Free Fery
Free Fery
A few days after the death of RCTI television journalist Ersa
Siregar, Aceh's martial law administrator and military commander
announced that anyone was welcome to be a facilitator for the
release of some 100 civilian hostages held by the Free Aceh
Movement (GAM).
Thank you very much, Maj. Gen. Endang Suwarya, this is a
welcome turnaround from the martial law administration's earlier
policy that no non-governmental party, even international
humanitarian organizations, could operate in Nanggroe Aceh
Darussalam. (The first good news in early December was that the
International Red Cross Committee, or the ICRC, officially
reopened its office in Banda Aceh.)
We can only wonder and regret, however, that it took the death
of a civilian who made headlines just because he was a journalist
-- and a fine one at that -- for the military to open the doors
to Aceh in welcoming any party wishing to assist in the hostages'
release.
Without doubt, the change in policy has mainly come about
because another media professional, Ersa's RCTI colleague
cameraman Fery Santoro, is still in the hands of GAM, and neither
of the disputing parties want another headline death on their
hands.
Not even the presence of a pregnant woman among the hostages
-- a wife of a military officer and who is expected to go into
labor soon -- has been able to move the hearts of either parties
to reach an agreement to secure the civilians' release.
Organizations such as the Indonesian Red Cross and the ICRC
have repeatedly said they were ready to help with the release of
hostages, yet GAM and the Indonesian Military (TNI) have both
been arguing for months on the conditions of release. The
impression is that they have been thinking selfishly about their
possible losses or gains in blatant disregard of the Geneva
Convention, which says that warring parties have the ultimate
responsibility to protect civilians caught in an armed conflict.
The TNI has woken up, it seems, following the death of Ersa,
who it said was a victim of a military bullet in a crossfire on
Dec. 29. Spokesman Maj. Gen. Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin has even said
that the TNI will now try harder to protect journalists. GAM has
also been desperate to convey its condolences and apologies, all
the while blaming the TNI for "killing" Ersa in cold blood.
RCTI, along with local and international journalist
associations, is demanding an independent investigation into
Ersa's death, while journalists across the country are also
demanding that Fery be released immediately and returned safely
to his family.
An investigation should uncover -- among other details -- how
civilians, including local bureaucrats, were kept as hostages for
so long -- Ersa's group alone had spent six months with GAM --
despite repeated statements from GAM and the TNI implying that
the ball was in the other's court regarding the release of
hostages. Meanwhile, the international and local Red Cross bodies
have said that their operative procedures dictate that they could
only render help in a conflict situation upon the request and
knowledge of both parties.
According to our files, neither Red Cross body has ever
received a request for their services from both GAM and the TNI
simultaneously -- even after reports that a hostage was pregnant,
that Ersa had coughed blood and that all hostages, including the
sick, were moved constantly from one place to another to avoid
the military, walking great distances each day over rough
terrain.
The joyful reunion of Ersa's driver Rachmatsyah with his
family early last month was only possible because he escaped from
GAM during a shoot-out with the TNI.
When the government blasted as "baseless" the report of an
international rights watchdog on the "secret war" in Aceh, it
merely reflected the sickening and irrelevant New Order-style
arrogance. In its dismissal of the Human Rights Watch report, the
government still failed to respond to the concerns of its
citizens -- that thousands of civilians were forced to remain
refugees in their own country and that others remained hostages
while their families waited in uncertainty.
After a long silence -- in part because of their anxiety and
their trust in promises from both GAM and the TNI for the release
of their loved ones -- the hostages' families are now beginning
to speak up.
Fery's wife, Maya, in an open letter written on the day of
Ersa's funeral to the leaders of both parties, asked, "Please
release my husband Fery Santoro and the other hostages. Let there
be no more victims. Stop all this fighting, it will only add to
the wounds and the sorrows of us all."