Maria takes the route others ignore<\/p>\n
T. Sima Gunawan, Contributor, Jakarta<\/p>\n
tabita@cbn.net.id<\/p>\n
Social injustice has long prevailed in Indonesia. And this is one
\nof the main concerns of Maria Margaretha Hartiningsih, the winner
\nof this year's Yap Thiam Hien human rights award.<\/p>\n
Maria, a senior journalist with the Kompas daily for almost 20
\nyears, won the award because of her consistency in struggling
\nagainst injustice through her writings.<\/p>\n
The prize, named after a human rights lawyer, was first
\nawarded in 1992 in an effort to improve human rights in
\nIndonesia.<\/p>\n
Maria said she was surprised when she learned about her
\nnomination for the award and automatically objected as she never
\nconsidered herself a human rights defender. But her colleagues
\nassured her that she deserved the award, and that she could also
\nserve as an inspiration to other journalists.<\/p>\n
"I was only doing my job and I chose to focus on injustice,"
\nsaid Maria modestly.<\/p>\n
When she covered tourism, for example, instead of highlighting
\nthe glamour of the tourism industry, she dug out problems that
\nmany overlook, such as women trafficking. In covering the housing
\nsector, Maria wrote more about the need for affordable homes for
\nthe poor than the luxury housing market.<\/p>\n
She is grateful to her colleagues and superiors at the daily,
\nwho gave her room to develop her interests and always encouraged
\nher to move forward.<\/p>\n
To make a difference, Maria has had to work really hard. She
\nis never satisfied with the information provided by official
\nsources and always checks the facts in the field to avoid
\n"talking news."<\/p>\n
Surprisingly, Maria said that becoming a journalist was
\nactually not something she had wanted to do in the first place.<\/p>\n
"I've liked writing since I was a child, but I didn't have any
\ndesire to become a journalist," she said.<\/p>\n
Born in Semarang, Central Java, in 1954, Maria led a hard life
\nwith her mother, a poor vendor, after her father abandoned the
\nfamily when Maria was only a year and a half old. Due to
\nfinancial problems, her mother sent Maria to live with an uncle
\nin Bogor, West Java.<\/p>\n
She later returned to Semarang, but after she finished junior
\nhigh school, she went to Bogor again as her mother could not
\nafford to send her to senior school. Her uncle then sent her to a
\nchemistry high school.<\/p>\n
To nurture her love of writing, she enrolled at the then
\nInstitute of Publicity (now called the Institute of Social and
\nPolitical Studies (ISIP)) in Lenteng Agung, South Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Two years after she was had joined Kompas she got an offer to
\nwork at Hilversum radio in the Netherlands, but she turned it
\ndown despite the attractive salary and benefits. "I believed my
\nplace was here at Kompas," she said.<\/p>\n
She deals a lot with issues such as housing, tourism, the
\nenvironment and gender. In her reports, she emphasizes the human
\nside, criticizing injustice in order to improve the lives of
\nthose who are poor and marginalized.<\/p>\n
During Soeharto's regime, press freedom was absent. But now
\nthat the door is somewhat more open, another problem has emerged.
\n"It's about ethics," Maria said, adding that the press should
\nuphold ethics in order to avoid abusing its new-found freedoms.<\/p>\n
There are two other problems facing the press today: some
\nmedia outlets are used as political tools, and there are people
\nwho resort to physical force against media outlets they accuse of
\nlibel, according to Maria.<\/p>\n
"If the press gets it wrong, they should apologize, and the
\nother party should use the right to respond to the article in
\nquestion instead of resorting to violence," she said.<\/p>\n
Maria was a visiting scholar at the Jackson School of
\nInternational Studies, University of Washington in Seattle, in
\n1997 and 1998. Last June, she finished her graduate program in
\nwomen's studies at the University of Indonesia.<\/p>\n
As an avid reader, Maria has a collection of more than 2,000
\nfiction and non-fiction books.<\/p>\n
Her favorite authors include Jumpa Lahiri, an Indian woman who
\nlives in North America and Xin Ran from China. Her favorite local
\nauthors include Ayu Utami, NH Dini and Umar Kayam.<\/p>\n
Traveling is another thing she likes to do. But it's not
\ntraveling abroad to see beautiful panoramas or go shopping.<\/p>\n
"I like visiting villages and observing the rural life of the
\npeople," she said.<\/p>\n
Maria remains single and lives with one of her cousins, his
\nwife and their two children, in Joglo, West Jakarta.<\/p>\n
"Being single is a choice. I am comfortable with myself and I
\ndon't care about what people say," she said.<\/p>\n
The only thing that bothered her was her mother's expectation
\nthat she would get married.<\/p>\n
"If the idea that I was married would make her happy, then I
\nwould be really sorry I did not make her happy. I loved her very
\nmuch," said Maria, whose mother died last year when she was on
\nher way home from covering the World Summit on Sustainable
\nDevelopment in Johannesburg.<\/p>\n
Maria lives her life, going with the flow. Believing in
\nkharma, she is always trying to do her best.<\/p>\n
"You harvest what you sow," she said, describing her
\nphilosophy in life.<\/p>\n
"I have chosen to widen and to improve my knowledge to support
\nthe ideal of a better life, an order where people respect each
\nother, where nature and all living creatures alike are also
\nrespected; where people really understand about the essence of
\nhumanity and life."<\/p>",
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