'Metro TV' offers hopes through videotape search service
Tony Hotland, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
Sitting two spans of the hand from a television monitor, Usman vigorously presses the rewind and fast forward buttons on a video player remote control, his eyes squinted, searching for familiar faces on video footage from the Metro TV news channel.
"I remember seeing my missing brother on Metro TV. So, I came here because I wanted to check to see whether it was really him or not," he told The Jakarta Post as he grabbed yet another videotape to play.
After two hours working on four tapes inside the Metro TV building lobby, Usman's weary face turned somber.
"I didn't see him on these tapes. I must have seen another person at that time, or maybe I just forgot the exact date when I saw him. Can I check more tapes?" he asks a Metro TV employee, tears welling up in his eyes.
Things are more encouraging, though, for Erlina who came from Bogor, West Java in a determined search for her missing nephews and nieces.
"I came to Metro last weekend and I identified one of my nieces on one of the tapes. Metro said they'd help check when and where the shot was taken, but I haven't heard back from them yet. At least there's a chance that she's still alive," she told the Post on Thursday.
Usman and Erlina are just two of some 700 people who have visited Metro TV ever since it opened a videotape search service on Jan. 1 for those seeking the whereabouts of their relatives who had gone missing after the Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunami in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam and North Sumatra provinces.
Seekers fill out a form and identify the broadcast dates, and if possible the time, of the pictures they wish to view. As of Thursday, Metro TV said that of the 700 visitors, 40 had managed to identify their missing relatives from the footage.
Metro TV then tries to locate when and where the pictures were taken, and coordinates with the many humanitarian and command posts that are spread across the ravaged provinces to help locate the identified persons.
With five TV monitors provided, the service runs every day from 9 a.m to 9 p.m until the end of the month. People wishing to use the service can phone 021-58300077.
There has yet to be a reported case in which seekers are reunited with their missing relatives. But to many of these people, needing to know whether their relatives are dead or alive seems to outweigh other concerns.
"It's the driving spirit of trying to locate their beloved families, including by searching old tapes, that drives them crazy," said a Metro TV producer who insisted on anonymity.
"There have also been some who have come here for four days in a row because they wanted to see as many tapes as possible. We could feel their desire to find their relatives on our tapes. When a few of them did find who they were looking for, their joy just burst out as they happily pointed at the person on the TV screen," she added.
Not all coming to Metro TV, however, are looking for their loved ones on the videos though. In fact most of them simply come to get assistance with their search.
"They bring photos of people they're searching for and we get them scanned. We'll publish them in the Media Indonesia daily or on its online system," said Media Indonesia's deputy chief editor Saur Hutabarat.
Both the daily and the TV station are subsidiaries of the Media Group.
Seekers also come from other parts of Indonesia such as Bandung, Semarang and even from Aceh itself, and are given dozens of phone numbers of humanitarian and command posts in the two provinces to seek information.
Another service provided by the TV station is through a program titled Jendela Kasih (Window of Love), where select seekers get to be on TV and share stories about their missing relatives.
With the show, Metro TV hopes the missing persons, or anyone who knows the people being looked for, can make an identification and call the station should they have any information.
An example is Ryan, 13, and Zaki, 15, who appeared on Wednesday's show and shared their yearning for their lost mother.
"We ran separate ways when the waves rolled in behind us and we haven't seen her since. We pray for her every day and we miss her so much," said Zaki, adding that they are now terrified of water.
With the calamity having claimed at least 110,000 lives and with at least 12,000 still missing, it is more than likely that Metro TV, and perhaps other TV stations, will continue to receive frequent visits from other Usmans, Erlinas, Ryans and Zakis.