Media magnate reaches out to tsunami victims

Media magnate reaches out to tsunami victims

JP/20/Surya

Media magnate reaches out to tsunami victims

M. Taufiqurrahman
The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Despite the severity of the monstrous tsunami that washed away
large parts of Aceh and North Sumatra, it was business as usual
for most private television stations here.

Dangdut shows (popular music blending Indian and Arabic
elements) with seductive dance moves, talent scouting programs,
ghost-busting and cheesy soap operas still ruled the airwaves,
while information on the ever-increasing death toll and the
plight that befell survivors were aired only during occasional
news programs.

Only one TV station gave the calamity the coverage it
deserved, commensurate with the scale of destruction it had
inflicted.

A few hours after an undersea earthquake and giant killer
waves struck northern parts of Sumatra, until the deployment of
massive relief efforts and the initial reconstruction program in
tsunami-hit areas Metro TV, the country's first news channel,
reported the developments around the clock.

And aware of the fact that in a society where reading is not
the primary means of obtaining information, Metro TV saw the
opportunity to use the media effectively to pool resources for
the tsunami victims.

One of the most visible activities carried out by Metro TV to
help tsunami victims is its attempt to help families trace
individuals who have been reported missing by showing them
footage taken from its news program.

Another has been the collection of donations from its viewers
through Dompet Kemanusiaan Indonesia Menangis (Indonesia cries
humanitarian relief). As of Sunday, it had collected more than Rp
125 billion in its three bank accounts.

To give the program a boost, it has been expanded to include
Media Indonesia daily.

The man at the helm of the two media enterprises, Surya Darma
Paloh, said of the humanitarian efforts that they were nothing
compared to the plight that befell the Acehnese.

"They are in desperate need of our help and we need to do
something quickly," Surya told The Jakarta Post in a recent
interview.

Surya moved quickly in reaching out to tsunami victims.

Four hours after the tsunami struck, he was in the capital
city of North Sumatra, Medan, overseeing the distribution of
immediate aid for victims in Aceh and Nias, an island off the
province's west coast which lay close to the 26 Dec. quake
epicenter.

Since Surya's arrival in Medan, humanitarian work carried out
under his company's flag has developed into a fully-fledged aid
program.

Now, a relief program under his Media Group commands 400 aid
workers recruited from employees in his companies, including
doctors and construction workers.

"I have told them to work very hard in the relief program and
to see it as an opportunity to cleanse themselves of past sins,"
he said.

Surya added that they were in it for the long haul, through to
the reconstruction stage. "We have earmarked 90 percent of the
public donations for providing the future education of children
whose parents perished in the disaster," he said.

It would be easy to view Surya's involvement in aid efforts,
as solely related to his ethnicity as he was born and partly
raised in Banda Aceh.

"The fact that I was born in Aceh may have slightly
contributed to the effort, but the disaster is so severe and this
is a humanitarian problem," he said.

Surya added that his affinity to the province was not as
strong as people thought as he and his family left Aceh before
his teen years.

His father, Muhammad Daud Paloh, took Surya with him to
Seberlawan, a small town in North Sumatra, when he was promoted
to local police chief.

It is from this small town Surya launched his business
ventures, which also served as a springboard for his future
political career.

He started off his business in 1965 by selling commodities
such as salted fish, tea, tobacco and cooking oil to plantation
workers, while committing himself to the anticommunist drive as a
local leader of Indonesian Youth and Student United Action Front
(KAPPI). At the same time he also chaired an organization for
children of members of the Indonesian Armed Forces (PP-ABRI).

More than three decades later, Surya's business and political
endeavors reached their peak. He now heads dozens of companies
ranging from catering services, hotels and property to computer
technology, with assets worth over Rp 1 trillion, employing more
than 15,000 people.

His years of political experience were recognized in December
last year, when he was elected chairman of the Golkar Party's
advisory board after a bitter contest. In this capacity, Surya is
entrusted to advise new Golkar chairman Vice President Jusuf
Kalla on strategic issues.

Due to his position in Golkar, it is also easy to suspect that
Surya has an ulterior motive behind the relief efforts.

"People must think that I harbor narrow and subjective
interests. But the simple truth is that the Acehnese are our
fellow countrymen who are now suffering and in desperate need of
our help," he said.