Subject: E TIMOR: JOURNALISTS UNDER SIEGE
Date: Thu, 2 Sep 1999 07:18:56 -0700 (PDT)
From: tapol@gn.apc.org (TAPOL)Received from Joyo Indonesian News
Committee to Protect Journalists 330 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001 USA Phone:
(212) 465-1004 Fax: (212) 465-9568 Web: www.cpj.org E-Mail: info@cpj.org
FOR MORE INFORMATION REGARDING THE ISSUES RAISED IN THIS LETTER, PLEASE CONTACT
SOUTHEAST ASIA PROGRAM CONSULTANT A. LIN NEUMANN IN BANGKOK AT ++66-2-252-3429 ( lin_neumann@csi.com ) OR ASIA PROGRAM COORDINATOR
KAVITA MENON IN NEW YORK AT ++212-465-1004 EXT.140 ( kmenon@cpj.org
).
September 1, 1999
His Excellency Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie
President, Republic of Indonesia
Office of the President
Bina Graha, Jalan Veteran No. 17
Jakarta Pusat, Indonesia
Your Excellency:
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply disturbed by widespread instances
of violence and intimidation directed against both foreign and local journalists during
the period surrounding the August 30 referendum on the future of East Timor. In the course
of the last week alone, CPJ has documented numerous cases in which journalists were
singled out for attack. The vast majority of the incidents were apparently committed by
pro-Jakarta militias backed by the Indonesian military.
Militia members have shot journalists, attacked hotels where journalists are staying,
blocked access to news events, beaten cameramen, and threatened to kill dozens of
reporters and photographers. In the current atmosphere, journalists covering East Timor
live and work in constant fear for their lives. (A detailed list of some of these
incidents is attached to this letter.)
According to the Safety Office for the Media in East Timor (SOMET), a project of the
Jakarta-based Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI), armed pro-Jakarta militias
responsible for pre-election violence against journalists have continued their harassment
in the immediate post-election period. Journalists have been told that they will not be
allowed to leave the territory, and militia members have been seen stopping reporters from
boarding boats bound for other islands.
"The local journalists are facing not only attacks, but intimidation and terror.
And it is happening every day, every day," said Ezki Suyanto, AJI's head of advocacy,
who is coordinating SOMET's efforts in East Timor. "Especially for local journalists.
The foreign journalists have evacuation plans. But not for local journalists, they have no
help."
As a nonpartisan organization of journalists concerned with the safety of our
colleagues around the world, CPJ is dismayed that Indonesian security forces have done so
little to protect journalists working in East Timor.
CPJ notes with appreciation that the Indonesian press has become more free since the
resignation of former President Suharto in 1998. But press freedom is meaningless if
journalists face physical attack for practicing their profession. The Indonesian
government has failed to curb the activities of the militias and to guarantee that
journalists are able to work without fear of physical violence. These failures cast doubt
on your administration's commitment to a free press.
Foreign Minister Ali Alatas signaled the Indonesian administration's unwillingness to
protect the press in East Timor this May, when he told a joint delegation from CPJ and the
Brussels-based International Press Institute that journalists "cannot avoid being
attacked. It is a situation of conflict. These journalists should know they are in harm's
way." However, CPJ reminds Your Excellency that Indonesia signed a United
Nations-brokered agreement promising to ensure "a secure environment devoid of
violence or other forms of intimidation," while acknowledging that responsibility for
"the general maintenance of law and order rests with the appropriate Indonesian
security authorities."
CPJ therefore respectfully calls on your government to disarm the militias in East
Timor, investigate the incidents documented in this letter, and bring those responsible
for the attacks to justice. We also urge Your Excellency to instruct police and security
forces stationed in East Timor to guarantee the safety of journalists working there, and
to discipline those officers who do not comply with these orders.
We thank you for your attention to these urgent matters, and eagerly await your
response.
Sincerely,
Ann K. Cooper
Executive Director
cc: Makarim Wibisono, Ambassador to the United Nations
Mohamad Yunus Yosfiah, Minister of Information
Gen. Wiranto, Minister of Defense and Commander of the Armed Forces
Harold Hongju Koh, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor
Stanley O. Roth, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs
Kurt M. Campbell, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Affairs
Ian Martin, Head of the United Nations Mission in East Timor (UNAMET)
Alliance of Independent Journalists
Southeast Asian Press Alliance
American Society of Newspaper Editors
Amnesty International
Article 19 (United Kingdom)
Artikel 19 (The Netherlands)
Canadian Journalists for Free Expression
Congressional Committee to Support Writers and Journalists
Freedom House
Human Rights Watch
Index on Censorship
International Association of Broadcasting
International Federation of Journalists
International Federation of Newspaper Publishers
International Journalism Institute
International PEN
International Press Institute
National Association of Black Journalists
National Press Club
Newspaper Association of America
The Newspaper Guild
North American Broadcasters Association
Norwegian Forum for Freedom of Expression
Reporters Sans Frontières
Society of Professional Journalists
Overseas Press Club
World Press Freedom Committee
RECENT ATTACKS ON JOURNALISTS IN EAST TIMOR
Wednesday, August 25
Time magazine correspondent John Stanmeyer and his Indonesian assistant, Heriyanto,
were attacked by members of the anti-independence Aitarak militia outside the group's
headquarters in Dili as they were taking photographs of gun-toting militia members. At
approximately 11:30 a.m., the two men drove down the street where the militia has set up
its main office. Seeing a group of some 50 armed men, most of whom were wearing T-shirts
advocating autonomy within Indonesia, Stanmeyer began taking pictures. Militia members
demanded the two journalists leave. When Stanmeyer refused, one of the Aitarak militiamen
pulled a knife. Heriyanto negotiated with the man, and persuaded him not to stab anybody.
Thursday, August 26
Many journalists came under attack during violent clashes between pro-independence and
pro-integration groups in Dili, in which five people were killed and dozens injured.
Kornelius Kewa Ama Khayam, a reporter for Kompas, Indonesia's leading daily newspaper,
was grazed by a bullet in the leg. Five other bullets were stopped by the bullet-proof
vest he was wearing for protection, according to an article in the Jakarta Post.
Unidentified assailants also beat Khayam and set his motorcycle ablaze. He was taken to a
local hospital for treatment and later evacuated from the territory. Jaka, a reporter for
Indonesia's state-owned Antara news agency, sustained bruises when he was attacked nearby.
An Indonesian journalist who requested anonymity told the Japanese news agency Kyodo
that she and three colleagues were threatened at gunpoint by pro-Jakarta militia members
when violence broke out in the neighborhood of Kuluhun, in eastern Dili. "We are now
being sought for what we witnessed," the journalist said. She and her colleagues saw
a man shot in the back and neck in Kuluhun when violence erupted.
An estimated 150 heavily armed, anti-independence Aitarak militia members surrounded an
Indonesian military truck in which five journalists, including Marianne Kearney, a
reporter with the Canberra Times, had sought refuge. Militia members surrounded the
vehicle, chanting, "Kill them all, kill all Australian journalists." An
eyewitness said that the militia members also attempted to stab a Norwegian journalist,
Torgeir Norling, who was outside the truck but managed to escape after Indonesian police
intervened to protect him. Australian journalists were a particular focus of militia anger
during the campaign.
Militia members also shot at camera crews—two Australians and one from New
Zealand—who were trying to film the attack. They were not injured. One of the
cameramen, Chris Jones of New Zealand television, told National Public Radio: "All of
a sudden they just opened up with guns and threw rocks and just chased us back all the way
through the compound and back to the hotel, really, where they just pelted the roof with
rocks and it was just intense. It was just intense."
A reporter with the Irish Times, Tjitske Lingsma, was kicked in the ribs and threatened
with a hand grenade after witnessing the execution-style shooting of an unarmed man on the
street by a policeman.
Following a large pro-Jakarta rally, scores of young men left a motorcade and stormed
through two villages near Dili. One of the militiamen shot at a group of journalists,
hitting Bea Wiharta, an Indonesian photographer working for the Reuters news agency, in
the thigh. A photographer for the Sydney Morning Herald was beaten during the same
incident.
30 journalists were forced to move out of the Hotel Dili after militiamen ran through
the building, waving guns and machetes on their way to attack the nearby offices of the
National Council for Timorese Resistance (CNRT), the main pro-independence organization in
East Timor. Richard Langston, a New Zealand cameraman, was in the courtyard of the hotel
when he heard a volley of shots and went to get his camera from his room. Within seconds,
swarms of armed men were coming over the hotel's back fence, shooting with rifles and
other firearms. "One had a shotgun. He was just walking around looking to
shoot," Langston told the Sydney Morning Herald. "We panicked. We didn't know
what to do. We ran into the hotel, barricaded the door and lay on the floor as they fired
shots at random into the building. One bloke was at the door with a machete trying to get
in."
Associated Press photographer David Longstreath and Associated Press Television News
cameraman David Copeland were assaulted by pro-Jakarta militants near a sports stadium
where a rally was being held. Neither was injured, though their camera gear was damaged.
Friday, August 27
As hundreds of anti-independence militiamen laid siege to the town of Memo, in the
western part of East Timor, militia members armed with homemade guns and knives blocked
access to journalists and threatened a liaison officer from the United Nations Mission in
East Timor (UNAMET).
Saturday, August 28
Members of the anti-independence Aitarak militia attacked and shot at a group of
journalists filming a militia gathering near the Dili Hotel. The gathering took place in
the aftermath of a militia attack on the offices of the pro-independence CNRT. The
journalists subsequently ran back to the hotel and barricaded themselves inside for
protection. The owner of the Dili Hotel received threatening phone calls later that day
telling him that his hotel was now a target of the militias. In the aftermath of the
attack, the Australian government issued a statement concluding that journalists were
particularly at risk. "I don't think there's any doubt that journalists are a
particular target and they have to be especially careful," said Foreign Minister
Alexander Downer.
Monday, August 30
Panca, an Indonesian reporter for East Timor's local radio station Lorosae Radio, had
his house burned down in apparent retaliation for the station's airing of reports
regarding violence during the campaign period. On August 28, Panca attended a press
conference in Dili held by KIPER (Independent Committee for Direct Ballot Monitoring), to
release the group's findings on campaign abuses. His station aired tape of the press
conference several times over the next two days.
Afterward, the reporter began receiving threatening telephone calls that he believed
were related to the station's news coverage. At about 1:00 a.m. on August 30, an
unidentified man asked Panca's neighbors to confirm the location of the journalist's
house, which they did. Two hours later, the house caught fire and the family's belongings
were destroyed. Panca and his family escaped the blaze without injury.
Tuesday, September 1
In violence outside the United Nations headquarters in Dili, several journalists were
assaulted, including BBC reporter Jonathan Head. Head was nearly killed when he fell
trying to flee the violence, and a militia member first kicked him in the skull, and then
hit him twice with his rifle butt. The Associated Press reported Head was also
"attacked by one man who threw a large rock at him and pulled a knife on him."
Head was luckily escorted to safety, according to a Press Association News report, but he
noted that though "the military are very well-armed . . . they just stood by and did
nothing while this mayhem was erupting."
A taxi carrying journalists to the UN compound was also reportedly fired on by
militiamen, and had its back windows smashed in.
According to CNN, a number of journalists were forced to take refuge at UN headquarters
when they became targets in fighting between pro-independence and pro-integration groups.
Maria Ressa, who was reporting for CNN from Dili, said a soldier stationed at a nearby
military barracks shut the gates to the compound, warning "No photos, or I will beat
you." Attackers dispersed only when riot police were dispatched to the scene, an hour
after the melee began. The journalists who had taken shelter in the UN compound were
eventually evacuated by police, in cooperation with UNAMET.
Back to September Menu
Human Rights Violations in East Timor
Main Postings Menu |
