You could have fear, but you could not surrender. Worse, in a way, was the self-censorship. Mentally, you accept the limitations put by the regime and you feel guilty if you trespass the limits. That's the worst thing that can happen to a reporter. Reporters learnt to bury the news, while still getting key information to readers who knew how to read between the lines.
Ironies abound in the media's path to liberation.
Official controls had begun to fray in Suharto's latter years. Some believe Suharto was panicked into quitting in May 1998 after watching broadcasts of student demonstrations, carried on a television station owned by his own children. His successor, Habibie, a central player in the 1994 banning of Tempo, lifted press controls, a task he entrusted to his Information Minister, Yunus Yosfia, the former general accused of an active role in the murder of Australian journalists in East Timor in 1975. Now, even licences are not required. Papers are born and die, new tabloids serve up a spicy menu of scandal, sex and crime.