Eddy Hasby's photos epitomize East Timor
JAKARTA (JP): The images of pride, blood, tears, anger, war, hunger, joy, hopes and dreams are so real you can almost reach out and feel them in the black-and-white prints depicting the final days of Indonesia's presence in East Timor ahead of the referendum for East Timor's self-determination in August 1999.
Images of the UN and the Indonesian soldiers, and the locals, from the pro- and anti-integration figures to the innocents, are all captured during perhaps one of the most important times in their lives.
Dili bishop Mgr. Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, for example, is shown wiping of perspiration while addressing journalists about an interview he gave to the German news magazine Der Spiegel, an interview that enraged Jakarta.
A fine shot of the rivulets of blood streaming from the body of Bernadito Guterres, a student of Satya Wacana University in Salatiga (Central Java), has been acclaimed as one of the best photographs in the solo exhibition displaying the works of Kompas senior photographer Eddy Hasby, 35.
Other photos show the activities of people during the crucial make-or-break days for Timor Loro Sae. They include Kay Rala Xanana Gusmao, Manuel Guterres, Interfet troops, the pro- and anti-Jakarta militias, relatives cleaning the graves of their loved ones or those mourning the dead, the ruins of Dili following the brutal post referendum mayhem, people lining up for food, a call for calm and peace from Gusmao posted on a mosque, and a full moon over the Kristus Raja (Christ the King) monument at Fatucama Bay, Dili.
Sponsored by the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI), the exhibition, which runs from Aug. 10 to Aug. 18 and is titled The Long and Winding Road, East Timor, displays 61 images that Eddy captured during his assignment from August to October 1999, around the time of the referendum.
In tandem with the exhibition, the AJI has also issued a hardcover book bearing the sama title but containing 135 photographs, all of which have already been exhibited in three major Japanese cities, Tokyo, Kyoto and Fukui, between 2000 and 2001.
The book is also on sale for Rp 325,000 during the exhibition at Bentara Budaya on Jl. Palmerah Selatan, Central Jakarta. From Bentara, the photos and the books will go on display at the Antara photo gallery in Pasar Baru, Central Jakarta, from Aug. 22 to Aug. 31.
"To assemble the collection, I regularly traveled back and forth to Timor over the three-month period," Eddy revealed.
He said he recorded both the grim and not-so-grim images during and after the referendum with a strong determination to be impartial.
After all, the pictures snapped by Eddy reflect a human tragedy.
"Actually, the people of East Timor could have passed over the threshold of independence in peace. Unfortunately, this didn't happen. What happened was violence, murder, scorched earth and forced evacuations on a major scale," commented author Sindhunata.
"How bitter and painful it was that suffering seemed to be the price they had to pay if they wanted independence," he continued.
According to Didik Supriyanto of the AJI, the exhibition's sponsors, Eddy deserved the designation of "professional journalist" as he had chosen to stay in an unfriendly zone for many of his countrymen in order to continue his job in the midst of the upheaval.
"It was this loyalty to his profession which enabled him to record the crucial moments of East Timor's separation," Didik said.
From the time of the annexation on July 17, 1976 until the referendum, many East Timorese might have agreed with Eddy that they were heading nowhere on their long and winding road.
Now, East Timor has its own pride and freedom, and Indonesia is now its very close neighbor.
"Deep inside (my heart), I could not accept the possibility of East Timor breaking away from Indonesia -- and hoped we could be one family -- not neighbors," recalled Kompas reporter Rien Kuntari, who was with Eddy during his time in East Timor. (bsr)