Surabaya crime reporter wins top photography honor

Surabaya crime reporter wins top photography honor

By K. Basrie

JAKARTA (JP): Before his picture won first prize for spot news
in the 39th World Press Photo contest, Sholihuddin was just
another reporter in the East Java capital of Surabaya. Nor did
his colleagues in Jakarta know anything about the crime reporter
from the Surabaya-based Jawa Pos daily.

But now Sholihuddin has a special place among Indonesia's
reporters and photo journalists.

His photography hobby led him to become the first Indonesian
citizen ever to win first prize in an international press
photography competition.

His photograph of a military truck tipping over and the
frightened faces of over 100 youths and a military-uniformed
driver won over the nine-member international jury, which gave
Sholihuddin top honors in the spot news category.

"To be frank, I never thought that I could win any of the
prizes because for many years, the prize-winning entries were all
war shots," Sholihuddin told The Jakarta Post last Wednesday at
the Erasmus Huis, where his picture along with the other prize
winners will hang until March 6.

Sholihuddin, who is more commonly called Sho, not only
pocketed 2,500 guilders (US$1,460) and a return ticket to
Amsterdam, but the 31-year-old reporter also "disgraced" the
country's corp of photo journalists.

In his opening speech at the exhibition, information minister
Harmoko said: "I'm very proud that an Indonesian won first place
but what amazes me is that the winner was not a photo journalist
but a crime reporter."

The crowd of photo journalists only responded with innocent-
looking smiles.

"Only a few people on this earth could capture such a lucky
moment like Sholihuddin," commented Agus Butar-Butar, a press
photographer .

But according to Sho, it was not a lucky moment.

Right place

When he was assigned on May 17, 1995, to cover the activities
of the supporters of Surabaya's football club Persebaya, which
was playing against Semarang's PSIS, Sho got a tip that the local
military had prepared 10 trucks to transport the supporters in
order to avoid any incidents.

"I decided to find a proper place to capture this rare event
of a military truck carrying football supporters," said Sho, who
never leaves home without his gear.

Worried that the young supporters would grab his camera, Sho
stood up in front of the Tangkubeng police station, which is
about half a kilometer away from the Tambak Sari stadium in
Surabaya, and waited for the trucks to pass by.

A few other reporters and photo journalists were nearby but
still several meters away from his position.

It was around 6:15 p.m. when the first truck passed by. He
took one shot. The second truck was more interesting because
there were people aboard.

"From far away, I could see that the second military truck was
overloaded. The supporters might have been thinking that only two
vehicles were available and unaware that eight other vehicles
were on their way to pick them up," Sho recalled.

He sensed that something was about to happen to the second
truck full of passengers in the back, who kept shouting and
waving flags and banners to celebrate their team's victory. Sho
said he was ready and waiting to take a shot with his manual
Vivitar SLR camera, a 28-210 mm zoom lens and a National flash.

When the truck started to move, Sho was in a ready-to-shoot
position. A few steps in front of him, the truck carrying over
100 youths began tilting to the right side and turned over under
its heavy load.

"I was only able to get one shot of the incident because some
of the supporters thrown out from the truck collided with me,"
Sho said.

Before heading back to his office, Sho snapped a few more
shots as policemen and passers-by came to the scene.

He then rushed to his office, developed the film and wrote
about the incident. Sho was also happy with his shot and decided
to offer it to his boss for page one. The next day, the picture
appeared on the front page along with his story.

"Most of the passengers escaped unharmed, but 12 were
hospitalized with minor injuries," he said in the May 18 edition
of the Jawa Pos.

But he was unhappy with the size of the photo published, until
the AFP news agency in Jakarta called him for a copy. In return,
the agency mailed him $50 to cover postal service charges.

The following day, he saw his picture, in large format, in
foreign newspapers around the world.

It might have ended there if one of his colleagues at the
daily, a sports reporter, had not pushed him to submit his photo
in the 1995 World Press Photo contest.

"Doubting that I would even win last prize, I sent the photo.
Only one photo and it was my first entry ever in a photo
contest," he said.

"Alhamdulillah (Praise be to God), my photo won a prize," Sho
said about the photo, which he called a "pre-wedding" gift.

Sho married Nani Rahayu, now 24, one week after he snapped the
shot.

Asked what he did with the prize money, Sho whispered: "I used
it to subsidize the daily needs of my four-month-old son,
Muhammad Adi Mulya."

He had wanted to share the money with the poor young
supporters that made the photo possible, but, he said, "I haven't
been able to meet with any of them, so far."

Sho, now covering local administration activities, said
photography has been his hobby since high school but that he is
not sure if he would change his profession to become a photo
journalist.

When Harmoko asked if he had received any other gifts, the
reporter replied: "The only gift that I haven't received is from
Indonesia's information minister."

Harmoko just laughed, as did those in the audience at the
Erasmus Huis.

Sho said he was especially happy with the rules of the World
Press Photo Foundation.

"They didn't take the original negative and always ask for my
permission if they want to do something with my picture," he
said.

Sho also appreciates the overseas publications that have
called him for permission to use his picture.

"It's not about royalties, and the fact that they call is
priceless for me," he said. "It's quite different here."

His world-renowned photo has promoted the name of his daily,
and in exchange his boss financed a trip to several countries in
Europe, Sho said.

Of the 3,068 photographers who submitted works in the 1995
contest, 27, including Sho, were from Indonesia.

What do senior photographers say about Sho's picture?

Oscar Matulloh from the Antara photo gallery said: "I have
nothing to say except that the photo is excellent and the
photographer, whatever he is, has a very good sense of how to
take a good picture."

Ed Zoelverdi, a former photo editor at Tempo, said: "It's an
amazing picture taken by the right man in the right place."