Aceh tsunami boy prepares for film debut
Aceh tsunami boy prepares for film debut
Tomi Soetjipto, Reuters/Banda Aceh
Martunis, found wandering delirious on a beach in ruined Aceh province three weeks after last December's tsunami, made headlines around the world with his miraculous story of survival.
Now eight-year-old Martunis, who was rescued wearing the red and green jersey of the Portuguese national soccer team, may be poised to make his film debut.
"Yes, in a movie about a football player!" Martunis said when asked if he wanted to act in a film that his father, Sarbini, said may be made by a local TV production house.
Martunis was found by a British TV crew in Alun Naga, a village the tsunami erased just southwest of the provincial capital of Banda Aceh.
He had apparently kept himself alive for 19 days by eating berries and dried noodles and drinking puddled water.
Moved by his story, the Portuguese Soccer Federation flew Martunis to Lisbon as guest of honor at a June World Cup qualifier with Slovakia, where he walked onto the pitch with his heroes. He was given a cheque for 40,000 euros (US$47,312).
As the anniversary of the disaster that killed his mother, younger sister and older brother approaches, Martunis seems to lead an ordinary life. But he may soon be back in the spotlight.
Sarbini, a fisherman, said he had signed a one-year contract last July with Multivision, a film company in Jakarta, but he had not pressured his son to enter show business. Martunis had willingly agreed, he said.
A spokesman for Multivision, which produces TV soaps, confirmed it had a contract with Martunis, but declined to give details.
The company will give Martunis time to sharpen his Indonesian language skills before he can start his acting career, Sarbini said.
"He will have to go to Jakarta. I will come with him. My child can't live without me. Even now, he still sleeps with me."
Martunis's shyness makes it hard to see whether he has any hidden acting talent as he practices his Indonesian language skills in front of his proud, chain-smoking father.
But his face lights up when asked about his greatest passion -- soccer -- and his favorite players.
"Ronaldo, Rui, Beckham," he says, rattling off the names of Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo, Portuguese legend Rui Costa and David Beckham of Real Madrid.
On the wall in Martunis's bedroom in their home in Banda Aceh are two framed soccer T-shirts signed by famous footballers, including Costa and another Portuguese legend, Luis Figo.
Financially, Martunis and his father appear to be faring better than most tsunami survivors in Aceh, where tens of thousands are still living in tents or wooden barracks.
His father said he now owns a plot of land and a prawn pond, but he gave few details about the money Martunis has received.
Martunis was brought to the Save the Children office by a Sky News TV crew and sent to a local hospital before being reunited with his grandparents the same day.
Sarbini said Martunis had stopped asking about his mother and siblings and he could not remember the last time his son talked about the disaster.
Martunis is good, "inside and outside", he said.