Why did the Indonesian military make magazines from 1939 to 1966.
The magazines affiliated with the military in the 1939-1966 era apparently discussed a lot about military strategy, political concepts, how to organize society, and how the civil service should behave and lead the community.
“But from the content, it can actually be drawn a line about ‘how the military uses the pretext of the Law’ to take power legally,” said Norman Joshua, doctoral student at Northwestern University, speaker at the 12th Exclamation of Amir Effendi Siregar (AES) Forum on Saturday ( 3/10). The discussion, which was held by the UII Communication Science Study Program, was broadcast live on the online TV Uniicoms TV belonging to the Department of Communications Science of UII.
The military-owned media also ran a counter for the Harian Rakyat newspaper which incidentally belonged to the left. “Indeed, at that time each department had a publication. Chakra Vijaya magazine belongs to the Army’s Judiciary Corps. In the 60s, the military did not only talk about threats, or about the military world,” said Norman, “but also about law and its implementation in Indonesia. There are also articles. which discusses who has the right to prosecute and arrest a suspect in an area that is included in a war zone. ”
Apart from discussing military strategy, the military media also talks about politics. “And at that time it looked natural in the dual conception of military functions in Indonesia in the 1966 period,” said Norman, commenting on why military media content did not merely talk about the military world.
Military-owned media is seen very clearly in sharpening its content focus to militarize social conditions. Many matters outside the military’s authority try to be raised and discussed in the military law academy as reflected in the Army’s Chakra Vijaya magazine.
Another example is Yudha Gama magazine from the Ministry of Defense. And the most popular to the old material is the Air Force’s Space magazine. “It was as if they were competing in a ‘battle field of discourse’ with the Harian Rakyat, as we all know there was a debate over the discourse between the military and the PKI (Communist Party) in the 60s,” said Norman.
