January 15, 1985, sinaumedia established a special business unit which is used to publish electronic books as well as computer books. Until then the publication penetrated into comic books. The business unit is named PT Elex Media Komputindo. Then on September 20, 1990, sinaumedia established a business unit called PT sinaumedia Widiasarana Indonesia or Grasindo. Where the business unit is used specifically to publish textbooks, such as textbooks for elementary to secondary education. Then on June 1, 1996, sinaumedia also established the sinaumedia Popular Library or KPG and also the Kompas Book Publishers,
1976
In 1976, Kompas sinaumedia established another business unit called PT sinaumedia Film. At that time, the business unit functioned to work on documentaries and also made feature films. One of the story films that received an achievement was Suci Sang Primadona. Where the film won the Citra Cup, the highest award for Indonesian cinema. But unfortunately, sinaumedia Film did not last long. This is because sinaumedia is unable to compete with other film productions which prioritize entertaining content.
1981
In 1981, sinaumedia also diversified its business beyond its core business by building a hotel business unit. This started with the establishment of PT Grahawita Santika or PT GWS on August 22, 1981. The hotel was established in the Bandung area, precisely on Jl. Sumatra, where the first hotel built was the result of buying Hotel Soeti. Then the hotel was renovated and replaced with the name Hotel Santika Bandung until now. This business unit in the hospitality sector is growing quite rapidly and Hotel Santika is already present in various big cities in Indonesia.
1984
Kompas sinaumedia continues to develop their products by publishing a BOLA section on March 3, 1984 as one of the inserts in Kompas Daily every Friday. For the first time, 412 thousand copies of the Rubik BOLA were printed. Where this amount has been adjusted to the circulation of Kompas at that time. Luckily, the BOLA rubik gets a good response from its loyal readers and advertisers. Based on the idea of Jakob Oetomo, who at that time was the Chief Editor of Kompas, every rubik in Kompas that was liked by readers could be developed into their own publication.
Then 4 years later, in April 1988 to be precise, Rubik BOLA was released from Kompas and stood alone as Tabloid BOLA. This decision was taken by also considering the capabilities of the sports desk at Kompas, which is considered one of the strongest desks due to the support of its journalists. So that this sports rubik is one of the rubik that is very liked by its readers. In its development, the BOLA rubik then penetrated into the form of books and magazines. Not only fixated on the world of soccer, but also penetrated into the health sector with his publications with the theme of Tabloid Senior. Then the tabloid also changed into the Healthy Lifestyle Tabloid.
1987
In 1987, Kompas sinaumedia took over the Sriwijaya Post Daily publishing company in Palembang. At that time, there was an appeal from the Minister of Information of the Republic of Indonesia so that major newspapers could help regional newspapers which were hampered due to problems with SIUPP or Press Publishing Business Permits. Therefore, in 1987 Kompas sinaumedia established the Regional Press Group or Persda business unit which was tasked with helping regional newspapers that needed assistance. Then in 1988, Kompas sinaumedia took over the Swadesi newspaper publishing company whose name was changed to Serambi Indonesia in Banda Aceh. In 1992, Kompas sinaumedia took over the publishing company for the Pos Kupang newspaper and in 1994 sinaumedia again took over the publishing company for the Banjarmasin Post newspaper. Then in the next development,
1988
Kompas sinaumedia resumed business diversification by establishing PT Graha Kerindo Utama or GKU in 1988, as a quality converting tissue company with the Multi and Tessa brands. Along with increasingly fierce competition, GKU wanted a guaranteed supply of paper raw materials so that tissue production remains stable. Therefore, a tissue paper manufacturing factory or paper mill was established. Until the same year that GKU was founded, Kompas sinaumedia took over the weekly newspaper Surya. Where the newspaper was founded by the Pos Kota newspaper publishing company in 1986 and then changed to Harian Pagi Surya.
1996
As the economy and business world in Indonesia developed, in 1996 Kompas sinaumedia decided to establish PT Grahanusa Mediatama whose job was to publish the KONTAN Tabloid. Where the tabloid was published on September 27, 1996. To answer all the needs of readers, in January 2006, the company published a special monthly issue of KONTAN and then on September 27, 2007, again published the KONTAN business and investment daily.
1998
sinaumedia’s business trip arrived at a time when there was a development trend in society which showed a phenomenon of increasing use of the internet network to obtain information. Therefore, Kompas Daily started to make an online version of Kompas Daily. Where at that time the site containing the online version of Kompas Daily had the address http://www.kompas.com. Then in 1998, Kompas Online began to develop into its own business unit and was under the auspices of PT Kompas Cyber Media or KCM. For now, Kompas Online has changed to Kompas.com.
1999
In 1999, Kompas sinaumedia published the Kota Warta Daily which aims to provide more specific information for the people of Jakarta and its surroundings, such as Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi. At that time, Warta Kota Daily started its publication with a 12-page newspaper which was published every Monday to Saturday. Because the response from readers was quite good, in 2001 they published another Sunday edition of Warta Kota.
The year 2009
Along with the development of technology and also the conditions of the business environment in the media. The print media business is starting to be directed to transform towards the digital era. In this way, the next media figure will be displayed through multi-media, multi-platform and multi-channel. Therefore, in early 2009, television media began to be tried again. Where Kompas sinaumedia Television or KOMPAS sinaumedia TV is one of the company’s media to resume business in television, which began with the establishment of the KOMPAS sinaumedia TV project. The project started its activities by forming a KOMPAS sinaumedia Production whose job is to produce programs that can provide added value to its viewers. So that the program that will be aired has human values, educational values, and social values.
Those are some discussions about the career journey of the founder of sinaumedia and the history of Kompas sinaumedia from year to year.