Military limits media coverage in Aceh

Military limits media coverage in Aceh

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The martial law administration in Aceh has moved to tighten
control over media reporting on the current military operation in
the troubled province with defiant journalists facing the threat
of expulsion from the area.

In new regulations on press coverage issued on Friday,
authorities in Aceh banned the press from publishing the names of
places where government troops were positioned, military maps or
sketches, and the names of aircraft and ships used during
offensive operations.

The military also required field reporters to record all
interviews with soldiers in the field, including interviews with
Air Force pilots, and marines, and "journalists can only publish
or broadcast excerpts of the interviews after the missions in
question have been carried out."

Aceh Military Operation spokesman Lt. Col. A. Yani Basuki
stressed on Friday that the military authorities had the right to
expel journalists violating the regulations.

"The new regulations are aimed at saving the lives of soldiers
and journalists covering the war in Aceh. Should journalists
violate the regulations, they will be expelled from the
province," Yani told reporters in Lhokseumawe.

The new regulations come after a TVRI cameraman, Jamaluddin,
was found dead on Tuesday, almost one month after he went
missing.

Military authorities are also trying to persuade American
freelance journalist William Nessen to leave the Free Aceh
Movement (GAM) rebel group, ostensibly to avoid him being hit
during military operations.
Nessen, a 46-year-old New York City native, said he was in
Aceh to report on the latest military offensive to crush the Free
Aceh Movement. More than 200 people have died in the fighting
since the operation began on May 19.

Nessen said he was there to gather information for a book and
a documentary on Aceh. He added that he had not published stories
or photographs on the conflict for some time because he had lost
his laptop and other possessions.

The new guidelines also ban the press from disseminating
military codewords and require TV cameramen to turn off their
lighting equipment during night operations, unless the commander
of the military unit allows them to keep it on.

At the beginning of the operation, the military leadership
appealed to the press to take the national interest into account
when reporting on the military campaign in Aceh, where GAM rebels
have been fighting for independence for the resource-rich
province since 1976. Over 10,000 people, mostly civilians, have
been killed since then.

TNI headquarters recently said that it would change its
strategy so as to intensify night operations in Aceh in an
attempt, so the military says, to curb the number of civilian
casualties.

The military has been criticized for using sophisticated F-16
jet fighters to drop bombs and rockets on rebel positions.

Strong criticism also came from the British after the military
used British-made Hawks to drop subsonic bombs that exploded over
civilian-populated areas.

"The press is also prohibited from disclosing intelligence
information on the military's technical activities and tactics,
internal procedures, latest operations, and enemy propaganda,"
Yani said, referring to the Free Aceh Movement.

Despite severe restrictions, journalists may report rough
approximations of the military's strength and the identities of
the military units involved in individual operations "if this
does not jeopardize the operations."

"Journalists also are allowed to disclose the existence of
enemy camps that have been targeted by the military," Yani said,
as quoted by Antara. Protest -- Page 3