Acehnese trace missing relatives via 'Suara Muhammadiyah' radio
Acehnese trace missing relatives via 'Suara Muhammadiyah' radio
Ruslan Sangadji, Band Aceh
"You are listening to Radio Komunitas Suara Muhammadiyah 107,6
FM. We are presenting an update on missing persons ..."
From a 12-square-meter room on the second floor of a building
at Muhammadiyah University here, radio newscaster Rahmadi M. Sani
read out on Tuesday a list of missing persons, compiled from
reports filed by members of the public.
With the operation of this Radio Komunitas Suara Muhammadiyah
(Voice of Muhammadiyah Community Radio) since Friday, Acehnese
people have a new medium to trace missing relatives.
Ahmad Husaini, 37, a resident of Lueng Bata, Banda Aceh, said
he found Suara Muhammadiyah by chance. "When I turned my radio
on, I could find no station except Radio Suara Muhammadiyah."
"Now I often listen to it. My favorite program is an Islamic
program," he said.
But not all Acehnese know about the radio station, such as
Muhammad Syarif, 24. "I rarely listen to the radio. It's good if
the station is on air," he said.
Suara Muhammadiyah is one of the radio stations people can now
turn to since the tsunami disaster on Dec. 26.
Before the tsunami, there were 16 radio stations in Banda
Aceh, including Radio Nikoya 106 FM, Radio Flamboyan 105.2 FM and
Radio Baiturrahman 98.8 FM, but many of them were affected by the
disaster.
Radio Suara Muhammadiyah went on air after receiving equipment
from Jakarta-based Kantor Berita Radio 68H, which provides radio
wire news services.
The equipment provided includes one mixer, one computer, one
transmitter, one satellite dish and one generator, as well as 40
radios.
"We distributed all 40 radios to various refugee camps in
Banda Aceh and surrounding areas," said Rahmadi.
According to Radio 68H director Santoso, his radio station
provides technical assistance and equipment for Suara
Muhammadiyah, Muhammadiyah -- the country's second largest Muslim
organization -- supplies the manpower and the Asia Foundation
supplies the funding.
Rahmadi said his station focused on humanitarian programs. It
has only five programs per day -- news, information on missing
persons, health information, counseling and religious programs.
The missing persons program has attracted the most attention.
Every day, Rahmadi said, about 10 people go to the studio to
request that the names of their missing relatives be announced.
The radio has two time slots for missing persons: at 9 a.m.
and 7 p.m. No money exchanges hands for announcements.
"We currently only have public service ads and they are all
free. We don't have any commercial ads," Rahmadi said.