Violence peppers Taufik's career

Violence peppers Taufik's career

Kornelius Purba, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

As a journalist for Tempo weekly, Ahmad Taufik endured the
hardship of prison life for two years during the Soeharto regime
for activism that was deemed subversive.

However, compared to state violence, for Taufik, the savage
behavior of people working for business tycoon Tomy Winata toward
the magazine was more violent than anything he experienced during
the Soeharto era.

He was horrified when about 100 supporters of Tomy, led by the
Chinese-Indonesian businessman's right-hand man, David, attacked
the magazine's offices on Jl. Proklamasi, Central Jakarta, on
March 8. They reportedly threatened to burn down the office and
kill people working there after the magazine refused to retract a
report in its March 3 edition, which implied that Tomy could
profit from a fire that destroyed Tanah Abang market last month.
The magazine said that Tomy had proposed a Rp 52 billion
renovation plan prior to the fire.

According to Taufik, David, alias A Miauw, threatened to kill
him and hit the magazine's chief editor Bambang Harymurti in
front of police officers.

"The moment was more horrifying than when my friends and I
were arrested by the police and jailed in 1995. At that time we
faced police and military officers. But on March 8 we faced
thugs," Taufik told The Jakarta Post.

Born on July 12, 1965 in Jakarta, Taufik started his career as
a journalist while studying at the School of Law at the Bandung
Islamic University (UNISBA) from 1984 to 1990. He was known as an
energetic student activist and held the position of chairman of
the school's student senate.

As a freelancer while still studying, he wrote about sports
for Bola sports weekly, and other articles for Mutiara magazine
and Bandung-based daily Pikiran Rakyat.

Later Taufik, who is of Arab descent, worked as a
correspondent for the Jakarta-based Muslim-oriented Estafet
monthly magazine in Bandung.

He said he would never forget the kindness of Muchtar Effendy
Harahap, an editor at Estafet, who recruited him as a reporter
and patiently taught him about reporting. It was his first taste
of real journalism.

He finished his studies in 1990, a few months after he joined
the respected Tempo weekly on an apprenticeship program.

"The rector and the dean persuaded me to finish my studies
quickly, not because they were fond of me, but more because they
were worried about my antigovernment activities," said Taufik,
who calls Soeharto the most hateful person while his former boss,
poet Goenawan Mohamad, is his most respected Indonesian.

After working for about four years, Taufik was appointed a
full-time reporter for Tempo in April 1994. "However, I was able
to enjoy a full salary for only two months," said the journalist,
who idolized the late Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini.

Angered by Tempo's report on the questionable purchase of 39
used warships from Germany in its June 11, 1994 edition,
president Soeharto banned the magazine along with two other
publications on June 14, 1994. The procurement of the ships was
handled by then state minister of research and technology B.J.
Habibie, who later replaced Soeharto as president in May 1998.
The warships are still proving to be a headache for the Navy.

Journalists and employees of the closed-down magazine then had
to find a way to survive. Many of them joined other publications
while hoping that the magazine would be allowed to reopen.
However, they had to wait for Soeharto's downfall, and in October
1998 Tempo hit the streets again.

"Life was very tough at that time because we all lost our only
source of income," said Taufik.

On Aug. 7, 1994, along with 57 other journalists and
activists, Taufik founded the Alliance of Independent Journalists
(AJI) and was elected its first chairman. AJI then published the
Independen newsletter without a permit. Since the government
recognized only the Indonesian Journalists Association (PWI) as
the sole journalist organization, then minister of information
Harmoko, the owner of Pos Kota daily, instructed all publications
with AJI members in their employ to fire them.

Military and police hunted down the activists. On March 16,
1994, police arrested Taufik, journalist Eko Maryadi and AJI
office boy Danang Kukuh Wardoyo. The Central Jakarta District
Court sentenced him to three years in prison for sowing hatred
against the government and distributing Independen. He appealed
at the Jakarta High Court, and finally at the Supreme Court,
which reduced his sentence to two years and eight months.

"When I was arrested, my first son Ali Anzi Muntazhar was only
nine days old," Taufik recalled. His wife Syafa Illiyin had to
take care their child alone.

He spent 57 days in police detention before being moved to
Salemba Penitentiary, Central Jakarta, for one year, after which
he was moved to Cipinang Penitentiary for five months. He was
then moved to Cirebon and Sumedang in West Java.

"One of my favorite pastimes in Salemba was to peep at other
inmates making love in the warden's office, which they rented.
The women were either their wives or prostitutes. I had to pay Rp
5,000 to peep at them for five minutes," Taufik remembered.

Using a pseudonym, Taufik continued to write articles and
reports from prison for several newspapers and magazines. In
Cipinang, he interviewed East Timorese Xanana Gusmao, who was
jailed by the Indonesian government for rebellious activities.
Xanana is now the president of East Timor.

"Xanana is a true leader. When he captained our soccer team he
always ordered us to attack our opponents," Taufik said with a
big smile.

Taufik was released from prison in July 1997. In November
1997, he received an award from the Canadian Committee to Protect
Journalists just a few days before Soeharto attended the Asia
Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Vancouver, Canada.

Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien reportedly offered
Taufik political asylum after he was involved in a demonstration
against Soeharto in Vancouver.

"I refused the offer because I wanted to struggle for my
country from within Indonesia," he hinted.

Six months after his son Muhammad Khatami Aji was born in
April 1998, Tempo resumed publication. Taufik has held several
positions there, from coordinator of the Jakarta bureau to
assistant editor for several desks. Currently he is the head of
the national desk.

"I started my career as a journalist. I do not know how long
it will last, but I surely love the job," said Taufik.