Killing of Dutch journalist condemned
Killing of Dutch journalist condemned
JAKARTA (JP): The International Federation of Journalists
(IFJ) and the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) condemned
on Wednesday the killing of Jakarta-based writer for London's
Financial Times Sander Thoenes in East Timor.
They also demanded that the United Nations, the International
Force for East Timor (Interfet) and Indonesia provide greater
protection for journalists reporting from the troubled territory.
"The international community must provide journalists with
some basic security cover," Reuters quoted IFJ secretary-general
Aidan White as saying in Brussels.
AJI secretary-general Dadang RHs urged Indonesian Military
Commander Gen. Wiranto to investigate the killing of the Dutch
journalist, and bring to court the people responsible for his
tragic demise.
Financial Times editor Richard Lambert said in London that 30-
year-old Thoenes was devoted to obtaining the truth, saying: "We
are all devastated by this tragedy and extend our deepest
sympathies to his partner and family."
Thoenes was killed less than two hours after he arrived in
Dili and hired motorcycle driver Florindo Araujo to take him
around Dili.
Araujo said he took Thoenes to Dili's Becora suburb, a militia
stronghold. The two approached a roadblock manned by at least six
armed men in Indonesian police uniforms.
Rather than stop, they turned around. And some of the alleged
militias chased them with their cars. The men inside the car
fired warning shots, Araujo added.
When the motorcycle did not stop, the men fired at the rear
wheel, sending it crashing to the ground, Araujo said. He said it
looked like the men were preparing to shoot again so he fled. He
last saw Thoenes laying prone in the street.
The body was found on Wednesday with multiple wounds and an
ear missing.
Multinational force commander Maj. Gen. Peter Cosgrove said
suggestions that the Indonesian Military may have been involved
in the murder, and attacks on another pair of journalists, would
be investigated.
Wiranto pledged to investigate Thoenes' death. However, he
reminded that the multinational force had gradually taken over
TNI's role in East Timor.
Before arriving in Jakarta in 1997, Thoenes was based in
Kazakhstan. In Indonesia, he also reported for U.S newspaper The
Christian Science Monitor and Dutch publication Vrij Nederlands
Sabam Siagian, former chief editor of The Jakarta Post, who
first met Thoenes in 1997, said he remembered Thoenes as being
persistent in ferreting out items of information.
His grasp of the complex economic and financial problems that
have hit Indonesia since the 1997 monetary crisis began was
indeed impressive, said Sabam.
"I referred many times to Sander Thoenes when talking to young
Indonesian reporters, how one should always be persistent but
polite in their perennial hunt for information," said Sabam.
(05/prb)