He was the recipient of the Honoris causa Doctorate in Communications from Gadjah Mada University and the Mahaputra Utama Star award from President Suharto in 1973.

His journalistic career began when he became the editor of Penabur Weekly in 1956 and continued with the founding of Intisari magazine in 1963 with P. K. Ojong, who may have been inspired by America's Reader's Digest.

In addition, together with Jusuf Wanandi, Muhammad Chudori, Eric Samola, Fikri Jufri, Goenawan Mohamad, and Harmoko, Oetama also co-founded The Jakarta Post, Indonesia's national English daily newspaper.

[4] Oetama was born on 27 September 1931 in Magelang, Central Java, to a Javanese family of Catholic background, in Jowahan hamlet, Wanurejo village, 500 metres east of the Borobudur temple, Magelang Regency, Central Java, during the Dutch East Indies era.

Especially during the 1970s, when a number of news outlets were censored by the government, Kompas under Oetama approached journalism with caution and reported political issues with a moderating view, and hence largely escaped censorship.

[15] Together with Jusuf Wanandi, Muhammad Chudori, Eric Samola, Fikri Jufri, Goenawan Mohamad, H. G. Rorimpandey and Harmoko; Oetama also established The Jakarta Post, an English language Indonesian newspaper, in 1983.

[17] Kompas still maintained good relations with government-controlled media outlets and was willing to sanction their journalists or close certain publications instead of triggering conflict with the government or draw public ire – one example was the shutdown of the Monitor magazine and the expelling of Arswendo Atmowiloto, which was recommended by a committee chaired by Oetama directly.

[20] Oetama was major supporter of the arts, establishing Bentara Budaya under Kompas Gramedia in 1982 which had galleries in Jakarta, Yogyakarta and Bali.

[26] On 22 August 2020, Oetama was admitted to Mitra Keluarga Hospital in Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta, in a critical condition, suffering from multiple organ disorders.