East Timor another test of press freedom

East Timor another test of press freedom

By Dwi Atmanta

DILI, East Timor (JP): Indonesia's press has been breathing
fresh air for the past year, but violence and terror targeting
journalists covering the Aug. 30 landmark vote on this province's
future highlights the lack of protection for media workers.

Violence against journalists took its toll with the shooting
of Kompas daily correspondent Kornelius Kewa Ama Khayam and
Reuters photographer Bea Wiharta during a clash between
supporters of independence and autonomy here on Thursday.

The Association of Independent Journalists (AJI) also reported
on Friday at least 10 cases of intimidation, and scores of
incidents of harassment and attacks on both local and foreign
journalists by prointegration or proindependence groups here over
the past month.

"Every journalist is prone to violence, and not only in
Indonesia, particularly where chaos prevails. But what makes us
different from our counterparts in democratic countries is that
our repeated demands for protection from security authorities go
unheeded," AJI's head of advocacy affairs Ezki Suyanto said.

Ezki, who works for the Voice of Human Rights radio station,
was one of the journalists threatened by armed militiamen during
Thursday's commotion. A TVRI state television cameraman was
chased by a sword-waving man. All this happened before the eyes
of policemen.

"The fall of Soeharto's New Order regime has changed nothing
for the Indonesian press except for its greater opportunity to
express its freedom," Ezki said.

The new face of the press here has allowed the uncovering of,
among other things, the banking scandal linked to the
presidential race and the government's half-hearted investigation
into former president Soeharto's alleged corruption and power
abuses. Even the press feels free to criticize, if not ridicule,
the incumbent president -- number one taboo under the New Order.

Ezki said the latest violence against journalists proved the
lack of appreciation for the journalistic profession.

"It does not necessarily have anything to do with the
education level, because (the violence) has been taking place
everywhere since a long time ago," she said.

Bea raised the same concern about the lack of protection, but
he vowed to stick to the profession he has nurtured for six
years.

"Of course I don't want to risk my life, but being a
journalist gives me some pride. I have no regrets for what has
happened to me," he said.

A stray bullet passed through his thigh when he was escaping
the commotion.

"I thought I was already safe and quite far away from the
place where the clash broke out. I didn't even know that I was
shot as I kept running, before some residents told me of the
bleeding," he recalled.

He does not know who shot him, but believes it was a bullet
from a modern weapon. "A home-made weapon cannot hit that long-
range a target," he surmised.

He rested at a nearby nunnery, where he saw six other people
wounded from gunshots. All victims were admitted to the Motael
polyclinic.

"My wife was crying when I told her. My four-year-old son also
asked me if I was shot, but the way it raised his curiosity
consoled me," he said.

He said he should not have been shot if he did not violate his
own "standard procedure" he has applied for years. "I used to
leave a troubled spot as soon as I got a good picture. But I was
too greedy that time," he said.

Precautions were taken by Kornelius, although they could not
spare him from a bullet that grazed his leg. But his bullet-proof
vest saved him as five bullets struck his body. He also suffered
from beatings, albeit not serious.

He left the town early on Friday for Kupang in East Nusa
Tenggara along with his wife.

"He needs to recover from the trauma. I don't know for how
long," his colleague, Rien Kuntari, said.

Ezki said Indonesian journalists did not have standardized
self-protection procedures. "But experience tells us that it's
better for journalists covering a clash to always stick together
and stay behind security personnel," she said.

Thursday's clash augurs widespread violence in the post-ballot
period, according to Ezki, who also coordinates the Safety Office
for Media in East Timor (SOMET), a mission jointly organized by
AJI and the Brussels-based International Federation of
Journalists (IFJ).

The mission, the first ever to operate in the country,
provides media workers with facilities and accommodation during
an emergency, including evacuation arrangements when a widespread
conflict breaks out.

In Jakarta, Minister of Information Muhammad Yunus expressed
anger at the incident involving journalists.

"I demand a probe into the case. Do not let it be," he said
during a meeting with legislators on the draft law on the press.

The minister was an Army captain in Balibo regency when five
foreign journalists were killed there in 1975.

"With the presence of reporters, all parties in East Timor
should be thankful, instead of abusing them," he said.

He added such violence could have occurred because of
"people's disappointment with unbalanced reporting in favor of
anti-integration groups".