Newspaper circulations and revenue are falling across the Western world, where predictions for the industry are dire.
But in Indonesia, Chinese-language papers are thriving.
It has been almost a decade since then-president Abdurrahman Wahid lifted Indonesia's ban on Chinese-language media and cultural expression.
The ban had been imposed in 1966, when a failed coup attempt was blamed on the Communist Party, allegedly backed by China. The bloody reprisals that followed paved the way for the rise of Suharto, who ruled over Indonesia with an iron fist until 1998. During his tenure, only bilingual newspaper Harian Indonesia was permitted - under strict licence and government scrutiny - to publish some of its news in Chinese.
The collapse of the Suharto regime opened the way for improved inter-ethnic relations, allowing Chinese-Indonesians to assert their dual identity. The growth of Chinese-language newspapers is part of this trend, says Sunardi Mulia, editor-in-chief of Indonesia Shang Bao, a business daily established in 2000, the year Wahid lifted the ban. 'The newspapers are important, [they] recognise our role and our belonging, in the national context,' he said.
Indonesia Shang Bao has a daily circulation of about 55,000, according to Sunardi.
He said the newspaper's key challenges were advertising revenue and attracting the young Chinese readers he refers to as the 'lost generation'.
