Pewarta Deli

[1][2] During its run the paper became a strident anti-colonial voice, sympathetic to the Sarekat Islam and Indonesian nationalism and critical of the cruelty of big business in Medan's tobacco and plantation industries.

[1] Pewarta Deli was owned by Sjarikat Tapanoeli, a company Endar Moeda had recently cofounded in Medan with some Batak businessmen and Peranakan Chinese investors.

Tengkoe Fachroeddin, a Muslim modernist and Sarekat Islam activist, also joined as an editor, and soon used his platform to criticize all the injustices he saw in the city: discrimination in official posts, unethical procurement of sex workers, the cruel excesses of the native elite, and abuses taking place on plantations in North Sumatra.

[2][14] His hiring by the newspaper was considered an impressive feat, as he was a highly educated and active man who had served in government, was a relative of Mohammad Yamin, and among other achievements had published a Malay language dictionary and a bestselling memoir Melawat ke Barat (Journey to the West).

[15][14][16] However, during his time as editor Adinegoro regularly had problems with Dutch authorities, being arrested or investigated repeatedly for things he printed in the paper, as well as being accused of being a Communist or an agent of the Soviet Union.

[17][18] In 1936 Abdullah Loebis, longtime director of Sjarikat Tapanoeli and of Pewarta Deli fell into a disagreement with the organization and was removed and replaced with Haji Mohamad Kasim.