Evert Jansen

After finishing his studies in a Hogere Burgerschool in the Netherlands in the early 1910s, he was sent by the PTT (Staatsbedrijf der Posterijen, Telegrafie en Telefonie, the state-owned company for post, telegraphs and telephones) to study further in Cologne, Germany.[1] He studied there for a year and a half, after which he left Europe for the Dutch East Indies.[1]

His first newspaper job in the Indies was in October 1915, when he joined the Soerabajasch Nieuwsblad in Surabaya as an editor/reporter.[1] After two years at that paper, he moved to a similar position at a competing paper, the Nieuwe Soerabajasche Courant.[1] He then left Surabaya for Semarang, taking up a position at De Locomotief, where he remained as an editor until 1925.[1] In 1925 he left that paper for Bandung, where he joined the Indische Telegraaf as editor in chief.[1] When that paper, which was a subsidiary of Bataviaasch Nieuwsblad, was closed, he headed to work for the parent paper in Batavia.[1]

In early 1926 he was working as a correspondent for the Soerabaijasch Handelsblad in Yogyakarta when he was offered a position as acting editor-in-chief of a relatively new newspaper from Semarang called the Algemeen handelsblad voor Nederlandsch-Indië.[2] This appointment was made more permanent and full-time in January of the following year.[3]

During his time in Semarang, Jansen became involved in an Indo advocacy organization called the Indo Europeesch Verbond (IEV), and was appointed to their board in 1928.[4] In early 1929, when the previous IEV representative on the city council died, he stepped forward as the organization's new representative.[5] However, since he left Semarang before the end of the year, he was not in the position for long.[6]

In July 1929, he was charged with a Persdelict (press offense)--he was held responsible, as editor, for printing an article that insulted the good name of Mr. Minderman, the fired head of a local school, who was accused of forgery and misappropriation of school funds.[7] He was found guilty and given a punishment of 150 guilders or 14 days imprisonment.[8]

In late 1929 Jansen stepped down as editor of the Algemeen Handelsblad and left Semarang to become editor of at least two Dutch-language newspapers in East Java, De Malanger in Malang[9] and De Indische Courant in Surabaya.[10]