Antara history

After Soemanang left Antara in 1938 to become the director of the Pergoeroean Rakjat network of schools, Sipahoetar was promoted to editor-in-chief, and Pandoe Kartawigoena became the agency's deputy editor-in-chief.

Sipahoetar was later elevated to managing editor, but left the agency in 1939 because of an illness.

When Japanese forces took control of the Indies in 1942, the empire's Dōmei Tsushin news agency established a branch office in Jakarta.

When Indonesia's independence was proclaimed on 17 August 1945, Adam Malik obtained a copy of the text and dictated it by telephone to his colleagues at the agency.

Sjahroedin, a former editor at Dōmei, opened one of these offices in British Singapore in February 1946.

After the Dutch relinquished all of their possessions in the Indies in 1962, the Indonesian government began mobilizing the mass media in its efforts to build a unified nation.

An abortive coup in 1965, blamed on the Communist Party of Indonesia and its allies, left Antara under command of the Indonesian National Armed Forces.

Suharto resigned his presidency in 1998, and licensing requirements for media organizations were lifted the following September as the number of authorized publications surged from 289 to over 2,000 in the span of 16 months.