`RCTI' crew missing in Aceh
`RCTI' crew missing in Aceh
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Senior journalist Erza Siregar and cameraman Ferry Santoro, both
from private television station RCTI, went missing on June 29
while covering the war in Aceh, renewing concerns over the safety
of journalists in Aceh.
The two reporters were returning on Sunday afternoon from
covering a story in the East Aceh regency town of Langsa to their
hotel in Lhokseumawe in Aceh Besar regency. But they never
arrived.
"Yesterday (on Monday) we were still calm about this," said
Mariansyah, a senior RCTI journalist stationed in the provincial
capital Banda Aceh. "Not today, though, it has been three days
since our colleagues disappeared."
Also missing are Erza's driver, and two local guides who left
Lhokseumawe with the RCTI crew.
Their disappearance came just days after the martial law
administration in Aceh issued a declaration limiting the movement
of journalists covering the military operation.
It also marks the second disappearance of a reporter since the
military operation in Aceh began on May 19. The first involved
Banda Aceh-based TVRI cameraman Jamaluddin who was found dead
after he went missing for about a month. Unconfirmed reports
described him as a supporter of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM)
separatists.
Aceh martial law spokesman Lt. Col. Ditya Sudarsono said they
would help find the two, saying that Lhokseumawe Police had began
to search for them. According to him, rebels may have taken the
reporters hostage.
RCTI declined to comment on the reporters' disappearance. But
Ditya said the television company had sent a letter to the
martial law administration, asking for help to find their
reporters.
Erza is said to have good relationships with GAM leaders as
part of his job in covering both sides of the war.
Unlike the previous military operation in Aceh between 1989
and 1998, the Indonesian Military (TNI) has been inviting
journalists to cover the war in a copy of the embedded
journalists' program during the war in Iraq in March.
Reporters have been able to move freely in the province, and
join the military operation. However, the disappearance of the
RCTI reporters followed the military's new rulings to tighten
media coverage of the war. Right groups have also complained
about the strict access to the troubled province, and many
Acehnese activists have left fearing military intimidation.
Edwin Nazir, an RCTI reporter based in Lhokseumawe said that
Erza left Lhokseumawe at 8 a.m. on Sunday morning in a Kijang
minivan. Then, at 4 p.m., Erza called Edwin informing the latter
that his team was leaving Langsa and hoped to arrive in
Lhokseumawe at 8 p.m.
However, by 9 p.m. Erza and his team had not shown up, and
Edwin decided to call Erza, but his cell phone was out of the
service area.
There has been no further information about their whereabouts,
Edwin said. He predicted that the team went missing in Peureulak
area, a GAM stronghold.
Reporters from various media retraced Erza's route from
Langsa, asking locals and officers whether they had seen the RCTI
Kijang passing the route.
Based on their accounts, the RCTI crew must have disappeared
in the Peureulak district in East Aceh regency.
Meanwhile, the North Aceh regency office in Lhokseumawe and
the local military command office came under mortar fire on
Tuesday night. No one was injured in the attacks.
Bandar Sakti District Police chief Adj. Comr. Subianto said
the attack on the regency office shattered several window panes
on the third floor and had damaged parts of the office's roof.
It was the first mortar attack in Lhokseumawe.