WSJ to add Indonesia news site

The Wall Street Journal announced Tuesday its plans to launch a dedicated Indonesia news site as well as a mobile news reader in Bahasa in a move to further expand its local and digital platforms in Asia.

The anticipated launch is the summer of this year.

“Indonesia’s transformation—economic and democratic—has become a model for the developing world,¨said Robert Thomson, editor-in-chief of Dow Jones and managing editor of The Journal, in a statement. ¨The country’s global role grows with each passing day, so the world must be better informed about Indonesia and Indonesia needs more news and analysis about influential international events. Our aim is to ensure that Indonesians are well briefed in their own language by the world’s best journalists. For all at The Wall Street Journal, our expansion in Indonesia is a source of profound pride and great responsibility.”

To begin building its digital presence in Indonesia, earlier this month WSJ.com launched “Indonesia Real Time,¨ an online site in Bahasa that features daily insight and sharp analysis on law, policy, economics and culture, in addition to select Bahasa translations of WSJ.com articles. Identical “Real Time” sites focus on China, Korea, Japan and India in English as well as in their respective local languages.

Online and mobile content for Indonesia will include coverage of business and finance, in addition to a selection of translated articles from The Journal’s global editions. The Bahasa mobile reader will be designed for the BlackBerry, which has more than 10 million users in Indonesia.

The Journal and Dow Jones Newswires have operated a combined news bureau in Jakarta, Indonesia since 1976.

A locally based editor, with primary responsibility for the Bahasa news site and working within the existing news bureau, will be named in due course.