RCTI driver held by GAM reunited with family

RCTI driver held by GAM reunited with family

Teuku Agam Muzakkir
and Nani Farida
The Jakarta Post
Lhokseumawe/Banda Aceh

After about six months held by the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), a
driver of the RCTI television crew was rescued by marine troops
in an ambush in East Aceh on Wednesday.

Following exchange of gunfire in Simpang Ulin, Rahmatsyah, 20,
the driver of Ersa Siregar and Ferry Santoro who are still being
held hostage, was whisked away to the Aceh Military Operation
command headquarters in Lhokseumawe, North Aceh.

Wearing tattered, Rahmatsyah looked gaunt and tired, but
generally in good health.

"I miss my father and mother ... I miss my brothers and
sisters," said Rahmatsyah, the sixth of seven siblings.

"GAM members treated me well ... But I'm so tired because they
constantly moved us from one place to another. I sometimes had to
sleep in tents in remote forests," Rahmatsyah told journalists
Thursday at the headquarters.

A tearful reunion followed when his parents, who were picked
up by a military helicopter, arrived from their village in
Samalanga subdistrict, Bireuen regency.

On Wednesday marines ambushed an area believed to be GAM's
camp in Pantee Bayam, Simpang Ulim which is under the supervision
a GAM leader, Ishak Daud. In the crossfire Rahmatsyah and nine
GAM members crawled for shelter. As the nine fled, Rahmatsyah
remained crouching, shouting to the troops: "My name is Rahmat.
I'm Pak Ersa's driver, I'm the driver of the RCTI journalists."

Journalist Ersa and cameraman Ferry and several other
Acehnese, including the wives of two TNI officers -- Cut Farida
and her sister Cut Soraya -- have been held hostage since June
29. The fighters intercepted them in Peureulak in East Aceh on
their way back from a refugee camp in Langsa, to Lhokseumawe in
North Aceh.

The rebels had said they suspected the women of espionage, but
after interrogating them, declared them clear of the allegation.

"The last time I met Pak Ersa and Pak Ferry was about three
months ago. They looked healthy," Rahmatsyah said, adding that
GAM rebels placed groups of hostages in different locations.

Aceh Military Commander Brig. Gen. George Toisutta apologized
to the public for not yet rescuing the journalists as well as
other civilian hostages.

Also on Thursday, the International Federation of Journalists
(IFJ) demanded that the Indonesian government remove obstacles to
allow the release of Ersa and Ferry.

"The government's delay in facilitating these journalists'
release is inexcusable and inexplicable," IFJ President
Christopher Warren said in a letter to the President.

The IFJ demanded that the government order the TNI "to allow
the IFJ and the International Red Cross free movement in Aceh so
that they may safely receive the two journalists from the GAM."

The Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) also delivered a
letter on Thursday to President Megawati Soekarnoputri concerning
the release of Ersa and Ferry, referring to the Geneva Convention
which cites that civilians caught in armed conflict must be
protected by both sides in a war zone.

Separately, Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda
criticized a scathing report on Aceh by the international
organization, Human Rights Watch. The report issued on Wednesday
was baseless among others, he claimed, because its sources
included 85 Acehnese refugees interviewed in Malaysia.

Hassan also dismissed the report's view that the operations in
Aceh were secret. "There's nothing secret about it," he said,
referring to the government's announcement of the beginning of
the "integrated operations" on May 19 which were said to include
a humanitarian operation in conjunction with the military
offensive under martial law. HRW had said violations of human
rights have been rampant since the operations began.