Soemanang Soerjowinoto

Soemanang Soerjowinoto (EYD: Sumanang Suryowinoto; 1 May 1908 – 13 June 1988) was an Indonesian journalist, politician, and banker.

Born in Yogyakarta, Soemanang entered journalism after working in law for some time, founding his first newspaper in 1937. He was one of the co-founders of the Antara news agency and he was a chief editor of the Pemandangan newspaper during the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies. After Indonesia's independence, he founded the Nasional newspaper, became the first chairman of the Indonesian Journalists Association, and joined the Central Indonesian National Committee, becoming a senator in the United States of Indonesia and later Minister of Economic Affairs under Wilopo's prime ministership. Following this political career, Soemanang served as a director in two banks before becoming an executive director at the International Monetary Fund.

Early life and education Soemanang was born in Yogyakarta, then part of the Dutch East Indies, on 1 May 1908. He was a descendant of the Pakualaman noble family, and his father was a mid-ranking official in the Yogyakarta Sultanate. He later proposed the founding of a national news agency. Alongside other young politically active journalists such as Sanusi Pane and Adam Malik, they founded the Antara news agency He continued to work in journalism, becoming the chief editor of the Pemandangan newspaper in 1940.

Japanese occupation During the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies, Soemanang worked in the Japanese-founded Asia Raya newspaper and later headed the press department of the labor organization . Another incident close to the end of the war saw Soemanang arrested for another image of Hirohito stained by red ink from the flag and resulted in the Japanese authorities forcing Pemandangan to be published as Pembangoenan. He further founded the daily newspaper Nasional (today Bernas) in Yogyakarta in November 1946, in addition to the magazines Wanita Indonesia and Revue Indonesia, and the Javanese-language pamphlet Biwara. In 1979, he returned to the journalistic world, when he founded the short-lived magazines Sari Pers and Zaman in cooperation with the Tempo group.

He died in Jakarta on 13 June 1988. His grave is located in Yogyakarta.