It’s now official. Forbes Indonesia was stillborn and it’s reincarned into Globe Asia instead.
The “soft launch” of the magazine was splashed in a full page advertisement in The Jakarta Post Today and it promises to reveal the 400 richest Indonesians. It’s all very good and a copy with a listing of the 400 richest will certainly have a readership. One wonders where James Riady, one of the backers of the magazine, will be ranked in this list.
But this is the formula for the stillborn “soft launch” of Forbes Indonesia. It would be interesting to see if the folks at Globe Asia have any other cdards up their sleeves once this issue is out of the way. (By the way what is a “soft launch” issue anyway – does the reader really give a damn whether your launch is soft or hard?”)
Whether Globe Asia succeeds remains to be seen but it has already attracted some snarky remarks from the journalist community.
One wag remarked that the new mag is peopled by the same tired old names. Would they be able to think out of the box, meet the interactive challenge and come up with an offering that is different? Or will it be the same-old, same-old formula of busines, politics presented in a format that is tried, true and tired.
Another wag tried to see what they were online and came away with this remark: “…my biggest disappointment was when I clicked http://www.GlobeAsia.com”
Hmmm…maybe they use that company to furnish their offices. So much for due diligence, differentiation etc.
Unspun 
I think we can all agree that Indonesia could use an injection of quality English-language publications, and a new entry with a focus on business could bring some much-needed value-added to the market. Let’s face it – the Jakarta Post is ailing, The Point is a mess and The President Post has, thankfully, disappeared from the scene. Let’s give Globe Asia some support and save the sniping for when we actually see how it stacks up content-wise. The rather unkind observations above would almost seem to suggest that Unspun might have his own English-language business monthly up his sleeve….oh, dear, I hope I haven’t rumbled you, old chap!
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