'Metro TV' offers hopes through videotape search service

'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.