kc.umn.ac.idkc.umn.ac.id/5201/7/lampiran.pdfkc.umn.ac.id

Team project ©2017 Dony Pratidana S. Hum | Bima Agus Setyawan S. IIP

Hak cipta dan penggunaan kembali:

Lisensi ini mengizinkan setiap orang untuk menggubah, memperbaiki, dan membuat ciptaan turunan bukan untuk kepentingan komersial, selama anda mencantumkan nama penulis dan melisensikan ciptaan turunan dengan syarat yang serupa dengan ciptaan asli.

Copyright and reuse:

This license lets you remix, tweak, and build upon work non-commercially, as long as you credit the origin creator and license it on your new creations under the identical terms.

69

Pemaknaan Wartawan Perang..., Jessica Damiana, FIKOM UMN, 2017

MASTER TABEL OF THEMES

Co-researcher 1 – Stefanus Pramono

Nomor Tema dan Invariant Constituents Transkrip Wawancara Halaman Baris

1 Perasaan takut meliput perang

a. Perasaan ngeri melihat bermacam

senjata

“… itu hari terakhir di Allepo ketika perang makin

menggila, mortir di mana-mana, terus apa namanya anak

kecil itu begitu tiung dhuar, dia cuma kaget. Terus dia

mainan lagi (gebrak meja), anak ini sakit, orang gue

langsung gini kan (menunduk), ngeri, dia lari-lari main-

main lagi. Gila.”

“Hmm… semuanya berkesan mulai dari awal hingga

akhir tidak ada yang tidak berkesan, semuanya berkesan.

Peristiwa kecil-kecil pun berkesan, ketika aku pertama kali

tiba terus nanya pemberontak berewokan badannya gede,

sebelahnya ada AK 47. Muslim?”

“Muslim, ada AK47 di sebelahnya. Fixer ku bilang, “La la

la.”. Tell him I come from the largest Muslim country in

the world. Gak ada yang bilang. Terus tanya, negara lu

mana gitu. Indonesia. Huh, Russia? La la la. Indonesia,

Indonesia. Terus ada satu yang bilang welcome-welcome

brother, mereka cium tiga kali. Mau nangis rasanya, itu

pelukan terindah. Aku mikir mati nih gue mati nih gue.”

16

23

23

388-392

556-559

561-566

b. Memakai cincin Rosario dan “Gini. Awalnya aku takut. Awalnya aku takut. Takut lah 18 212-213


berdoa Salam Maria

ya, aku pake cincin Rosario, kau tahu Rosario kan?”

“Aku doa, Salam Maria, lama kelamaan diem aja. Mau

ngapain. Kun Fayakun terjadilah apa yang terjadi.”

“Nggak. Dan aku tidak banyak berdoa. Sebelum ke

Suriah iya, berdoa berdoa gitu. Bahkan waktu nerima

penugasan kan berdoa”

“Hm… intens berdoa, tipikal manusia lah, tipikal yang

gitu.”

18

215-216

c. Hampir menangis saat liputan

pertama

“Muslim, ada AK47 di sebelahnya. Fixer ku bilang, “La la

la.”. Tell him I come from the largest Muslim country in

the world. Gak ada yang bilang. Terus tanya, negara lu

mana gitu. Indonesia. Huh, Russia? La la la. Indonesia,

Indonesia. Terus ada satu yang bilang welcome-welcome

brother, mereka cium tiga kali. Mau nangis rasanya, itu

pelukan terindah. Aku mikir mati nih gue mati nih gue.”

23 561-566

d. Takut dibunuh “Oke, dan waktu itu ada info-info yang salah. Kalo aku

gabung pemberontak, aku akan ehm… dibunuh.”

“Waktu awal masuk bawaannya takut, bawaannya mati

nih gua mati nih gua. Terus juga namanya itu kan perang

pertamaku ya beberapa wartawan kami ngobrol mereka

pengalamannya di Irak di mana-mana, Arab Spring juga

ngeliput ketika ada. Lu udah pernah ke mana aja. Well it’s

my first war. What are you insane, why? This is the worst

war ever. Ya, I just have to go because my office told me

to go. That’s it. Gitu.”

16

17

154-155

410-415


2 Kekerasan itu wajar

a. Melihat orang tewas karena

perang

“Aku juga datang ke rumah sakit darurat, masih ada

mereka rusak karena apa, aku melihat orang mati di

depanku. Pemberontak yang terluka dibawa kemudian dia

mati.”

“Waktu itu ada satu mobil, perang lagi hebat-hebatnya, I

had to wait at the hospital so seperti satu mobil ngebut

berhenti menurunkan satu orang luka dibungkus selimut,

selimutnya dibuka terlihat dagingnya sudah tidak ada

darahnya ngucur. Dokter mencoba menyelamatkan dia.

Kemudian dokternya menggeleng, kalo ga salah dokter

Omar, ada semua itu di tulisanku. Dan setelah itu, rekan-

rekannya teriak, “Takbir Allahuakbar.” Bagi mereka itu

mereka syahid.”

15

15-16

365-367

369-371

b. Melihat orang mati karena mortir “Gini, aku pernah menunggu fixer yang akan membantuku

di dalam, ditanya fixer di Azas, di Aleppo. Dia nanya, si

aku lupa namanya. Si ini ke mana. Dia lagi di depan,

garis depan. Terus tanya sama fixernya, mau nunggu di

sini, atau kita ke garis depan. Aku bilang kita ke garis

depan aja, feelingku bilang kegaris depan. Ketemu sama

dia kan, ketemu fixer ini kan, itu udah dari situ. Kami

berdua gitu kan, aku udah ganti fixer. Fixer azas

ninggalin kami …”

“Begitu balik ke tempat pertama ada fixer-ku dari Allepo

lu mau ke sini apa ke garis depan, balik ke sana aku

melihat darah di mana-mana. Gak lama habis kami jalan

itu, aku sempet denger mortir ternyata itu jatuh di tempat

kami harusnya menunggu dia. Dan disitu ada satu orang

19

19

452

470-478


mati. Tiga orang terluka. Itu kayak kompleks ruko gitu

pemukiman. Ruko lah. Kehajar sama mobil. Itu feeling. Itu

feelingku adalah tidak berada di situ, aku berjalan. Dan

ternyata benar. Itu dia kenapa aku bilang ke kamu, ini

adalah ini bagian memelihara rasa takut, memelihara

feeling gitu. Lanjut.”

c. Suara tembakan terdengar setiap

hari

“Terlalu sering, termasuk mendengar suara tembakan

sniper yah. Itu.”

9 226

3 Perang meninggalkan trauma

a. Menderita PTSD “Aku trauma mendengar suara ledakan atau suara

keras. November itu ya balik. Terus aku mendengar

suara knalpot dhuar gitu. Aku langsung dug-dug-dug.

Nah puncaknya itu Desember pas tahun baru. Dhuar

dhuwer, aku di kamar nutupin pake guling karena aku

gak tahan dengar suara itu. Itu.”

“Terlalu sering, termasuk mendengar suara tembakan

sniper yah. Itu.”

“Gak, bodohku di situ. Aku tidak sadar bahwa aku

terkena PTSD. Baru sadar itu kemudian setelah tahun

baru. Sebenernya tahu, tapi sadarnya itu habis tahun

baru. Biasanya kan dhuar gitu, tapi abis tahun baru itu

baru sadar. Aku kena PTSD. Dan apakah itu

mempengaruhi hidupku, ada pengaruhnya. Ya adalah.”

“Apa itu OVO, gak tau lah apa ya pokoknya bukan

Pertamina. Pom bensin kosong, bukan kosong tapi belum

9

9

11

221-224

226

280-289


selesai dibangun masih ada sisa barang-barang ada

batu-batuan, itu posisinya adalah sebelum exit Tol

Jatiwaringin kalo dari arah Cikampek. Aku sering lewat

dari atas jembatan keliatan pom bensinnya itu belom

jadi tapi begitu dekat berhenti kemudian aku melihat

banyak batu tiba-tiba membawaku kembali ke satu titik

ke satu titik aku masuk ke Suriah aku melihat pom bensin

yang hancur ditinggal sudah kosong. Yang tutup karena

perang itu membawaku ke situ. Aku minta temenku

berhenti dan aku diem, ini flashback. Kejadiannya

mungkin belum lama ini, empat bulan lima bulan enam

bulan. Belum ada setahun ini.”


MASTER TABEL OF THEMES

Co-researcher 2 – Darren Whiteside

Nomor Tema dan Invariant

Constituents

Transkrip Wawancara Halaman Baris

1 Perang adalah sesuatu yang mengasyikkan

a. East Timor it was the most

exciting story

“East Timor it was the most exciting story.”

8 147-148

b.

c.

Jerusalem was a very exciting

posting

Jumping into the back of a car

going to the front lines

“It was a very exciting posting, it was also during time

where it was the Arab Spring that was going on so the

Israeli-Palestinian story was that was going on was a very

big team in Gaza and West Bank Jerusalem office Tel Aviv

and it was for five years. During the Arab Spring there

were a lot. I went to Libya and I went to a place called

Misrata and I went to Libya on a boat from Malta it was

probably one of the most exciting things I have ever done

in my life. Going to war zone using about and showing up

into a harbour, jumping into the back of a car going to the

front lines. Next day after being it was quite nice and I left

on the boat on the boat. I left when my assignment was

finished we managed to catch the same boat I was very

lucky.”

16-17 391-400

2 Perang berbahaya karena menyebabkan luka fisik


a. Hit by plastic bullets four times

“I didn't in Jerusalem I was hit by plastic bullets that's

meant for hitting your knee it's meant to be shot at your

knee or your shin to shatter your bone but it hit me in the

back of my knee and it went in and I still have a whole

bunch in the back of my arm and your legs and my legs.”

“I was shot, you end up with massive bruise and

concussion and you can’t move your arm for like a week,

that type of thing. I have pictures when I was hit.”

“I got hit by one bullet in the back of my leg. The bullet

shattered when it went in my leg and they took it out but

inside there were lots of debris, pieces fragments of the

bullets.”

19

20

21

451-454

469-471

492-494

b.

c.

Saw somebody get hurt by a gas

canister and lost his eye

Protester bleeding because of

rocks

“…But I have seen the damage of a rock can do to

somebody’s skull and with my eyes I saw foreigner get hit

on face with a gas canister and have his eyes removed…”

34 664-666

d. Sleeping problem in the last 15

years “Well I don’t know what nightmares I have dear but I have

sleeping trouble whether because it’s because of that it’s

someone to make out… Yea, I have sleeping problem…

Maybe last 15 years… I have no idea, could very well be.”

11 258-268

3 Siap meliput perang berarti siap terluka

a. Always carried gas mask or

helmet, use different types of

“Okay, and inside my car I had two big boxes that were

filled with jackets and helmets and gas masks. I had

enough for an army in there, when I arrived in demo if my

25

590-595


jackets, and carry bulletproof vest

stringers didn’t have the right equipment or if they are

broken I would be able to resupply them. Even sometimes I

give equipment to freelancers who have nothing and they

found themselves in very bad situations.”

“Of course I have helmet did other than that fast you

should get to use another fast yes I have another vest it is

an armor plated for like a Kevlar Style and ammunition.”

34

437-439

b. No problem with it

“I have no problems with that. Once you’ve been hit by

something doesn’t take, you don’t have to be rocket

scientist, there are Palestinian journalists who don’t use

their helmet and I see them get hit on their heads and they

end up in hospital. Stitches all over their head, you know.

They decide they don’t need helmets so they don’t wear

helmets. And that’s fine.”

28-29 660-664


1

Transkrip Wawancara Co-researcher 1 1

Nama : Stefanus Pramono 2

TTL : Jakarta, 1981 3

Pendidikan : Jurnalistik, IISIP Jakarta 4

Media : Majalah Tempo 5

Posisi/Jabatan : Redaktur 6

Lokasi : Gedung Tempo, Jakarta Selatan 7

Waktu : Selasa, 15 Mei 2018/ 19.42 - 21.20 WIB 8

9

P : Peneliti 10

S : Stefanus 11

12

P : Oke. Iya makasih Mas Pram udah menerima kedatangan saya hari ini untuk 13

wawancara mengenai skripsi saya. Nah skripsi saya ini adalah fenomenologi, 14

jadi ini membahas pengalaman suatu orang yang mengalami sesuatu di dalam 15

hidupnya. Nah karena Mas Pram adalah wartawan yang sudah pernah ke 16

suriah, pasti sudah mengalami punya pengalaman perang jadinya itu saya 17

tertarik menjadikan itu jadi skripsi. Dan selain Mas Pram saya mewawancarai 18

juga 19

S : Wawancara siapa? 20

P : Wartawan lain, saya juga mewawancarai wartawan lain fotografer AFP 21

Mbak Adek Berry dan satu lagi chief photograher sendiri di kantor sendiri 22

namanya Darren Whiteside dia pernah ditempatkan di Israel-Palestina sehari-23

harinya dia sudah akrab di lingkungan yang hostile 24

S : Sebenernya ada beberapa wartawan lagi kalo kamu mau 25

1 Pemaknaan Wartawan Perang..., Jessica Damiana, FIKOM UMN, 2017

2

P : Siapa! 26

S : Qaris Tajudin, meliput Arab Spring lebih banyak, dua kali. Dua kali seingat 27

saya. Oh Libya dia iya, Mesir iya. Tunisia aku gak tau 28

P : Aku nonton videonya Qoris sama Mas Pram yang buka puasa tahun lalu. Kan 29

ada videonya tuh. Sama satu lagi yang ke Marawi. Kalo Marawi… Tabloid 30

Tempo tabloid entertainment 31

S : Gimana? 32

P : Kan dulu waktu mau liputan kan dibilangin kan tempo entertainment, 33

ngapain ngeliput Marawi dulu. Jadi ya gitu Mas mau tanya aja sih 34

sebelumnya. Aku mau tanya dulu nih, Mas Pram udah berapa lama sih kerja di 35

Tempo? 36

S : Awal November 2005, sori ya. Tiga belas tahun, baru hampir 13 tahun, 12 37

tahun 38

P : Sebelum kerja di Tempo mungkin pernah kerja di tempat lain? 39

S : Enggak, hanya magang aja. Hanya magang dan KKL. KKN lah di Warta 40

Kota masing-masing sebulan. 41

P : Di Warta Kota ya. Dulu waktu kuliah jurusannya jurnalistik Mas? 42

S : Iya jurnalistik 43

P : Berarti bisa disebut sesuai gitu ya? 44

S : Iya bisa disebut begitu 45

P : Oke nah selama Mas Pram hampir 12 tahun 13 tahun ini kerja di Tempo 46

ngeliputnya apa aja sih Mas? 47

S : Macem-macem ya, di Tempo itu semuanya hampir semuanya hampir 48

semuanya pernah kurasakan, awalnya aku di nasional. Em, waktu jadi carep. 49

Abis itu metro perkotaan, ekbis ekonomi, balik lagi ke nasional aku cukup 50


3

lama di nasional. Aku pindah ke majalah dan waktu itu kantor kami masih 51

terpisah, dan dari em apa namanya. Dan dari tahapannya itu kan dulu sub… 52

Begitu aku pindah ke majalah aku seni, seni selama 8 bulan. Terus abis itu 53

Februari 2010, aku ke majalah. Karena sistemya di kami kalo mau dapetin SR 54

atau staf redaksi harus ke majalah dulu. Udah. Ke majalah kemudian di sana 55

itu sampe SR dapet di majalah seni, magang 2, baru kemudian m2 aku 56

dipindah ke koran. Nah, iya setelah itu aku jadi redaktur. Redaktur di koran 57

ngurusin politik, hukum, nasional pindah ke investigasi aku hampir empat 58

tahun udah gitu ablik lagi ke politik. Sekarang di politik. 59

P : Sampai sekarang di politik ya? 60

S : Baru dua bulan 61

P : Perasaanya bisa kerja di Tempo? 62

S : Biasa aja, nothing special. Aku sebenernya pengennya masuk Kompas tapi 63

kemudian yang buka Tempo dan aku coba setelah di Tempo malah ga berminat 64

ke Kompas 65

P : Akhirnya seneng juga kerja di Kompas 66

S : Kerja di Tempo 67

P : Perasaanya gimana? 68

S : Happy lah, namanya kerja kan harus dinikmati. Kalo aku mengibaratkan 69

tempo is not my first love, but tempo is my wife. For now 70

P : For now 71

S : Gatau kalo kami kemudian bercerai 72

P : Mas, kenapa sih penting bagi Tempo untuk mengirimkan wartawannya 73

sendiri ke Suriah? 74


4

S : Karena Arab Spring hampir semuanya kami liput, MEsir libra, tunisia, aku 75

lupa tunisaia piokonya duai itu. Terus kemudian suriah. Suriah itu kan 76

mepetusnya maret 2011, mulai dari kota dar’ah, meluas meluas meluas sampe 77

kemudian 2012, berkecamuk, yaudah mengapa penting ya itu satu fenomena 78

yang menarik. Arab spring itu berturut-turut dan berlanjut ke negara-negara 79

sekitarnya meski mesir itu bukan Arab, Timur Tengah, Afrika ya. Itu tetap 80

saja itu menarik. Penting? Penting, bagaimana pun itu bukan pertama kalinya 81

tempo meliput itu. Tapi sejak zaman irak, kita juga kirim, terus mana lagi ya. 82

Ehm… Yugoslavia sepertinya kami juga kirim 83

P : Berarti kalo ada kawasan berkonflik dan wartawan Tempo itu meliput itu 84

karena tradisi gitu? 85

S : Bukannya tradisi, tapi kami mengukur seberapa penting itu. Dan posisi timur 86

tengah penting gitu 87

P : Indikator penting, pertimbanggannya apa aja, Mas? 88

S : Bagaimana pun politik timur tengah itu satu hal yang menarik untuk dibahas 89

karena menyangkut dunia Islam, kita juga penting untuk melihat efek dari 90

perang itu sendiri dan ternyata benar kan sampai sekarang perang itu belum 91

selesai. Waktu itu sempat berselisih paham dengan direksi. Bukan dengan 92

direksi tapi dengan kantor soal itu. Karena perangnya lama, itu cerita nanti 93

deh. Ehm, penting buat orang banyak yang ingin tahu kondisi di Suriah dan 94

apakah mengutip dari wire saja sudah cukup? Cukup-cukup saja, tapi ingin 95

memberi sautu yang lebih ke pembaca, ketika kami bisa mengirim jurnalis 96

secara langsung itu kan juga bukan sesuatu yang murah ya. Mengirim itu 97

butuh biaya besar sekali, aku aja ngabisin sekitar Rp 120 juta, belum lagi yang 98

lain 99


5

P : Mas Pram bisa ke Suriah dari Indonesia, awal tahunya bagaimana Mas Pram 100

tahu ditugaskan ke Suriah? 101

S : Waktu itu, direktur eksekutif majalah Tempo namanya Budi Setyarso, dia 102

memberitahukan lewat milis. Milis nasional. Dan isinya adalah awak nasional 103

majalah dan koran. Gitu. Nah yang memberitahukan bahwa 104

P : Email yang di-blast? 105

S : Lewat email itu, milis. Bukan di-blast. Kamu gak ngalamin? 106

P : Engga, milis gak ngalamin 107

S : Tulisannya Pramono ke Suriah segera urus. Ketika aku baca itu, ya begitu lah 108

P : Perasannya gimana waktu baca itu? Karena langsung ditulis ya? 109

S : Iya, semua anak nasional bisa baca. Yah, ke Suriah? Suriah di maan ya? Aku 110

iya. Aku nge-blank gitu kan. Terus yaudah setelah itu setelah itu aku langsung 111

googling Suriah, dapet. Untuk menguatkan. Sebenarnya aku tahu, tapi ini 112

Suriah yang mana? Baca. Oh, yang sedang perang. Oke. Aku diem dulu aku 113

gak langsung bales. Aku bisa menolak 114

P : Iya? 115

S : Cuman, aku memilih untuk tidak, karena diberitahunya lewat milis. Menjadi 116

wartawan perang, aku pernah bercita-cita, aku pernah nonton videonya siapa 117

sih, yang dia bikin film war photographer. Namanya siapa aku lupa. Tapi di 118

tempo gak pernah kepikiran mau jadi wartawan perang, walaupun akhirnya 119

aku jawab iya, aku jawabnya roger that. Mengutip dari percakapan-percakapan 120

gaya counter strike. Roger that. Yaudah kenapa sih aku harus jawab ya? 121

Karena itu disampaikan di milis, kalo tidak di milis mngkin aku 122

mempertimbangakn dulu. Di Tempo bisa untuk mempertimbangkan, tapi 123

menolak susah. Bisa, pasti itu berdampak panjang. Kamu menolak penugasan, 124


6

di Tempo tidak bisa seperti itu. Kecuali untuk alasan khusus. Nah, soalnya 125

adalah. Saat itu, bentar-bentar. Aku itu. Aku itu adalah redaktur yang galak. 126

Semua perintahku harus ditaati. Gak sih, aku gak galak. Mereka-mereka aja 127

yang bilang aku galak. Tapi memang buatku, kalo aku sudah bertitah, lu harus 128

jalan. Gak ada alasan ba-bi-bu, ba-bi-bu. Ketika aku. Kalo aku menolak, suatu 129

saat reporterku akan menolak perintahku. Dan itu bisa menghancurkan sistem. 130

Aku gak mau, kemudian aku tidak menjadi aku tidak konsisten. Maka jawab 131

ya. Aku jalan. Begitu sih. 132

P : Setelah menjawab roger that, apa yang dilakukan? 133

S : Diem. Diem berdoa, aku bilang, “Tuhan kalo ini memang rencanamu 134

terjadilah, kalau ini bukan rencanamu jauhkanlah”. Aku beritahukan ibuku, 135

ibuku gak terlalu ngeh waktu itu. Kemudian baru belakangan ngeh dan 136

menolak melarang aku. Apa yang dilakukan, mencoba mengambil sisi 137

pemerintah Suriah, karena selama ini. Di Suriah itu, media-media cenderung 138

mengambil sisi pemberontak terutama media barat, kecuali Rusia ya. Mereka 139

ngambil dari sisi pemberontak saja sementara di sisi, sini tidak ada ngambil isi 140

pemerintah. Coba apply visa ke Kedutaan Suriah tidak di-approve. Pemredku 141

bilang, pemred majalah. Aku masih di koran. Udah lu pergi aja. Cari pintu di 142

sini 143

P : Maksudnya pintu? 144

S : Cari pintu di sana 145

P : Oh cari pintu di sana. Apply visa berapa kali Mas? 146

S : Sekali doang 147

P : Visanya sebagai visa wartawan? 148

S : Iya 149


7

P : Dan itu ditolak? 150

S : Ditolak, gak ditolak, dianggurin begitu aja 151

D : Oh oke, abis gitu bisa sampai terbang ke Suriah? 152

S : Yaudah waktu bosku bilang gitu, cari pintu masuk aja, yang penting jalan. 153

Oke, dan waktu itu ada info-info yang salah. Kalo aku gabung pemberontak, 154

aku akan ehm… dibunuh. Ada orang-orang yang ngomong begitu, karena I’m 155

not muslim dan ya, aku orang asing. Itu sih sementara menunggu visa aku 156

memperkuat bahasa Inggrisku. Kira-kira Oktober aku jalan, berangkat, masuk 157

lewat Turki, terus habis itu yaudah ternyata begitu mudah masuk ke sana. Gak 158

sesusah yang aku bayangkan. Kebetulan perbatasan itu kota Kilis di mana 159

namanya, di Turki masuknya Provinsi Gaziantep. Kotanya namanya Kilis. Itu 160

Turki, berbatasan dengan kota Azas di Suriah. Azas itu dikuasai pemberontak, 161

sampai dengan Aleppo bagian utara, separuh Aleppo ya. Dikuasai 162

pemberontak, jadi mudah bagiku masuk ke sana. Dan ternyata mereka 163

welcome, as long as you’re not Russian atau Chinese. Itu kita aman. Yaudah 164

masuk 165

P : Akhirnya bisa masuk ya 166

S : Masuk 167

P : Proses dapat milis sampai tiba di Suriah itu berapa bulan? 168

S : Dua bulanan ya, karena nugngu bisa itu ya. Segala cara sudah kucoba lewat 169

palang merah internasional, embedded sama mereka ternyata gak bisa. Gitu 170

P : Oke oke oke. Nah waktu pertama kali tiba di Kilis, habis itu masuk Aleppo 171

bagian utara, apa yang pertama kali mas lakukan? 172

S : Bertemu dengan orang-orang di sana, bertemu langsung. Cari fixer di 173

perbatasan. Kebetulan ada fixer-fixer ya. Ada yang nganterin aku, lupa 174

IC-1d


8

biayanya berapa ratus dollar 100-200, lupa berapa. Fixer ini yang akan 175

mengantarkanku ke mana-mana? 176

P : Di suriah berapa lama Mas? 177

S : Aku pokoknya November tanggal 22 balik hampir sama perjalanan hampir 178

sekitar sebulan 179

P : Kurang lebih satu bulan ya 180

S : Itu bulan-balik di Suriah-Turki ya, hanya saat karena aku bekerja untuk tiga 181

media ya, online, koran sama majalah. Jadi otomatis karena online harus 182

kubikin mau gak mau aku harus mencari akses internet kan, nah itu susah di 183

Suriah aku waktu itu belom ada smartphone ya. Setahuku smartphone… udah 184

ada ya? 2012, smartphone belum terlalu kenceng kayaknya. Kayak gitu 185

P : BlackBerry? 186

S : BlackBerry, ya pake blackberry. Susah dapat sinyal gitu harus agak bolak-187

balik 188

P : Nah, selama bolak-balik itu tapi berarti 189

S : Homebase-nya di Turki, lebih banyak di Kilis. Nyari hotel kecil itu. 190

P : Di situ pernah tidur di Suriah? 191

S : Pernah juga, tidur sama pemberontak. Aku kan laporannya harus harian, 192

tempo.co sama koran. Gitu. Aku pengennya lebih lama, kalo buat majalah 193

karena majalah tidak pusingkan deadline harian 194

P : Oke 195

S : Bikinnya aku sempet sakit. Karena kedinginan 196

P : Oke nah, perjalanan dari Kilis sampe Aleppo memakan waktu berapa lama? 197

S : Jalannya aja udah sekitar 15 menit dari melintas perbatasan. Dari Azas 198

sampai ke Aleppo kurang lebih sejam, itu jadi harus pagi berangkat sore 199

IC-3c


9

pulang. Mereka tidak mau sampe malam. Fixer-nya. Terlalu berbahaya kata 200

mereka kalo malam hari 201

P : Mas fixer itu dibayar ratusan dollar? 202

S : Itu sehari. Sehari, itu termasuk makan, bensin. Gitu 203

P : Terkait dengan makan, di sana makan apa? 204

S : Makan makanan sana, apa yang diberikan pemberontak. Ada beberapa yang 205

beli, makan sama pemberontak, tidur, ngobrol, ngopi, ngeteh. Gitu lah. 206

Makannya namanya, aku lupa ya. Roti di sana namanya apa ya. Kob. K-o-b. 207

Kamu udah baca tulisan ku belom sih. You should read my story first itu akan 208

membantumu, ya itu bisa jadi pertanyaan lanjutan. 209

P : Oke nah, perasaannya Mas Pram waktu selama hampir satu bulan ngeliput 210

konflik di Suriah, perasannya gimana? 211

S : Gini. Awalnya aku takut. Awalnya aku takut. Takut lah ya, aku pake cincin 212

Rosario, kau tahu Rosario kan? Kamu Kristen apa Katolik? 213

P : Katolik 214

S : Aku doa, Salam Maria, lama kelamaan diem aja. Mau ngapain. Kun Fayakun 215

terjadilah apa yang terjadi. Aku tetap memelihara rasa takut. Tetep harus ada 216

rasa takut aku tidak mau abai menghilangkan rasa takut sepenuhnya karena 217

jika demikian aku jadi irasional. Dan mengabaikan feeling. Ketika aku jadi 218

irasional dan ini punya kamu bukan sih 219

P : Bukan 220

S : Ketika orang jadi irasional dan mengabaikan feeling dia akan ngawur, 221

sembrono dan harus diingat tidak ada berita seharga nyawa kan 222

P : Iya 223

IC-1b

IC-1b


10

S : Itu yang benar-benar perlu diperhatikan perlu diingat oleh every journalist. 224

Gitu gak ada berita seharga nyawa. Aku berikan contoh kalo kamu coba 225

googling ada satu peristiwa ada redaktur Viva News ya kalo ga salah, beliat 226

meninggal di Merapi aku lupa tahun berapa. Ketika Merapi meletus tanpa 227

mengurangi rasa dukaku, rasa simpati pada sesama jurnalis dan keluarganya, 228

aku menilai yang terjadi pada dia itu agak konyol kenapa. Karena dia sudah 229

mendengar alarm di Merapi. Artinya apa, early warning system-nya bekerja. 230

Di merapi itu. Dia sudah tahu Merapi akan meletus tapi dia malah naik ke 231

rumahnya Mbah Marijan, lu mau ngapain? Udah jelas kok ada early warning 232

system di situ. Begitulah. Tidak ada berita seharga nyawa. Konyol. Sudah tahu 233

Merapi sudah mau meletus malah nekat naik 234

P : Oke. 235

S : Nah itu kemudian belajar dari situ apakah kemudian perang itu harus di, kita 236

P : Melihat langsung dari jarak dekat. Ada begitu banyak sisi perang yang bisa 237

ditulis tanpa kemudian kita ada langsung di garis depan perang. Dan dari sini 238

mewant-wanti lo gak perlu kok ada di garis depan. Ya aku cukup 200 meter 239

dari medan perangnya itu. Yang sebenernya kata banyak orang well it’s too 240

close. Terus gw harus gimana gitu, cukup dekat lah. Bahkan satu kilometer 241

saja termasuk dekat. Gitu. Nah aku dilarang sama pemberontak misalkan tidak 242

mau ambil risiko kehilangan nyawa di sana, mereka melarang. Maka aku 243

mencari cara lain yaitu apa, aku ke rumah sakit. Karena aku mikir, kalo aku 244

sampenya itu setelah pada masa Idul Adha, belum ada. Disitulah mereka 245

gencatan senjata selama 3 apa 5 hari gitu masih tenang-tenang. Masuk hari 246

kesekian mulai ramai lagi, sampai akhir aku meninggalkan, kondisi udah 247

parah banget. 248


11

S : Meninggalkannya bulan November? 249

P : November, yaudah gitu. 250

S : Tadi kan Mas bilang karena liputannya di Suriah sistem menulisnya online 251

iya, majalah iya, dan koran iya. Boleh diceritakan sistem deadlinenya? 252

P : Baik koran maupun tempo.co kan sifatnya harian ya dan aku tidak bisa 253

sepenuhnya untuk yang tempo.co itu banyak-banyak tulisan aku majalah itu 254

tidak karena bahan yang di tempo.co atau koran tidak digunakan untuk 255

majalah. Aku harus cari tiga bahan, tiga angle yang berbeda. Ketika aku 256

mewawancarai orang, aku harus mengatur bener mana yang ini mana untuk 257

yang online, koran, satu lagi majalah itu yang harus aku lakukan. Karena kalo 258

enggak repot 259

S : Boleh dicontohin mas tiga angle nya apa aja 260

P : Ketika aku wawancara pemberontak, ada satu bagian yang kubuat dia jago 261

nembak sniper badannya tambun maka aku bikin itu sniper ini berbadan 262

tambun gitu 263

S : Angle kedua? 264

P : Angle kedua, kenapa dia memberontak kan bagaimana dia bisa memberontak 265

bagaimana akhirnya dia bertahan menjadi pemberontak seperti apa hidup yang 266

mereka jalani itu masuk di koran dan majalah. Jadi untuk yang tempo.co lebih 267

banyak yang ya, human interest tetap ya kemudian gak flash breaking news, 268

lebih kepada sisi humanisnya aku nulis juga soal pengungsi, pengungsi yang 269

dia punya dua istri dan dua-duanya dibawa mengungsi gak rukun maka dia 270

bikin tendanya berbalik gitu tidak saling bertatap muka. Gitu. 271

P : Hmm… oke berarti mas ini kan bilang banyak liputan dengan kelompok 272

pemberontak, waktu tinggal bayar juga gak 273


12

S : Gak 274

P : Dikasih makan? 275

S : Dikasih makan, tempat tinggal, berteduh gitu, terus minum iya. Bertukar 276

rokok. Diplomasiku diplomasi rokok. Aku bawa rokok 20 bungkus aku 277

menyesal damn terlalu sedikit ternyata. Aku bawanya Dji Sam Soe agak 278

banyak dan Surya Pro. Cukup banyak. Ada yang ya bertukar sebatang nyobain 279

ada juga yang masukin ke kantong gitu 280

P : Dan itu bersama dengan fixer menyaksikan itu 281

S : Iya dong. 282

P : Para pemberontak bisa bahasa Inggris gak sih mas 283

S : Ada yang bisa, tapi kebanyakan bahasa Arab, Perancis banyak karena 284

mereka koloni Prancis 285

P : Mandinya gimana 286

S : Mandi lebih banyak di Turki, di Suriah mah gak mandi 287

P : Kalo di Turki di kamar hotel yang itu 288

S : Kamar hotel 289

P : Hmm… oke. Total berapa banyak artikel sih di total online 290

S : Waduh gak inget aku, majalah aja ada 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Tujuh kalo gak salah 291

Tujuh edisi 292

P : Tujuh artikel 293

S : Terus buat tempo.co cukup banyak. Koran setiap hari selama dua puluhan 294

harian itu. Cukup banyak lah ya menurutku sih 295

P : Berarti waktu mengikuti deadline, ikutin jam indonesia dong? 296

S : Iya 297

P : Berapa beda jam 298


13

S : Ah, aku lupa berapa selisih waktunya aku lupa ya 299

P : Pernah telat deadline 300

S : Enggak, karena aku selalu berhitung kalo buat koran masukin jam segini, aku 301

harus siapin edisi dua hari mendatang lebih aman untuk aku. Sekali ngirim 302

dua, dan aku kalo sudah menulis gitu harus tenang. Itu sih, aku cukup lama di 303

hotel. Sebulan itu aku tiga minggu lah ya, nulisnya seminggu karena aku tipe 304

penulis lama terutama majalah gak bisa sebentar buat nulis. 305

P : Selama meliput suriah, daerah konflik yang mas pram lihat apa saja 306

S : Banyak, baiknya membaca tulisan bisa lah kamu tambahin 307

P : Liputan pertama yang mungkin diingat 308

S : Liputan pertama masuk suriah gak susah karena tinggal bawa paspor tret 309

selesai begitu dicap pemberontak masuk. Terus aku bikin bagaimana pertama 310

kali aku masuk ke allepo, itu jadi feature buat koran. Itu sih. Itu yang kuingat 311

ya 312

P : Kalo yang terakhir kali sebelum balik 313

S : Gini, ada banyak banget yang aku lihat. Aku tahu Suriah itu negeri yang 314

indah dengan penduduk yang ramah, cantik-cantik, ganteng-ganteng, kalo 315

ganteng aku gak mau muji karena aku normal dan cewenya cakep-cakep, 316

putih. Gue tuh berasa negro, pesek. Di sana tuh mereka mancung-mancung, 317

terus. Terus banyak yang bisa diliput pertama kali nyampe aku minta dibawa 318

ke kota tua, namanya pasar souk al madinah. Pasar itu adalah pasar yang 319

digunakan sebagai salah satu jalur sutera tempat persinggahan dan itu pasar itu 320

keren banget tua, keren banget tua, aku bisa bayangin googling dulunya kaya 321

apa. Sekarang aku lihat seperti apa, dulu seperti apa. Dan memang jauh banget 322

bedanya, pasar yang begitu keren, ebgitu antik. Kemudian rusak, karena 323


14

perang dan dalam perkembangannya pasar itu ke tempat permandian tua, 324

umm… aku juga datangi. Terus apalagi, tempat-tempat yang menarik lah. 325

Mesjid-mesjid. Terus gereja aku ga sempet akrena itu di kawasan lain. Terus. 326

Kawasan industri aku masuk. Sekolah yang sudah kosong. Tidak ada murid 327

lagi, terus aku ke tempat para pengungsi di azas itu, apalagi ya. Banyak sih 328

menurutku 329

P : Oke nah, kan mas bilang kota tuanya udah pasar itu udah hancur sekolahnya 330

udah gak ada lagi, jadi aktivitas warga di sana ngapain aja. 331

S : Ya mereka tetep bekerja kalo bisa bekerja ya bekerja, yang menjual barang 332

ya menjual gitu, jual roti, menjual sepatu, menjual tempat tidur dan lain-lain. 333

Yang mahasiswa banyakan udah tidak kuliah mendukung pemberontak gitu. 334

Terus yang PNS, banyak berhenti, guru berhenti. Banyak di antara mereka 335

yang angkat senjata untuk melawan pemerintah. 336

P : Oke, saat di refugee camps, mas juga pergi meliput ke situ kan ya. Yang Mas 337

lihat apa? 338

S : Banyak, banyak sekali. Banyak sekali yang aku lihat di situ, mulai dari WC 339

yang tidak layak. Ranjau darat di mana-mana. Terus ya itu tenda-tenda 340

pengungsi seperti apa mereka dalam situ. Artinya perang itu aku melihat anak-341

anak bagaimana kehilangan pendidikan, keluarga mereka, masa depan mereka. 342

Aku pakek, ya aku ngobrol-ngobrol dengan pembimbing anak-anak, dari awal 343

aku udah nyiapin silver queen lima atau 10 gitu, aku bawa Sugus empat pak 344

yang gede. Aku tahu karena pengungsi anak-anak itu iya itu mungkin akan 345

membantu atau bisa menjadi gaya diplomasi lain selain rokok. Bagaimana 346

mendekati anak-anak dan aku menyesal kenapa aku tidak membawa banyak 347

lagi. Karena memang aku sebelumnya pernah liputan ke Tentena, Poso gitu 348


15

ya. Dan aku mendengar berbagai cerita anak-anak yang menjadi korban dari 349

peristiwa Ambon. Eh kok Ambon, Poso. Anak-anak. Itu dari dua sisi, aku 350

semakin yakin perang adalah lingkaran setan untuk anak-anak karena 351

kehilangan orang tua kerabat mereka, mereka jadi dendam. Suatu saat mereka 352

bisa meledak dan membalaskan dendam dan anaknya yang jadi korban 353

kemudian juga akan begitu terus. Ini satu menilai ini generasi yang hilang di 354

suriah, mereka generasi yang hilang 355

P : Menyaksikan lingkaran setan itu karena mas liputannya satu bulan di situ ya. 356

Bagaimana itu membuat mas merasa, perasaan 357

S : Aku nangis, aku nangis waktu melihat anak-anak itu mereka bermain tarik 358

tambang aku ketawa, mereka ketawa-ketawa kemudian aku nangis melihat 359

nasib mereka. Anak-anak yang kecil yang masa depan tuh tidak terlihat sama 360

sekali, gitu. Itu satu generasi yang hilang satu masa yang dan masa satu 361

P : Itu masnya nangis di depan mereka 362

S : Ya nggak lah, aku agak menghindar sedikit. Gitu lah. Mereka tidak punya 363

masa depan, hanya ada lingkaran setan. Jika tidak disikapi serius, rehabilitasi 364

itu makan biaya 365

besar, makan waktu yang sangat lama. Gitu. Aku juga datang ke rumah sakit darurat, 366

masih ada mereka rusak karena apa, aku melihat orang mati di depanku. 367

Pemberontak yang terluka dibawa kemudian dia mati. 368

P : Oke 369

S : Waktu itu ada satu mobil, perang lagi hebat-hebatnya, I had to wait at the 370

hospital so seperti satu mobil ngebut berhenti menurunkan satu orang luka 371

dibungkus selimut, selimutnya dibuka terlihat dagingnya sudah tidak ada 372

darahnya ngucur. Dokter mencoba menyelamatkan dia. Kemudian dokternya 373

IC-2a

IC-2b

IC-2b


16

menggeleng, kalo ga salah dokter Omar, ada semua itu di tulisanku. Dan 374

setelah itu, rekan-rekannya teriak, “Takbir Allahuakbar.” Bagi mereka itu 375

mereka syahid 376

P : Mati syahid. Mas Pram sering atau seberapa sering melihat orang mati 377

S : Sekali itu aja 378

P : Sekali itu aja ya, oke 379

S : Sekali itu aja. Melihat orang terluka banyak, melihat darah berceceran 380

banyak, sering. Melihat orang-orang yang masa perawatan, luka-luka mereka 381

iya. Begitulah. 382

P : Melihat darah, melihat orang yang terluka, bahkan mati di depan Mas Pram. 383

Perasannya melihat itu 384

S : Campur aduk ya, sangat campur aduk terus aku juga gak di sisi lain aku tidak 385

boleh larut dalam perasaan, ketika menulis tidak boleh pake perasaan itu. 386

Artinya tidak menyertakan perasaanku dalam tulisan. Nah, ya… ini lompat-387

lompat gak apa-apa ya. Melihat anak-anak yang bertahan di Allepo ada kakek 388

membawa dua anak dua cucunya yang masih sangat kecil, itu hari terakhir di 389

Allepo ketika perang makin menggila, mortir di mana-mana, terus apa 390

namanya anak kecil itu begitu tiung dhuar, dia cuma kaget. Terus dia mainan 391

lagi (gebrak meja), anak ini sakit, orang gue langsung gini kan (menunduk), 392

ngeri, dia lari-lari main-main lagi. Gila. Aku tidak bisa membayangkan 393

gedenya gimana ya, seperti apa yang dialami, luka batin apa yang dialami, 394

trauma-trauma itu 395

P : Nah Mas Pram membawa bekal contohnya bekal dan rokok, selain itu apa 396

yang dibawa? 397

1C-1a


17

S : Rompi anti peluru, terus handphone, baju, biasalah, obat-obatan. Terus 398

apalagi ya, itu aja sih. Laptop. 399

P : Nah oke laptop. Mas Pram katanya waktu itu pernah sakit karena kedinginan, 400

boleh diceritain mas 401

S : Batuk, pilek. Flu lah. Pusing kepala. Gitu 402

P : Waktu awal-awal dateng? 403

S : Enggak, waktu aku dateng kan musim dingin sedang dimulai gak sampai 404

parah banget. 14 derajat 15 derajat lumayan lah dinginnya. Sementara 405

penghangatnya tidak sepanjang waktu berfungsi 406

P : Bawa obat waktu itu? 407

S : Bawa obat, perban. Apalagi ya, gitu sih. 408

P : Nah, Mas Pram sempat cerita ada momen-momen yang bikin ngeliput itu 409

adalah takut momen apa saja yang bisa bikin takut 410

S : Waktu awal masuk bawaannya takut, bawaannya mati nih gua mati nih gua. 411

Terus juga namanya itu kan perang pertamaku ya beberapa wartawan kami 412

ngobrol mereka pengalamannya di Irak di mana-mana, Arab Spring juga 413

ngeliput ketika ada. Lu udah pernah ke mana aja. Well it’s my first war. What 414

are you insane, why? This is the worst war ever. Ya, I just have to go because 415

my office told me to go. That’s it. Gitu 416

P : Waktu awal-awal sempat takut ya 417

S : Ya, takut lah. Itu sebenarnya ada kok, ketakutanku terbaca dalam itu, aku 418

menunjukkan rasa takut. Karena sniper di mana-mana, kayak aku jalan dari 419

titik ini ke titik ini, aku harus lari. Aku harus nunduk, gitu. Ya kalo orang yang 420

pertama set lewat, kedua lewat, orang ketiga, potensi kena sniper-nya gede. 421

Orang pertama kedua potensi sniper-nya dikit, orang ketiga kelima gedenya. 422

IC-1d

IC-3c

IC-3c


18

P : Perasaan Mas Pram melihat perang apa? 423

S : Iya, perang itu tidak pernah ada kenikmatan dari perang. Perang itu pada 424

akhirnya itu tidak pernah ada yang menang dari perang, korban utama perang 425

adalah anak-anak, seperti disebutkan sebelumnya. Gitu. kesedihanku yang 426

utama itu melihat anak-anak itu 427

P : Oke, nah sebelum akhirnya bisa pergi ke suriah, apa bekal yang diberikan 428

kantor atau training diberikan kantor 429

S : Gak ada 430

P : Hah, gak ada 431

S : Gak ada 432

P : Langsung 433

S : Langsung pergi, dikasih rompi aja. Langsung pergi, aku baca buku AJI dan 434

ngobrol Qoris Tajudin. Itu aja. Tapi tempo berarti punya rompo anti peluru ya. 435

Baru dibeli pas aku mau jalan. Aku mintanya rompi, helm, telepon satelit. 436

Yang dikasih hanya rompi aja 437

P : Yang dikasih hanya rompi aja ya. Terus Mas Pram belajar untuk 438

mempersiapkan diri belajar sendiri. 439

S : Belajar sendnri, feeling aja, baca-baca itu sebenernya bukan standar yang 440

baik ya. Kayak Reuters atau banyak media asing lah mereka itu punya 441

mengadakan latihan khusus termasuk mengenali suara-suara tembakan, kayak 442

misalnya apakah suara Ak-47 seperti apa sih. Terus suara MG seperti apa, 443

machine gun. Suara yang biasa dipake tentara amerika M4, A1 kan. Itu kan 444

mereka mengenali suara-suara itu sebagai mana how to survive lah. 445

Standarnya seperti apa, ya. Aku gak diberikan itu sih. Gak ada petunjuk 446


19

wartawan pergi ke perang. Jalan, jalan aja. Tapi kami asuransi. Kalo ada 447

kenama-kenapa mak gw dapet duit banyak lah. 448

P : Berarti Mas Pram sempet bilang pake feeling aja 449

S : Ya kadang-kadang harus pake feeling 450

P : Contohnya mas 451

S : Gini, aku pernah menunggu fixer yang akan membantuku di dalam, ditanya 452

fixer di azas, di aleppo. Dia nanya, si aku lupa namanya. Si ini ke mana. Dia 453

lagi di depan, garis depan. Terus tanya sama fixernya, mau nunggu di sini, 454

atau kita ke garis depan. Aku bilang kita ke garis depan aja, feelingku bilang 455

ke garis depan. Ketemu sama dia kan, ketemu fixer ini kan, itu udah dari situ. 456

Kami berdua gitu kan, aku udah ganti fixer. Fixer azas ninggalin kami, terus 457

ada dua wartawan salah satunya ini dari meksiko dia mengajak meliput sniper. 458

Waktu itu udah sore menjelang mahgrib, merek angajakin, aku bilang ah 459

enggak enggak 460

P : Di garis depan 461

S : Iya, tapi sniper gak harus di depan. Dhuar, dan suaranya itu kan khas banget, 462

kalo suara tembakan sniper itu khas banget. Sangat khas. Gitu. 463

P : Setelah ada suara mendegar suara sniper yang khas? 464

S : Dari situ itu sudah ketahuan posisinya di mana bawah gedung. Wartawan ini 465

ngambil gambar, menjelang gelap, mereka menggunakan flash, gak lama 466

kemudian aku mendengar sniper ini agak kesel mengumpat. yaiyalah tong, lu 467

mau motret pake flash kan keliatan, namanya sniper kan snipe. Gak boleh 468

ketahuan opsisinya, begitu ketahuan posisnya, kan dia bakal dihajar sniper 469

lain, dihajar tank, kelar udah hidupnya. Dia agak kesel. Itu feeling. Begitu 470

balik ke tempat pertama ada fixer-ku dari Allepo lu mau ke sini apa ke garis 471


20

depan, balik ke sana aku melihat darah di mana-mana. Gak lama habis kami 472

jalan itu, aku sempet denger mortir ternyata itu jatuh di tempat kami harusnya 473

menunggu dia. Dan disitu ada satu orang mati. Tiga orang terluka. Itu kayak 474

kompleks ruko gitu pemukiman. Ruko lah. Kehajar sama mobil. Itu feeling. 475

Itu feelingku adalah tidak berada di situ, aku berjalan. Dan ternyata benar. Itu 476

dia kenapa aku bilang ke kamu, ini adalah ini bagian memelihara rasa takut, 477

memelihara feeling gitu. Lanjut 478

P : Tapi kalo terlalu banyak takut jadi irasional atau? 479

S : Iya, terlalu takut juga akhirnya menjadi gak bener juga kan. Tapi menurutku 480

aku memelihara rasa takut hanya supaya tetap ada, bukan dia tumbuh dan 481

berkembang. Karena aku tahu kalo kemudian aku takut nanti itu berpengaruh 482

banyak pada tulisanku. Musuh terbesar manusia itu apa, kamu orang cina, 483

chinese kan. Aku gak bermaksud rasis, tapi ada 14 pedoman hidup manusia, 484

musuh utama manusia itu apa? 485

P : Umm… dirinya sendiri? 486

S : Yes, musuh utama adalah diri sendiri. Ketika aku di turki aku bangun di siti 487

musuhku muncul, kemalasan, ketakutan, di situ kemudian aku berat untuk 488

bersiap udah jalan terus jalan terus. Lama kelamaan biasa aja gitu. Iya begitu 489

juga ketika liputan pun aku pikir aku menilai ceritaku cukup oke, bahan-bahan 490

aku, reportaseku cukup banyak. Daging yang kudapatkan besar, aku reportase 491

langsung. Tapi karena aku berada ribuan kilometer dari kantor ini, gak ada 492

yang ngawasin aku. Gak ada yang tahu aku ngapain di situ, aku bisa gak bikin 493

berita ngarang 494

P : Bisa 495


21

S : Tinggal cari nama-nama bahasa Arab, Abu Omar, Alayidin, terus siapa lagi, 496

Mustafa, siapa lagi. Dan itu dilakukan ada wartawan yang melakukan itu, 497

orang Indonesia, dia basednya pernah di jakarta dan aku tahu dia melakukan 498

itu. Dia liputan dari hotel dengan mengambil koran lokal. Ya itu satu sisi, tapi 499

sisi yang lain, kalo kamu tahu 500

P : Wartawan Indonesia pertama kali masuk Suriah siapa? 501

S : Namanya Mustafa Abdul Rahman, aku baca anjrit dia duluan masuk ke iglit. 502

Dan setelah aku baca, lu mau nulis apa. Cuma enam jam di sana. Lu cuma 503

mampir, ngopi, haha hihi, balik kan. Lu mau nulis apa enam jam itu dan dia 504

kalo Kompas coba kamu lihat berita internasionalnya Kompas Timur Tengah, 505

kejadian Timur Tengah seperti disampaikan Mustafa Abdul Rahman dari 506

Kairo, mesir. Lu mau nulis apa, lu ada di Kairo, tapi kemudian liputannya di 507

Suriah. Lu liputan apa di sana, ya gak 508

P : Iya 509

S : Akhirnya dia kan hanya mantau wire, itu tinggal dilakukan di jakarta juga 510

bisa, kenapa harus dari mesir. Ini bukan kemudian ini media ya, persaingan ya. 511

Ini persoalan, kita tidak jujur, apa bedanya dengan lu bilang dilaporkan oleh 512

Mustafa Abdul Rahman dari Korea, apa bedanya? Sama aja, kalo hanya ambil 513

dari media lokal. Ya kan. Itu nggak jujur hanya untuk menunjukkan kedekatan 514

bagaimana dia ada di daerah yang tidak jauh, apa bedanya? Nah itu berpotensi 515

untuk kulakukan. Ada gak godaan itu? Ada. Itu saat aku menulis terakhir. Ini 516

gua mau nulis dari mana ya. Gini, kalo menulis di Tempo itu empat halaman 517

sekitar 9.000-12.000 karakter. Itu untuk empat halaman majalah ya. Ketika 518

aku sampai 5.000 karakter atau 8.000 aku merasa tulisan ini gak cocok aku 519

hapus mulai dari awal, ini yang kemudian yang terjadi ini mau nulis dari 520

IC-3a


22

bahan yang mana ya. Yang penting buatku itu lead, ketika lead sudah dapat, ke 521

bawahnya enak. Kalo lead belum dapet wah setengah mati. Yaudah, itu udah 522

jadi. Akhirnya aku rombak total, godaan itu muncul ketika aku harus 523

merombak itu gimana ya, tapi kemudian aku diem. Itu salahnya aku, aku 524

dikasih tau sama dia… waktu itu dia… posisinya apa ya… pemred tempo edisi 525

bahasa Inggris si Ebi. Kemudian memberitahukan ke aku, “Kamu jangan 526

langsung menulis, kamu istiraat dulu, main-main dulu baru kemudian menulis. 527

Bener aku melakukan itu, aku satu hari memutuskan untuk tidak nulis, aku 528

jalan-jalan. Berharap ada nasi padang ternyata gak ada juga, masih belum 529

buka juga. Masih bego gitu, masih cari-cari di Kilis belum buka juga. Ya 530

mencari sesuatu yang lain lah, liatin cewe-cewe Turki Suriah, ngeteh. Ya, 531

kemudian aku balik ke kamar, mulai aku dapet. Dapet leadnya, lancar 532

menulisnya. Tulisanku hampir gak diedit sama sekali. Hampir gak ediedit. 533

Gitu 534

P : Berarti pernah mengalami juga namanya liputan itu buntu gitu ya, buntu ide? 535

S : Kalo sehari-hari ya pernah, kayak sekarang aja buntu makanya muka gue 536

lecek banget. Ya tapi kalo di sana ya… enggak. Itungannya enggak. Karena 537

terlalu banyak yang bisa ditulis. Sisi liputan perang itu bukan ekslusivitasnya, 538

tapi reportasenya. Pada otentik tidaknya liputan itu, ketika kita bisa melihat 539

langsung peristiwa di situlah nilai berita. Bukan eksklusifnya, bahwa 540

kemudian kita dapat bahan eksklusif, toh itu tidak mengurangi makna tulisan. 541

P : Oke, kalo. Kalo misalnya Mas Pram sehari-hari lagi jenuh terus gak nulis 542

kerjanya ngapain aja Mas? 543

S : Bentar. Kenapa-kenapa? 544

P : Kalo lagi jenuh dan gak bisa nulis apa yang dilakukan waktu tahun 2012 itu? 545

IC-3b


23

S : Ngerokok, jalan-jalan, chatting, tidur, udah itu aja 546

P : Muter-muter doang ya 547

S : Ya, palingan ngelepas tekanan-tekanan dulu gitu. 548

P : Dari banyak hal yang berkaitan dengan human interest diliput mana yang 549

kira-kira mas paling suka liputannya? 550

S : Semuanya aku suka ya. Semuanya aku suka. Ehm… karena kita feature soal 551

bangunan tua, nggak bisa kita samakan dengan feature anak-anak pengungsi 552

karena masing-masing board-nya sisi-sisi menariknya berbeda. Atau soal para 553

jihadis, itu kan berbeda. Semuanya aku suka menggali sisi manusiawi itu 554

menyenangkan. 555

P : Oke, liputannya yang paling berkesan? 556

S : Hmm… semuanya berkesan mulai dari awal hingga akhir tidak ada yang 557

tidak berkesan, semuanya berkesan. Peristiwa kecil-kecil pun berkesan, ketika 558

aku pertama kali tiba terus nanya pemberontak berewokan badannya gede, 559

sebelahnya ada AK 47. Muslim? 560

P : Ada apa mas? 561

S : Muslim, ada AK47 di sebelahnya. Fixer ku bilang, “La la la.”. Tell him I 562

come from the largest Muslim country in the world. Gak ada yang bilang. 563

Terus tanya, negara lu mana gitu. Indonesia. Huh, Russia? La la la. Indonesia, 564

Indonesia. Terus ada satu yang bilang welcome-welcome brother, mereka 565

cium tiga kali. Mau nangis rasanya, itu pelukan terindah. Aku mikir mati nih 566

gue mati nih gue 567

P : Apakah itu kemudian… 568

S : Dan kemudian aku diberikan tasbih 569

P : Oke, masih disimpen? 570

IC-1a

IC-1a

IC-1c


24

S : Masih 571

P : Apakah identitas menjadi orang Indonesia tapi agamanya Katolik itu 572

mempersulit atau bagaimana? 573

S : Nggak. Nggak, karena aku gak berada yang dikuasai ekstremis. Kalo mereka 574

yang lebih fundamen lagi seperti Al-Nusro gitu ya, Jabat Al-nusra. Mereka 575

adalah kelompoknya AL-Qaeda, perwakilan al-qarda di Suriah 576

P : Nah, kelompok pemberontak yang Mas Pram ini embed dengan mereka ini 577

namanya apa? 578

S : Ehm… aduh aku lupa. Ada kok namanya di… Elang Timur kalo gak salah. 579

P : Oke. Bawa berapa koper mas? 580

S : Ga bawa koper aku, cuma bawa dua tas. Satu carrier dan satu backpack 581

P : Berarti dua aja gitu ya 582

S : Okeh. Sip wawancaranya selesai 583

P : Sudah 584

S : Mas Pram terus aku caranya baca artikel itu gimana? 585

P : Nanti aku kirim pdf-nya. 2014 aku ke perbatasan Turki Suriah, mencoba 586

untuk mencari pintu masuk ke Suriah lagi, ketemu tapi di akhir. Aku dapat 587

akses sehari sebelum pesawatku. Sebelum aku kembali ke Indonesia, 588

sementara itu sudah ku perpanjang. Yaudahlah balik aja lah. Gitu. Di situ aku 589

meliput ISIS orang-orang kita yang bergabung dengan ISIS. Dan aku sempet 590

melihat bendera ISIS meskipun dari kejauhan banget, lingkungannya aku di 591

sini. PAgernya di situ, di pilar. Itu Suriah, aku di Acakale. Provinsinya 592

Ganziete, di kejauhan di sana ada jauuuuuuhhhh ada bendera hitam dan itulah 593

bendera ISIS gitu. Masuk wilayah konflik jelas itu masuk wilayah konflik, itu 594

suasana kebatinannya lebih mengerikan. Karena potensiku diculik besar 595


25

sekali, belum lama ada jurnalis Jepang, Mika Yamamoto. Enggak deh, dia 596

mati di Allepo, aku lupa jurnalis Jepang yang dipenggal itu. Gak lama 597

kemudian Stephen Shockloft, aku lupa ya jurnalis Jepang siapa digorok. Itu 598

lebih mengerikan, bukan mengerikan tapi cukup mengerikan. Berhadapan 599

dengan kelompok radikal yang bisa menculikmu membunuhmu gitu. 600


26


Nama : Stefanus Pramono 2

TTL : Jakarta, 1981 3

Pendidikan : Jurnalistik, IISIP Jakarta 4

Media : Majalah Tempo 5

Posisi/Jabatan : Redaktur 6

Lokasi : Gedung Tempo, Jakarta Selatan 7

Waktu : Selasa, 17 Juli 2018/ 20.19 - 21.25 WIB 8

9

P : Peneliti 10

S : Stefanus 11

12

P : Mas Pram, dalam rangkaian skripsi 13

S : Hehe, oke 14

P : Mau nanya-nanya nih mas, follow up questions dari wawancara kita yang 15

pertama beberapa bulan yang lalu tentang pengalamannya mas Pram meliput 16

perang di Suriah 17

S : Alhamdulillah kakiku belum bau, sori. Terus, terus 18

P : Besok muncul di koran gak nih wawancaranya 19

S : Gak 20

P : Hehe 21

S : Oke nah. Terus 22

P : Waktu wawancara pertama itu kan bahas pengalaman mas Pram kerja di 23

Tempo, pengalamannya mas Pram kronologis ditugaskan ke Suriah sampai 24

akhirnya masuk ke Suriah. Nah sekarang aku mau tanya aftermath apa yang 25

terjadi setelah mas Pram satu bulan di sana 26

S : Kamu sudah baca tulisanku belum 27

P : Udah 28

26


27

S : Sudah semuanya? 29

P : Gak semua lah 30

S : Kamu harus baca semuanya dulu biar kamu tahu yang aku hadapi, hm… 31

P : Mau tau nih mas waktu sebelum mas Pram balik ke Indonesia mas Pram kan 32

bilang mau makan nasi padang 33

S : Not important 34

P : Waktu pas pertama balik nih ke Indonesia, apa yang pertama kali mas Pram 35

lakukan? 36

S : Makan sop kambing di deket rumah dua porsi 37

P : Di Bekasi ya? 38

S : Itu masuknya Jakarta Timur 39

P : Keluar-keluar dari bandara kemudian apa namanya, aku dijemput temenku 40

aku bilang sop kambing. Begitu 41

S : Berarti dijemput sama temen ya. Oke, terus ngapain lagi mas? 42

P : Libur lima hari, tiga hari. Aku bodoh sih harusnya lebih lama lagi 43

S : Aku harus kirim dulu ke kamu, aku khawatir kamu gak menangkap apa yang 44

aku alami, kamu biar bisa meraba-raba apa yang aku alami dari berbagai 45

peristiwa yang aku lihat. Kamu perlu mencari semua tulisan itu di koran 46

maupun majalah maupun online. You have to tell me kalo kamu belum dapet, 47

karena kalo kamu mau mendapatkan penelitian yang lebih ini bukan demi aku 48

ya buat kamu aja, membantumu memahami posisiku yang aku hadapi, 49

pengalaman itu sih 50

P : Yang aku baca itu yang edisi terakhir ya sebelum mas Pram pulang yang 51

majalah waktu mas Pram cerita dibecandain bom pemberontaknya lari mas 52

Pram diem 53

S : Hm oke, ada cerita soal anak kecil ada juga kan? Bagaimana aku menulis 54

soal anak-anak itu 55


28

P : Yang itu belum punya Mas 56

S : Kamu udah dapet softnya belom sih? Aku lupa pernah ngirimin gak 57

P : Pernah satu 58

S : Itu udah lengkap, udah baca belom? 59

P : Nah oke. Terus setelah libur tiga hari nih mas Pram 60

S : Lupa aku tiga apa lima hari 61

P : Sama kantor dikasih ya itu 62

S : Iyalah dikasih kalo gak ditampolin 63

P : Selama libur ngapain aja mas sebelumnya kan di Suriah pasti liputannya 64

beda banget sama apa yang dihadapi di Indonesia 65

S : Iya, memang berbeda. Terus ini apa nih? 66

P : Maksudnya tahun 2012, mas Pram itu mas Pram ngurusinnya investigasi kan 67

ya 68

S : Enggak, aku masih di koran jadi redaktur 69

P : Ngurusin nasional bukan sih? 70

S : Nasional, politik 71

P : Boleh tahu Mas ritme kerjanya kaya gimana sih? 72

S : Bentar-bentar, ini mau nanya apaan? 73

P : Ya mau nanya nulis perang dan nulis berita on a daily basis gimana sehari-74

hari 75

S : Kerjanya dari siang sampe pagi, aku punya masalah dengan tidur aku punya 76

masalah yang agak lumayan kali ya, hmm… oke terus jadi aku kerja ya rapat 77

siang, terus rapat ngecekin barang, mantau-mantau semuanya. Aku udah 78

mantau apa yang bisa ditulis dari bangun, udah gitu rapat siang, rapat check in 79

terus sambil mantau bahan mulai menulis sore itu di atas jam 6 aku sudah 80


29

mulai nulis. Ngedit, bikin penugasan, entah tidur kantor entah tidur pulang. 81

Biasanya baru tidur jam 4, 5, kadang jam 6 pagi 82

P : Itu mas Pram posisinya redaktur tuh tiap hari pergi liputan 83

S : Gak, aku liputan tapi beberapa kali. Gak sering ya aku turun untuk melihat 84

teman-teman reporterku terus apa lagi ya, mencari bahan bersama gitu dan 85

lain-lain. Terus, selain menulis dan mengedit aku juga membuat evaluasi 86

hampir semua reporterku. Terus rapat, rapat, dan rapat kurang lebih begitu 87

P : Menulis beritanya yang kaya gimana 88

S : Straight news atau feature, kami tidak sampai indepth karena sifatnya daily, 89

ya gak bisa diharapkan kalo daily itu susah. Gitu 90

P : Nulis beritanya itu lebih kepada misalnya ada reporter ada tiga, terus mas 91

Pram itu compile jadi satu atau gimana? Atau straight news satu peristiwa aja 92

S : Biasanya megang dua halaman gitu terus 93

P : Berarti 94

S : Kerekam gak nih? 95

P : Kerekam 96

S : Berarti mas pram sempet turun ke lapangan meski posisinya udah redaktur 97

gitu ya, ikut motret juga gak mas 98

P : Gak 99

S : Jadi bener-bener reporting and writing gitu ya, sedangkan waktu di Suriah 100

mas Pram kan motret iya, udah gitu nulis juga iya, kerasa gak bedanya? 101

P : Hmm… iya. Pasti terasa karena apa namanya, aku gak suka jadi redaktur, 102

aku gak suka editin orang, karena aku jadi di belakang meja saja. Oke terus. 103

Aku gak terlalu suka di koran karena aku di belakang meja, aku adalah orang 104

lapangan. I’m a fucking journalist, sorry ya ada F word. Aku jurnalis dan aku 105

merasa tempat gue di lapangan bukan di belakang meja, tapi aku tuh 106

membawa stres sendiri sih gak bisa turun ke lapangan karena persoalan waktu, 107


30

harus manage isu, manage anak buah. Anak buahku satu titik itu pernah 18-20 108

orang kali, eh nggak. 16-20 orang. Sekitaran itu. Dan ya temen kerjaku juga 109

banyak yang di kantor itu enam orang kalo gak salah. 110

S : Berarti pas perbedaannya terasa dong waktu di Indonesia mas jadi redaktur di 111

koran sedangkan di Suriah di lapangan? 112

P : Ya I love it of course. Gitu 113

S : Soalnya kerjanya di lapangan ya? 114

P : Yap, kaya sekarang aku sekarang posisinyaaku kan magang tiga ya, aku 115

turun ke lapangan. Pantatku panas kalo di sini, kadang-kadang kita. Aku 116

dikenal galak sih. Cynical, ya probably perhaps siapa si Camelia sudah cerita 117

soal aku gitu ya. Cynical. Dan lain-lain lah. Ya tapi aku di situ kemudian 118

mengasah menularkan ilmuku seperti apa. 119

S : Mas Pram waktu di Suriah kan on the ground iya, reporting iya writing iya. 120

Moto juga iya, buat tempo.co, Tempo majalah, sama Tempo koran. Gimana 121

tuh? Manage kerjanya? 122

P : Di sana? 123

S : Gini, aku tidak bisa aku bukan fotografer yang canggih gitu. Tapi aku belajar 124

fotografi pas aku belajar kuliah, menurutku aturan yang penting itu kan aturan 125

sepertiga, udah tau aturan sepertiga? Sama astrada, asal terang gambar ada. 126

Udah gitu doang kan. Perkara angle dan lain-lain, ya itu urusan anak foto lah 127

ya yang penting aku motret-motret aja yang menarik jepret. Sebenernya enak, 128

aku merasa nyaman. Gini, aku dibebaskan untuk pokoknya lu berangkat-129

berangkat aja, perkara mau nulis apa. Tapi itu beban, karena gak ada drive-130

nya. Gak tahu apa namanya, gak tau pasti apa yang mau kutulis, kantor 131

maunya apa. Terus aku juga gak tahu siapa aja yang harus aku wawancara, 132

tapi kemudian yaudah improvisasi aja. Dijanjikan ini itu sama redakturnya, 133

ternyata dia gak memberikan pengarahan. Yaudah aku jalan sendiri aja, aku 134

bebas walaupun itu menjadi tekanan ya. Ya harus mednapatkan cerita yang 135

bagus dan hidup. Aku mulai merancang itu sambil di jalan, apa sih yang bisa 136

ditulis selain perang itu sendiri. Dampak dari perang. Perang itu dampak sisi 137


31

humanisnya apa. Ketika aku lari ke tempat-tempat bersejarah, aku lari ke 138

pengungsian, ketemu anak-anak, ketemu guru. Ngobrol banyak dengan 139

mereka. The story about a war is not only about the war itself gitu, tapi ada 140

begitu banyak sisi yang bisa kita liput dan gak perlu juga menjadikan itu 141

liputan investigatif, karena kita sudah di sana nilai eksklusivitas tidak begitu 142

penting. Karena Tempo kan cenderung memainkan isu-isu eksklusif, 143

wawancara eksklusif. Nah di sana itu tidak begitu penting. Semua 144

mendapatkan bahan yang sama. Tergantung hoki juga tergantung kemapuan 145

kita menggali terus menentukan angle. Dan toh, yang cerita-cerita itu, cerita 146

yang hidup itu tidak akan basi kok tidak akan kalah eksklusivitas. Ya aku 147

banyak wawancara yang eksklusif memang termasuk dengan salah satu 148

komandannya itu kan. Nah itu keberuntungan lho bisa dapet. Yang sekaran 149

gak jelas masi idup atau enggak. Nggak penting-penting amat karena dia 150

kolonel. Sebagai perwira menengah militer Suriah yang itu juga sudah cerita 151

yang menarik buatku ya. Gitu 152

P : Oke nah, tadi mas Pram cerita bahwa mas Pram itu insomnia 153

S : Pertanyaanmu terakhir apa sebelum ini barusan? 154

P : Bedanya ngeliput 155

S : Oke. Ya aku waktu itu posisinya kan redaktur koran. Ya aku memotret apa 156

saja yang menurutku bagus. Tidak membuat video ya. Karena waktu itu ya 157

aku termasuk orang yang tidak terlalu aware dan yang main multimedia tidak 158

begitu banyak kan. Tapi ya, aku mencoba untuk maksimal dan aku bikin 159

tulisan untuk tiga media sekaligus kan. Kalo kamu baca tempo.co googling aja 160

namaku. Lebih terlihat tulisan-tulisan yang pernah kubikin. Itu akan terlihat. 161

Gitu. Nah, kebebasan itu menurutku yang nggak kudapatkan selama menjadi 162

redaktur koran ya. Aku mencoba untuk maksimal. 163

P : Berarti lebih suka waktu di Suriah daripada jadi redaktur nasional? 164

S : Aku gak tau apple to apple ya, gampangnya aku lebih suka liputan 165

ketimbang mengedit. Aku lebih suka menulis ketimbang menulis. Ketika aku 166

menulis aku gak suka tulisanku diedit 167


32

P : Di sana, internet itu kan Cuma ada di hotel di Turki ya Mas. 168

S : Aku baru inget, ada cuman aku gak nemu dan menurutku posisi itu lebih 169

mudah diketahui pemerintah. Karena mereka pasti akan menarget 170

perhitunganku ya, mereka akan menarget yang tempat-tempat yang mending 171

masuk untuk media gitu kan. Orang ketika di sana mereka mengirimkan video 172

atau apapun langsung ke-detect lokasinya, habis gitu kan 173

P : Berarti perbedaan proses menulis berita di Indonesia dan si Suriah itu terasa 174

banget ya karena Mas Pram harus pergi ke Turki dulu untuk dapat internet 175

S : Yak betul 176

P : Tadi mas Pram juga cerita mas Pram insomnia boleh diceritakan 177

S : Dari awal kerja di Tempo, terutama sejak di koran aku insomnia karena kan 178

setelah jam koran selesai jam 12 aku masih harus bikin penugasan memang 179

bergantian tapi aku mantau. Kalo ada yang kurang aku tambahin. Nah itu 180

kemudian berlanjut. Aku gak suka macet, buatku itu membuatku stres. Jadi 181

aku lebih suka pulang di atas jam 11 ketimbang aku pulang jam 8 atau 9. Jam 182

9 aja masih macet. Itu 183

P : Okeh, waktu di Suriah insomnia juga? 184

S : Nggak 185

P : Justru ilang? 186

S : Iya capek, lebih capek 187

P : Karena capet banget 188

S : Capek jadi itu membantu tidurku sih, jauh lebih capek karena aku kan harus 189

pergi liputan. Karena kalo aku berangkat liputan itu kan aku harus jalan satu 190

kilometer. Dari perbatasan ke Suriah itu harus bolak-balik, liputan jalan jauh. 191

Pulang balik lagi jadi ya gitulah 192

P : Mas Pram kan cerita fixer itu dibayar 100-200 dollar itu udah termasuk uang 193

makan? 194


33

S : Hmm termasuk bensin 195

P : Berarti kalo mas Pram laper beli makan dong? 196

S : Oh nggak itu buat dia, aku beli sendiri. Tapi aku pernah dikasih makan 197

bareng terus bahkan bertemu dengan istrinya ketika ada undangan ketika ada 198

pernikahan salah adik mereka, adik terkecil mereka di situ nikah. Aku diajak 199

makan. Tapi ketika istrinya mau dateng aku gak boleh 200

P : Gak muhrim ya Mas? 201

S : Soalnya itu kan bukan keluarga menunjukkan itu kan kebanyakan mereka 202

kan pake burka, mereka hanya boleh melepas ketika bersama keluarga. Dan 203

tapi salah satu fixer itu kemudian ngajakin aku ketemu istrinya, keluarganya, 204

anak-anaknya lucu. Aku masih inget anak-anaknya namanya Nina cantiknya 205

luar biasa. Dan dia waktu excited denganku, melihat aku ngajakin ngobrol 206

lewat bapaknya. Terus anaknya yang kecil Abdul Ibrahim ngajakin aku main 207

yang kecil itu di tengah gelap hanya diterangi lilin. Ya itu aku berkumpul 208

dengan mereka. Aku dikasih mukena. Aku udah cerita belom? 209

P : Tasbih doang 210

S : Aku dikasih mukena aku bilang mantan gua Muslim berkerudung. Terus aku 211

dikasih mukena. This is not for you. Ya of course not for me. This is for your 212

friend. 213

P : Mukena dari sana sama di sini sama gak mas? 214

S : Aku gak tau ya itu mukena dari Indonesia apa dari mana? 215

P : Tapi itu sama sama yang di sini? 216

S : Ya sama, buat solat aja kan. 217

P : Kalo di Indonesia insomnianya gimana Mas? 218

S : Aku belom pernah cerita soal trauma yang kuhadapi ya? 219

P : Belum 220


34

S : Aku trauma mendengar suara ledakan atau suara keras. November itu ya 221

balik. Terus aku mendengar suara knalpot dhuar gitu. Aku langsung dug-dug-222

dug. Nah puncaknya itu Desember pas tahun baru. Dhuar dhuwer, aku di 223

kamar nutupin pake guling karena aku gak tahan dengar suara itu. Itu 224

P : Saking di Suriah tuh sangat umum ya Mas ya mendengar suara ledakan? 225

S : Terlalu sering, termasuk mendengar suara tembakan sniper yah. Itu 226

P : Dan pas sampe di Indonesia itu jadi takut juga denger suara itu? 227

S : Yah, gak takut deg-degan sih. Gak nyaman dan lain-lain 228

P : Sampe Desember tahun baru apa itu masih berlanjut? 229

S : Hm, pelan-pelan itu hilang dengan sendirinya. Lebaran 2013 ya, itu sudah 230

membaik tapi masih belum karena aku kan terlalu bising gitu. 231

P : Kalo insomnianya sendiri bagaimana apakah itu tambah buruk? 232

S : Tambah buruk, tapi aku juga kan suka minum. Jadi kadang-kadang aku 233

mengakalinya dengan minum, tidur. Tapi tidak menjadi hal yang rutin ya. 234

Sayang juga lah minumnya mabok. Sayang minumannya bukan badannya. 235

Gitu 236

P : Setelah banyak minum alkohol? 237

S : Tidur lah, setelah mabok tidur. Aku dulu kan tidur di kantor, ya kalo di 238

kantor minum ya minum kalo lagi punya dan lagi pengen. Gitu, tapi not all the 239

time. Kalo lagi pengen aja 240

P : Mas Pram setelah balik dari Suriah ikut konseling gak? 241

S : Gak, bodohku di situ. Aku tidak sadar bahwa aku terkena PTSD. Baru sadar 242

itu kemudian setelah tahun baru. Sebenernya tahu, tapi sadarnya itu habis 243

tahun baru. Biasanya kan dhuar gitu, tapi abis tahun baru itu baru sadar. Aku 244

kena PTSD. Dan apakah itu mempengaruhi hidupku, ada pengaruhnya. Ya 245

adalah 246

P : Contohnya apa Mas? 247

IC-3a

IC-3c


35

S : Di satu sisi aku lebih menghargai hidup sih. Di sisi lain. Itu sisi positif ya, 248

tapi ada ketakutan-ketakutan. Bukan ketakutan, tapi tidak peduli dengan aku 249

jadi cenderung agak nekat. Kalo kemudian sedikit lebih kasar, kalo dulu kasar 250

ditambahin dikit. Ibaratnya tambah kasar banget. Terus hal-hal yang kejadian-251

kejadian yang kusadari aku jadi lebih jagoan ya. Penilaiannya itu terjadi jauh 252

setelah itu kok gw jadi sok jago ya. Yang ketika kejadian itu nggak, biasa aja. 253

Keras aja. Begitu 254

P : Sok jagonya di kejadian mana nih Mas? 255

S : Ngelawan atasan, terus ya sebelumnya aku juga ngelawan tapi jadi kalo gini 256

ya gini, kalo gamau ya udah 257

P : Itu di lingkungan kerja terasa ya? 258

S : Lebih di lingkungan kerja sih, aku nggak drastis ya 259

P : Kalo sebelum ke Suriah kan pasti ada suara petasan dan suara knalpot yang 260

berisik banget, setelah kembali ke Suriah? Merasakan berbeda? 261

S : Dulu? Sebelum itu? Biasa aja, paling sedikit kaget. Dhuar, lebih terasa 262

kagetnya 263

P : Selain jantungnya dug-dug-dug, reaksi lain? 264

S : Lebih kaget terus ketika kamu jantung berdetak biasanya sedikit lebih 265

membuatku lebih merasakan detakku terasa lebih lama sih. Lebih lama, 266

artinya detak cepatnya itu terasa lebih lama. Tapi hanya pada suara keras ya 267

P : Selain jadi sok jagoan terus makin nekat di kantor. Apalagi Mas? 268

S : Sok jagoan tuh artinya bukan ah gue mampu, tapi lebih gak berhitung. Gak 269

berpikir yaudah gak berpikir terlalu jauh. 270

P : Selain itu pernah gak Mas kebayang-kebayang akan perang ada flashback 271

atau tiap kali ada gelap jadi takut atau apa? 272

S : Kalo gelap mah enggak. Enggak sih rasa itu ya, tapi sebenernya tuh gini. 273

Jarang banget. Tapi pernah muncul. Ingatan-ingatan masa lalu yang flashback 274

tapi cepat sekali. Tiba-tiba muncul, kemudian muncul dan membuat aku diem 275


36

tiba-tiba teringat misalnya ketika aku ada di satu pom bensin aku lagi di naik 276

mobil. Pom bensin itu warnanya biru ada di kiri, tentu ya. Pom bensin selalu 277

di kiri. Hm… pom bensin itu kosong, baru. 278

P : Biru merknya apa tuh? Petronas ya? 279

S : Apa itu OVO, gak tau lah apa ya pokoknya bukan Pertamina. Pom bensin 280

kosong, bukan kosong tapi belum selesai dibangun masih ada sisa barang-281

barang ada batu-batuan, itu posisinya adalah sebelum exit Tol Jatiwaringin 282

kalo dari arah Cikampek. Aku sering lewat dari atas jembatan keliatan pom 283

bensinnya itu belom jadi tapi begitu dekat berhenti kemudian aku melihat 284

banyak batu tiba-tiba membawaku kembali ke satu titik ke satu titik aku 285

masuk ke Suriah aku melihat pom bensin yang hancur ditinggal sudah kosong. 286

Yang tutup karena perang itu membawaku ke situ. Aku minta temenku 287

berhenti dan aku diem, ini flashback. Kejadiannya mungkin belum lama ini, 288

empat bulan lima bulan enam bulan. Belum ada setahun ini 289

P : Berarti? Enam tahun setelah kembali dari Suriah masih bisa tetap dirasakan 290

ya perang perang 291

S : Flashback aja. Karena itu tidak mungkin dilupakan kecuali aku demensia 292

kena penyakit apalah, sampai sekarang aku masih ingat detail-detailnya. Anak 293

yang mengantar kecil yang, kakeknya yang bersama-sama nyari kob atau roti 294

tapi bisa masih kuingat mukanya seperti apa, fixer-ku seperti apa. Terus 295

bagaimana apa namanya, bagaimana raut muka orang yang memberikan aku 296

tasbih. Terus memelukku orang prajurit itu salah satu pemberontak yang aku 297

temui yang bertanya Moslem dengan badannya yang gemuk dan berewokan 298

menggunakan jaket loreng. Orang yang memelukku, orang yang kemudian 299

memberikan salam ke Suriah cium tiga kali, terus wajahnya Nina itu. Itu tidak 300

akan aku lupakan karena kita ada di situasi yang mungkin. Bagaimana bentuk 301

mimbarnya itu masih tergambar. Nah itu bisa menjadi itu baru kemudian. Kalo 302

aku menuliskan fakta, artinya story hanya kebohongan aku tidak akan bisa 303

menulis “Azan” 304

P : Soalnya masih terekam ya Mas ya? 305

IC-3b


37

S : Masih terekam jelas dan suatu itu akan terbuka, bisa dibuka. Dan tidak 306

terlalu sulit untuk membukanya tergantung yang ngusutin itu mau buka apa 307

nggak. Kalo buka doang itu cepat, Ya bahkan sampai sekarang aku masih 308

ingat anak yang lari ketika aku datang, lagi bermain ayunan yang temennya. 309

Apa namanya, masih ingetlah. Fixerku di Aleppo, ya 310

P : Kalo misalnya mendapatkan mimpi buruk atau tiba-tiba tidur bangun 311

keringat dingin? 312

S : Seingatku enggak 313

P : Apakah pembelajaran yang mas dapatkan Mas aplikasikan untuk investigasi? 314

S : Gak, lebih banyak koran. Lebih banyak ke mendidik anak-anak itu 315

bagaimana reportase bagaimana membuat feature ya, ini menurutku, bukan 316

kesombonganku. Tapi tulisanku dianggap bagus dan reportasenya juga 317

dianggap oke. Maka mereka meminta aku dari situ karena sudah memumpuni 318

ya aku memberikan pengalamanku ke mereka, juga ke orang-orang luar. Lebih 319

ke arah share pengalaman sih 320

P : Nah setelah balik dari Suriah, itu kan medan liputannya penuh dengan 321

kekerasan gitu ya 322

S : Ya 323

P : Apakah pas balik ke Indonesia langsung liputan mengalami gagap liputan 324

S : Nggak, nggak, kalo dari tingkat risiko kan ya probably it not compared to 325

Syria kan. Tiap-tiap liputan punya risiko sendiri, kadang-kadang aku suka 326

nekat di investigasi 327

P : Nekatnya kaya gimana? 328

S : Ya nyamar, seradak-seruduk, menyusup kaya aku menyamar jadi TKI naik 329

kapal, itu kamu bisa baca buku investigasi Tempo. Itu 330

P : Keseharian ngeliput di Suriah itu kaya gimana aja sih Mas? 331

S : Keseharian? 332


38

P : Job desc beda dengan redaktur tuh 333

S : Pagi bangun, jalan. Mandi dulu aku terbiasa mandi pagi dan keramas. Dulu 334

rambutku panjang. Merenungi nasib kenapa gue dikirim ke sini, mengalahkan 335

diri sendiri. Pagi hari bangun adalah proses yang paling sulit karena sudah 336

malas sudah capek ya. Tapi itu, proses mengalahkan diri itu takes time. Jadi 337

aku bisa setengah jam bisa menghabiskan rokok. Karena ya musuh terbesar 338

manusia adalah dirinya sendiri, dan aku alami sendiri bener-bener 339

mengalahkan diri sendiri. Berani maju lagi, bukannya takut ya. Berani cari 340

yang baru lagi. Kemudian biasanya aku gak sarapan, beli biskuit untuk 341

menghemat duit. Aku jalan kaki, naik taxi ke perbatasan ketemu fixer terus 342

kemudian langsung pergi sampe sore. Itu balik lagi jalan lagi naik taksi lagi 343

sampe ke hotel. Makan malem, letih, pulang makan sambil mencari lagi siapa 344

tahu ada nasi padang yang buka. Tidak ada nasi padang yang buka di Kilis, 345

gitu aja 346

P : Nah gitu aja, kalo makan siang atau makan malem makan apaan Mas? 347

S : Roti ya kebanyakan ya, kalo pun ada nasi nasinya beda dengan nasi yang di 348

sini. Beras kita itu beras yang beda dengan yang di sini, mereka cenderung 349

kayak istilahnya lebih 350

P : Panjang? 351

S : Gak selembut nasi kita dia agak keras 352

P : Kaya nasi biryani gak berasnya panjang? 353

S : Enggak, kaya ketan 354

P : Kaya KFC dong? 355

S : Enggak, enggak kaya ketan deng, lebih kayak kalo nasi kita kan menggempal 356

lengket 357

P : Pulen? Oh nasinya pera? 358

S : Iya butiran-butiran 359

P : Terus mas tantangan liputan di medan perang apa aja yang mas? 360


39

S : Yang paling besar mengalahkan diri sendiri, kemudian tidak memelihara rasa 361

takut alias sok berani, masuk minggu kedua udah mulai gak peduli mulai gak 362

takut itu aku pelihara ketakutan itu 363

P : Nah Mas itu kan agamanya Katolik sebelum ke Suriah apa Mas religius? 364

S : Aku biasa bawa cincin Rosario aku udah cerita belum? Belakangan gak doa, 365

aku cuman kun faya kun. Kamu Katolik apa Kristen? Tau doa Angelus? 366

P : Tau, doa yang jam 12 kan ya 367

S : Enam, 12, 6. Apa istilahnya ya, kok aku jadi lupa 368

P : Doa malaikat tuhan? 369

S : Yang keduanya itu apa? 370

P : Iya, mas Pram itu hmm… terbiasa berdoa gak sebelum pergi ke Suriah? 371

S : Nggak. Dan aku tidak banyak berdoa. Sebelum ke Suriah iya, berdoa berdoa 372

gitu. Bahkan waktu nerima penugasan kan berdoa 373

P : Ke gereja gak mas 374

S : Enggak 375

P : Enggak juga 376

S : Enggak 377

P : Terus tiba-tiba sebelum ke Suriah intens berdoa gitu? 378

S : Hm… intens berdoa, tipikal manusia lah, tipikal yang gitu 379

P : Nah sebelum pergi ke Suriah mas Pram jadi yang intens berdoa gitu? 380

S : Ya sedikit 381

P : Oh sedikit, terus pas di suriah berdoa mas 382

S : Sedikit, tapi lama kelamaan kun fayakun 383

P : Masih pake cincin rosario? 384


40

S : Enggak 385

P : Lepas? 386

S : Pake aja, tapi pake biasa aja 387

P : Doa angelus? 388

S : Enggak, cuma salam maria 389

P : Di sana makan siang atau makan siangnya apaan aja mas? 390

S : Ya itu, biasanya roti. Roti dalemnya kebab. Wuoh kebabnya enak banget 391

jangan disamain kayak kebab di sini di depan Indomaret. Itu jauh lebih enak 392

kebab-kebab enak banget 393

P : Kalo di sini tuh biasanya mas Pram toilet duduk apa jongkok, kalo di Suriah 394

gimana? 395

S : Jongkok 396

P : Atau di turki? Susah gak? 397

S : Di Turki duduk, ini apa pentingnya ya urgensi pertanyaannya? Relevansinya 398

apa? 399

P : Biasanya ada discomfort atau tantangan 400

S : Nggak lah itu, persoalannya satu doang, satu persoalan. Mereka kan tidak 401

pakai air 402

P : Oh, ceboknya pake tisu? 403

S : Dan aku gak suka pake tisu 404

P : Oke 405

S : Tapi akhirnya ya udah, aku selalu bawa botol akua yang penting airnya 406

nyala. Ditarik atasnya gitu kayak 407

P : Terus repot gak mas manage untuk nulis tempo.co, tempo koran, dan majalah 408


41

S : Ya aku udah mengatur ya, wawancara satu orang udah aku pisahin ini buat 409

bahan koran, mana yang bisa majalah ini bisa buat koran ini majalah gitu 410

P : Oke 411

S : Ya masak kalo sudah selevel redaktur membuat gitu saja mencari angle gak 412

bisa 413

P : Terus, foto juga foto bawa kamera kan ya 414

S : Bawa kamera dari kantor kamera poket katanya bagus punya, aku lupa 415

tipenya. Ya aku motret motret aja, yang penting ada terang aja kan 416

P : Merasa tertantang gak mas karena harus ngeliput iya, motret iya 417

S : Biasa aja, tapi malah ya aku malah aku seneng memotret. Cuma terlalu 418

fokus, karena aku wartawan tulis fokus tulisan, jarang mencoba angle-angle. 419

Mungkin bukan tantangan, ya anggap aja tantangan. Tapi iseng-iseng aja 420

mencari angle-angle yang menarik dan salah satu fotoku masuk ke 1000 Kata 421

P : Oh iya? Iya iya oke 422

S : Aku meliput itu awal-awal di Suriah, gitu sih 423

P : Oke, sip 424

S : Udah cukup? Oke 425


42


Nama : Darren Whiteside 2

TTL : Scarborough, Kanada, 15 Juni 1965 3

Pendidikan : Sejarah, Carleton University 4

Media : Reuters 5

Posisi/Jabatan : Chief Photographer 6

Lokasi : The City Tower, Jakarta Pusat 7


9

P : Peneliti 10

D : Darren 11

12

P : Hi Darren thank you for allowing me to interview you for my thesis today 13

D : Hmm… just put the cash here on the table 14

P : I’m doing a phenomenology research on journalists who have gone to 15

dangerous places in the world and you are one of the journalists 16

D : How do you know? 17

P : I know 18

D : That I sit near you in office ya so makes you feel special 19

P : Ya and you are handsome and you’re eating an apple 20

D : An apple pear 21

P : Okay, can you tell me where and when you decide to become a 22

photojournalist? 23

42


43

D : Well, when and where it was something that I always dreamed of but never 24

thought that I would be able to do, but I started when I was in my 20s and I 25

was living in Tokyo 26

P : In what year exactly? 27

D : In the late 80s. I moved to Tokyo after university and I wanted to travel and 28

take pictures but then I realized I had to make money. So I had to figure out a 29

way to make money, travel, and take pictures. And ah, I started to take 30

pictures for Japanese magazines and media outlets in Japan, in the late 80s and 31

early 90s 32

P : How old were you? 33

D : I was about 25 when I first started. Hmm… yeah 34

P : When… how old were you when you graduated? 35

D : I was about 23, but I left the same year that I graduated. But I graduated a 36

little bit late because I missed certain some required credits so I graduated 37

basically a year late 38

P : Before you started studying in university when you were just a child, did you 39

ever think about oh I wanna be a photographer 40

D : Yeah 100%, my hobby was photography. I started photography at a very 41

young age, bought a camera at a very young age with my paper route money. 42

My father helped me. My brother was an amateur photographer hobbyist and I 43

used his darkroom and his equipment we had at our home and I added to it. 44

You know, purchased the camera and paper myself and I was obsessed with 45

National Geographic as a child my father subscribed to at that time and I, like 46

so many children, dreamed of travelling around the world that we read about 47

on National Geographic 48


44

P : Okay and what age were you when you started when you bought your 49

camera? 50

D : I was probably 10, 12. 10 probably. 51

P : And what camera was that? 52

D : Olympus OM1 53

P : And you still remember it? 54

D : I had it until just a few years ago I lost in a move 55

P : Move? 56

D : It was all covered in fungus and mold after so many years of travelling and 57

moving to Asia and 58

P : And you had to throw it away? 59

D : You know what I believed I had to throw it away, or someone threw it away 60

but I had it. I moved to Japan with it, even though it was 20-year old camera, 61

out of date not something that could be used, I still had it. I had it when I 62

moved to Cambodia even I had it when I moved to Indonesia 63

P : And now you are a photographer a photojournalist, what do you think about 64

your job? 65

D : Well, some days I think I am the luckiest person in the world and some days 66

it could be very traumatic and very frustrating and very boring and 67

disappointing and… full of emotions and it’s never the same every day. It’s a 68

plus sign or minus 69

P : Hm… can you tell me about your career you moved to Japan, and where 70

else? 71


45

D : I moved to Japan, but Japan was not my focal point or my major interest, it is 72

a very interesting country to be in in the 80s, and the 90s, um.... but it wasn’t it 73

wasn’t the country that I dreamed about about photographing 74

P : Why? 75

D : Well it was because it was very modern it had recovered from the second 76

World War very successfully it was very comfortable place, place to live in 77

and very exciting it wasn’t very photogenic, it was because I wanted to take 78

P : So japan was not very photogenic you think? 79

D : For me no, as a news photographer no 80

P : Okay 81

D : I did not really enjoy taking pics of japan 82

P : So after japan where? 83

D : I lived in japan, for more than five years. While I was in japan I travelled to 84

many countries 85

P : So during, after five years in Japan you didn’t just stay in Japan you also 86

travelled… 87

D : I travelled a lot I travelled to places like Vietnam, Cambodia, Burma, and I 88

travelled to the Horn of Africa during a civil war and famine that was going on 89

1991. I travelled to Cambodia during the end of their civil war and the peace 90

process, Paris peace process that brought peace to Cambodia. United Nations 91

Peace Keeping that brought peace to Cambodia. And those are the places that I 92

enjoyed for wanted to be working in, the environment that I wanted to work 93

in, rather than peaceful and fun and happy Tokyo, which is what it was 94

P : What do you mean you prefer covering those places? 95


46

D : Well I found that after. Despite my love affair for Japan, don’t get me wrong 96

Ii very much love Japan and Tokyo and every time I return back from a trip, 97

and I just longed to leaving and be back in those countries. And rather than 98

waiting for the assignment I just figured I’d rather be there, living there. In 99

1994 I chose cambodia, and I had an option between going to Rwanda or 100

Cambodia, in the spring of 1994 and I chose Cambodia, which I ended up 101

living in for five years 102

P : Why did you decide Cambodia? 103

D : Well it was a country that was in the news, it four or five times i thought it 104

was incredibly beautiful and nearly everyone who has visited Cambodia in 80s 105

90s it was spectacular beautiful country people were friendly nice and there 106

was a need there was a shortage of journalists and I really wanted to live there 107

and found 108

P : And you mentioned that you went to Vietnam and Burma. What did you 109

cover to Vietnam? 110

D : It wasn’t really much for me to cover, and the same in Burma I found my 111

movements were restricted and it was just kind of travel travel stories rather 112

than hard news. While Somalia while I was there for famine it was quite 113

difficult story and sad and violent and Burma that time wasn’t but Cambodia 114

was so 115

P : Okay and at this time you were already working for Reuters 116

D : No in 1994 I started to string, I started becoming a stringer for AFP. And 117

then 1995 I joined Reuters 118

P : Okay so, in the late 80s and early 90s when you were in Japan you also went 119

to Japan, Burma, Vietnam, Cambodia, Somalia, you were working for what? 120


47

D : Freelance (shouts) 121

P : You were freelancing? 122

D : Various magazines 123

P : In Japan 124

D : In Japan and other places yea I wasn’t the most successful person in the 125

world but i got by 126

P : How did you get money and manage your money? 127

D : I was also teaching English and male gigolo 128

P : Wheeze, what? 129

D : No, just teaching English. Can’t believe I could have been a male gigolo? 130

P : (Wheeze) 131

D : (Wheeze) 132

P : Okay, and in 1995 you started working for Reuters? 133

D : Yes 134

P : Oh, in which country? 135

D : In Cambodia 136

P : And you stayed there for how long? 137

D : Until 1999, basically 2000. But in most in 1999 I was in Indonesia. 138

P : You were here? 139

D : Hu’uh 140

P : Covering what? 141

D : Independence in East Timor and other problems within Indonesia but mostly 142

East Timor. 143

P : Okay. And then in 2000 you started working for the Jakarta bureau 144

D : Yeah hmm… 145


48

P : What did you cover? 146

D : Jakarta, you didn’t wanna know about East Timor it was the most exciting 147

story 148

P : Well tell meeeeee 149

D : Well no just, I don’t wanna give you a history lesson I was in East Timor for 150

11 months straight 151

P : And you like didn’t go home? 152

D : No but I went to Bali a few times and Darwin a few times for RnR 153

P : What’s RnR? 154

D : Rest and relaxation 155

P : (Wheeze) 156

D : East Timor was very difficult, it was very little food. Even before the 157

referendum it wasn’t a lot of food but um… yeah so eleven months, when 158

eleven months was finished they asked me to permanently relocated to Jakarta 159

P : In those eleven months, can you tell me what did you see? 160

D : What did I see? 161

P : Yeah 162

D : Well I saw the independence movement take shape and I saw country that 163

military that was reluctant to give up on East Timor and investment in East 164

Timor Indonesia was very frustrated there were a lot of political insurrection 165

within Indonesia and communal violence happening in Indonesia all the way 166

across from Aceh to Papua to Malukus to... even violence within Jakarta, 167

political violence. It was a very tough time for Indonesia. And I was there 168

when the violence following to vote and I was evacuated to Bali in an 169

emergency plane that Reuters had to pay and come and pick up all the 170

IC-1a


49

journalists working for Reuters and um and I came back into East Timor and I 171

spent 6-7 months as international peacekeeping mission led by the Australians 172

New Zealanders and I moved to Jakarta it looked like it was over 173

P : You were evacuated to Bali 174

D : To Jakarta we jumped off the plane to Bali. The plane was going to Jakarta 175

but we left 176

P : (Wheeze) What made you guys had to be evacuated? 177

D : Following the country very quickly fell into turmoil and Indonesian 178

government realized the vote was massively in favor for independence 179

economy independence and Indonesian government very quickly washed their 180

hands quickly and get out from East Timor. On their way out they burned and 181

looted and this is the military not the government and it took a lot of people 182

with them and as this was developing the journalists were threatened that if 183

they didn’t leave they would be killed or they didn’t want any witnesses 184

P : Okay 185

D : And so the decision it was made not in East Timor but outside East Timor 186

that the Reuters journalists would leave Dili and at the time no flights were 187

coming in and out of Dili. I think Garuda or Merpati and cancelled their flight 188

there were so many violence they wouldn’t land in Jakarta. Somebody 189

chartered a plane from Jakarta to come get us and we shared it with other 190

agencies I think it was BBC 191

P : How many were you? 192

D : 20, TV, text and pictures. Mostly foreigners, Indonesians have left earlier 193

because they were threatened on their home 194


50

P : So you mentioned that sometimes you feel like you’re the luckiest person 195

ever, traumatic, disappointing, tough, threatened in East Timor 196

D : Hm… 197

P : How did that make you feel? 198

D : Well obviously every time it’s different sometimes you’re scared and you 199

think it’d be best to leave but if you are a journalist and um feel that they 200

know they want to stay and they need to stay and have invested in the story 201

and people they don’t want to abandon its very disappointing we had to leave. 202

I was very disappointed. It was not my choice, I thought they would leave a 203

small team behind and I was gonna be that person but I had no choice um… 204

no discussion 205

P : Okay did you prefer covering something dangerous like what you saw in Dili 206

or something modern like in Tokyo? 207

D : Oh… no. I. I think I get pleasure get different ways of photography some of 208

my favorite moments that I remembered i still you know ones with I’m taking 209

a pretty pictures of somebody doing something in interesting environment, 210

relaxed and just enjoying pictures i love they don’t really care about violence 211

or I don’t loo for it if it’s happening where then I really have a big problem 212

with it, not something that I look for 213

P : Because it’s dangerous 214

D : Because it’s dangerous yes. But if it’s dangerous you have to weigh the risks 215

and think is this worth it or not, many of the events yes it was worth it. 216

Sometimes I have made decisions that I think it was worth it 217

P : After eleven months in Dili, you were… back to Jakarta? 218

D : Hmm… 219


51

P : For how many years 220

D : Six years, from 2000-2006. 2006 I left. 221

P : During those six years what did you cover? 222

D : I covered lots of different things during that time there were still a lot of 223

problems in Jakarta, still violent demos. And political the fall of Suharto, 224

Wahid. The fall of Wahid he was impeached there were lots of stuff going in 225

government and military everyone playing don’t wanna say playing games. 226

But there were lots of games at that time. It was a communal violence around 227

in Indonesia, separatists movements still alive in Aceh, Papua, and it was also 228

during that time a lot of terrorists, not a lot of terrorists but a number of 229

significant ones two bombings in Bali it was also natural disasters some quite 230

big ones. Tsunami in Aceh it was one 231

P : Did you cover it? 232

D : Yes 233

P : Oh nice okay. What else did you cover? 234

D : It was a blur, i covered both Bali bombings. Yeah 235

P : Okay. And you also went to cover the famine in… 236

D : Somalia 237

D : Somalia. Uh uh 238

P : Can you tell me when you were in Aceh to cover the tsunami, when did you 239

arrive? 240

D : I arrived in the second night. 241

P : So it was Christmas? 242

D : Um… it happened on Boxing Day on the 26th. 243

P : So you arrived on 27? 244


52

D : The night. Late night. 27th. 245

P : Late at night 246

D : Bea arrived the day before 247

P : Um… when you hear the word tsunami in Aceh you were told to go there? 248

D : I wasn’t told to go there originally the death toll was not very big at that time. 249

Aceh was also closed to province to foreigners 250

P : Sorry? 251

D : Aceh was a closed foreigners. Foreign journalists were not allowed to go to 252

Aceh without 253

P : Special permit 254

D : Surat 255

P : Surat jalan? 256

D : So, Beawiharta went first. But the death toll was not very big at that time 257

because communications were very bad. In fact i can still remember the first 258

stories were 6, 8, 10 dead in Aceh. So. At the beginning it wasn’t big, but then 259

we realized it was much bigger than initially reported so we tried to get there 260

all different ways. People try to get in using emergency flights. I went in 261

through Medan. They wouldn’t let me on the fight. But i fight fight fight they 262

finally let me in 263

P : From Medan 264

D : From Medan to Banda Aceh 265

P : Were you alone? 266

D : No I was with Dean Yates 267

P : Okay 268


53

D : And I was with our former intern text intern she was from Banda Aceh and 269

she was also discovered in Medan airport and she travelled with us. On the 270

very first night we stayed at her family’s home. Yeah 271

P : Okay. Hm… did you volunteer to go there? 272

D : Um… I tell you something in this business until i discovered you don’t 273

volunteer anything at Reuters you’re basically told to go and you go as a… I 274

don’t know how to really describe it… I don’t wanna say something like… 275

you’re still recording? 276

P : Yeah I will stop it now 277

D : I don’t think, if you ask me do i volunteer for these jobs? No. Until just a few 278

months ago and I’d never heard such thing such volunteer, they usually just 279

call you can you get on a flight to bla bla bla. And then you say yes. And you 280

hang up the phone and you buy a ticket and you pack and you go 281

P : Can you say no 282

D : I’ve never said no 283

P : Why? 284

D : I don’t know even if I’ve been sick, I’m afraid they won’t ask you again 285

P : So you always say yes. And back to the tsunami and you arrived in Banda 286

Aceh and you lived in your intern’s family house? 287

D : Just on the first night because we arrived late at night. And the phones and 288

everything was not working it was difficult to find bea and other reporters. Or 289

Tommy Sucipto. It was difficult to find him on the first night 290

P : So you from Jakarta you went to Medan, and went to Banda Aceh 291

D : From Medan to Banda Aceh 292

P : Did you fly with Garuda? 293


54

D : Hm… 294

P : Was it expensive? 295

D : No, they had no time to change the ticket. You have to remember that people 296

in Medan still didn’t know what was happening in Banda Aceh. People were 297

coming out of Banda Aceh and there were still no footage. There was footage 298

that was the edge or periphery of destruction because you couldn’t get to the 299

wall of destruction and I think people were living in Banda Aceh were 300

struggling just doing their own sorting out their own lives finding their own 301

families and the people in Garuda didn’t really grasp the urgency they still 302

hadn’t known the condition at the airport. The airport had no power. When I 303

landed it was lit by candles it was strange 304

P : Okay okay so on the first night you had to sleep in your intern’s family 305

house? 306

D : Which we slept inside and they all slept outside 307

P : W… w… Why 308

D : There were still a lot of earthquakes. They slept on the outside 309

P : And you slept inside? 310

D : I did hm 311

P : Why didn’t you sleep on the outside? 312

D : I don’t remember maybe we weren’t so smart. But we spent the next month 313

getting running in and out of houses in Banda Aceh every time there is an 314

earthquake 315

P : So you stayed for that tsunami story for that tsunami how long? 316

D : I stayed for a month straight 317

P : And you didn’t go back to Jakarta? 318


55

D : No no. Many people did. Many people did, TV and everybody switched 319

every week or 10 days 320

P : But you didn’t? 321

D : I didn’t for three weeks to a month 322

P : Why 323

D : I was asked if I could stay and just hold out was editing all these pics. For all 324

the stringers all photographers Indonesian photographers from all over 325

Indonesia came over to help and other photographers we had satellite phones 326

one satellite phones so all photo all the pictures have to go through the office 327

in Banda Aceh which was I was looking after 328

P : Okay so you helped all other journalists even if they didn't work for Reuters? 329

D : No they are our stringers you know we had stringers this time in Indonesia it 330

was a very big team even bigger than TV. TV has people everywhere all over 331

Indonesia pictures have more photographers and Bali we have we have 332

photographers in Surabaya in five or six in Jakarta everyone just went through 333

to Banda Aceh eventually yeah 334

P : Dean Yates also stayed with you the whole time I was there for a very long 335

time yes I don't know if it was the same amount of time as me but he was there 336

for was he also working for the Jakarta bureau 337

D : Yes 338

P : Okay okay and on the second day when you woke up from your sleep inside 339

the house did you just like all things at the 340

D : Her home was on the outside of the destruction the majority of the tsunami 341

when we saw the destruction and at first you didn't see the destruction when 342

was the first the first time that you saw all the destruction later that they 343


56

P : But you saw the destruction? 344

D : Yes 345

P : What did you see? 346

D : Well you know I had to go to the edge of the destruction at that time you 347

know the roads weren’t clear it was all debris it was all boots and houses cars 348

have been pushed so you have over that wall over that wall and which was 349

difficult to find where I spent the first day in the mosque in Banda Aceh. So 350

many bodies brought into the mask and so many bodies were being flocked 351

around mosque and ended up there 352

P : So you saw dead bodies? 353

D : I saw thousands hundred dead bodies yes continuous for one month we were 354

still 5 months after that okay what was your first thought when you first saw 355

that body inside the mosque? 356

D : It was very sad and chopped but of course even two or three or four days 357

after the tsunami I don't think we have many how many ideas of the 358

destruction that have happened around the course of the Aceh no one really 359

clear idea of numbers 360

P : Okay so you were definitely sad and shocked did you feel anything else like 361

you're feeling? 362

D : I felt very sad again for Indonesia the country that i love keep getting one 363

bad thing after another I also need a few plane crashes plane crashes that we 364

covered it was a regular occurrence in Indonesia so every time these things 365

happen I always felt you know that Indonesia really wasn't ever getting a 366

break and for sure I felt like that in Aceh 367


57

P : So you cover Wahid and then what his presidency when he was ousted from 368

the government and then the trials of Suharto trials of Bashir Abu Bakar 369

Ba’ashir. Trials of the Bali bombers 370

D : And also that time I was in outside in Indonesia, South Afghanistan, Pakistan 371

I don't want to give you my story cuz it's boring so India, Pakistan, 372

Afghanistan 373

P : Okay so during those six years in Indonesia you didn't just cover Indonesia 374

but you also went to some countries in the world okay so after 2006 you where 375

you? 376

D : Easter 2006 after 2006 I was asked to go to the Philippines for one year in 377

our office in Manila and I ended up staying three years so 2009 and from 2009 378

I was offered a job in Jerusalem and I stay there from 2009 until 2014 379

P : And then 2014 you came back here in the Philippines what did you cover in 380

the Philippines? 381

D : The Philippines and Indonesia is very similar in so many ways political in 382

surgeons and it was lots of pressure against the government I was there the 383

government it was tempted when I was there it was attack on hotel with APC 384

tanks fire at the hotel which I was standing outside 385

P : Are you and you witness all that 386

D : I actually phoned my boss while the machine gun was going (laugh) so yeah 387

P : And after that you went to Jerusalem for 5 years 388

D : Yes 389

P : What was it like? 390

D : It was a very exciting posting, it was also during time where it was the Arab 391

Spring that was going on so the Israeli-Palestinian story was that was going on 392 IC-1b


58

was a very big team in Gaza and West Bank Jerusalem office Tel Aviv and it 393

was for five years. During the Arab Spring there were a lot. I went to Libya 394

and I went to a place called Misrata and I went to Libya on a boat from Malta 395

it was probably one of the most exciting things I have ever done in my life. 396

Going to war zone using about and showing up into a harbour, jumping into 397

the back of a car going to the front lines. Next day after being it was quite nice 398

and I left on the boat on the boat. I left when my assignment was finished we 399

managed to catch the same boat I was very lucky 400

P : So you are only there for less than a day 401

D : Oh I was there for 2 or 3 weeks 402

P : This is the same boat? 403

D : This is the same boat just by chance happened to be back and we heard about 404

it someone told me hey you know that boat. It was going to be here tomorrow 405

and we made the phone calls and we got into the boat it was quite good 406

including the BBC were on the boat as well 407

P : Okay so you are definitely not the only journalist on that boat? 408

D : No actually all the Reuters came out on the boat when I went in it was just 409

me I was the first Reuters person to go in by boat because my friends from the 410

BBC told me about it and BBC crew were on the boat so I was very lucky on 411

the way back we arranged to get the same boat again 412

P : Are you still in contact with these people? 413

D : He is still my friend on Facebook 414

P : Facebook is so important 415

D : Facebook is so important 416

IC-1c


59

P : When you were posted in Jerusalem starting from 2009 you covered the Arab 417

Spring? 418

D : I didn't cover the Arab Spring extensively my job was Jerusalem and the 419

issues between the Palestinians and Israelis did not stop during the Arab 420

Spring but the significance of the story I will say is diminished because what 421

is going on in Egypt and Syria 422

P : Did you use like a normal clothes or you have to use something special? 423

D : Well no I was using I always use different types of jackets I had a… a jacket 424

for small arms fire and I wore probably two or three times a week anytime 425

there was protest or clash besides and West Bank it doesn't take long before it 426

escalates to something tear gas and rubber bullets and plastic bullets and 427

stones it's only a matter of seconds not like other places where it could be all 428

day before somebody fires an airgas and it's is Israeli’s policy that if someone 429

or people waiting so minutes they don't disperse, they disperse them that you 430

used I have a vest 9 mm pistol type and also a very good for stopping rubber 431

plastic bullets 432

P : And it says press on your chest 433

D : And the government really wanted the journalist to wear one 434

P : Okay 435

D : Of course I have helmet did other than that fast you should get to use another 436

fast yes I have another vest it is an armor plated for like a Kevlar Style and 437

ammunition 438

P : So those two and they were too how about 439

D : But I also war heavy boots or heavy shoes 440

P : And why is that? 441

IC-3a


60

D : Because of it’s along the line with American soldiers and that meant it's a 442

common color for desert boots in the desert 443

P : So you just went on with the beige color? 444

D : To be honest the Israelis wear burgundy leather shoes and the Palestinians 445

wear black so when everybody is wearing helmets and gas masks and you 446

look down at your feet you know who is who and I wore beige so they knew 447

that I was in not Palestinians or Israelis 448

P : Did you ever get hurt from the 80s until now? 449

D : I didn't in Jerusalem I was hit by plastic bullets that's meant for hitting your 450

knee it's meant to be shot at your knee or your shin to shatter your bone but it 451

hit me in the back of my knee and it went in and I still have a whole bunch in 452

the back of my arm and your legs and my legs 453

P : How many times if you remember? 454

D : Rubber bullets was three or four times 455

P : On your legs? 456

D : I think twice on my legs and two somewhere else 457

P : Okay rubber bullets did they hurt? Sorry I have no idea difference between 458

rubber bullets and plastic bullets? What do they look like? 459

D : Rubber bullet is fired from bigger gun, can be a variety of different shapes, it 460

is designed to hit you enormous amount of pressure but not to puncture your 461

skin 462

P : Hmm 463

D : So, it’s called non-lethal round 464

P : Okay so did you bleed? 465

D : No 466

IC-2a


61

P : But it just hurt? 467

D : I was shot, you end up with massive bruise and concussion and you can’t 468

move your arm for like a week, that type of thing. I have pictures when I was 469

hit 470

P : Did you have to… 471

D : If you just stop, let me just stop you there. They’re designed not to be lethal 472

but they can obviously be lethal if they are fired at short range if they are fired 473

at people’s faces if they’re fired at people’s heads. And many people would 474

lose their eye or or have severe facial damage if shot their face 475

P : How about plastic bullets? 476

D : The plastic bullet is fired almost at sniper’s rifle. It a small cartridge like 22 477

calibre it is designed to I don’t wanna say kill you, but to they use to shoot 478

people in the legs. Stone throwers in the leg. 479

P : Okay 480

D : So the kids throwing stones and soldiers sitting up the street they fire 481

P : Is it made from plastic? 482

D : I.. I do not believe it’s made in by plastic when I have an accident, I don’t 483

know if i still have it I can show you later when I have it in my knee it was 484

about 10 pieces of metal 485

P : Ten? 486

D : Yes and that’s from the bullet so, it wasn’t I don’t think it was a plastic round 487

P : So it was one plastic bullet but it had 10… metals? 488

D : Sorry? 489

P : So it was one bullet 490

IC-2a


62

D : I got hit by one bullet in the back of my leg. The bullet shattered when it 491

went in my leg and they took it out but inside there were lots of debris, pieces 492

fragments of the bullets. 493

P : And they found 10? 494

D : I didn’t even see them in the x-ray don’t know if 10 exactly. And, that’s that 495

was never taken out. Because they were so small 496

P : They were so small. It means you still have them? 497

D : Yes, I saw them a week ago I had an x-ray when I was in Bangkok my knee, 498

ankle, and my hip and the doctor asked me again what happened to your knee 499

P : Hmm. And this was all happening in what year? 500

D : I was shot in back of the leg in 2010. But the other stuff I got when I left 501

P : In 2014? 502

D : Yea I don’t remember the dates. They are not dates that you write, the day I 503

got hit by rubber bullet 504

P : Okay 505

D : Yeah 506

P : So you were hurt while you were in Jerusalem? 507

D : What do you mean? 508

P : So you got all these accidents while you were in Jerusalem? 509

D : Maybe not accidents, but anyway 510

P : While you were covering the tsunami, Bali bombing, while you were in the 511

Philippines you never got hurt? 512

D : No 513

P : So, no, and 514

D : I’ve been on more bike accidents than those 515

IC-2a


63

P : So no 516

D : Stones hitting me. Yes. 517

P : Okay 518

D : Hmm 519

P : So, would you say what would you say to that, to your job? 520

D : What do you mean? 521

P : I mean, you get hit by stones, you got shot at your legs 522

D : Yeah 523

P : You got shot by rubber 524

D : It has possibility for some hazards yes. They are job hazards 525

P : Umm… prior to covering dangerous places all over the world does Reuters 526

give you trainings? 527

D : I received trainings in 2009 or 2010 it was my first training yes 528

P : 2010? 529

D : 2009 or 2010 530

P : So that was right when you arrived in Jerusalem 531

D : No, I take it back. Take it back. 1999 or 2000. 532

P : It was your first? What was it called the program? 533

D : Hostile environment 534

P : What did you learn? 535

D : Lots. How to what to expect in hostile environment and first aid 536

P : What else 537

D : Lots… 538

P : Okay you got the first hostile environment training in 1999, and when was 539

where was that? 540


64

D : That was outside of London 541

P : And then in 2009? 542

D : Oh no, I did again 2010 or 2011 I did in Ireland 543

P : Ireland? 544

D : Yes, and once or twice. Once year for a few days and once in Singapore for 545

first aid 546

P : First aid. Did you remember what year? 547

D : No 548

P : Okay, but you’ve had several hostile environment trainings. How do you feel 549

about receiving those trainings? 550

D : I think they are very important, maybe there should be different levels of 551

them but i think very important and grab my company does it 552

P : Hmm… you also went to cover the Thamrin bomb. Can you tell me your 553

experience about covering that? When you arrived on the scene… 554

D : When I arrived in the scene I rode on Go-Jek. But I just jumped on outside 555

the office told him to go go go. I never booked the Go-Jek. Cause I’m still old 556

school I think everybody’s an ojek driver and um. I followed an ambulance we 557

drove behind an ambulance and I arrived as everybody was running out. So 558

everybody was running away after the man has put the pistol and started to 559

shoot. That’s when I arrived, and I ran back to the spot where people were 560

dead. Been hit by the bomb, police. 561

P : It is, um is it something that is usually common occurrence in Jakarta, or 562

your job 563

D : It is not a common occurrence and it is not common occurrence in my job, 564

occurrence within doesn’t determine from going forward when people are 565


65

going backwards. People are running away I don’t feel the need to also run 566

away i feel the need to go forward. And that’s what I did 567

P : To go in? 568

D : Yes, and from a safe distance, I determined was a safe distance and also 569

behind a wall so i have some protection 570

P : And when you were on ojek did you pay him 571

D : I did pay him 50 thousand but I wished I had been able to pay him more 572

P : Did you go there with your boots? 573

D : No not at all 574

P : Not even with vest? 575

D : No I didn’t have time, all we hear was an explosion or reports of explosion 576

and we ran yeah 577

P : So the first thing that comes to your mind when you heard a shooting or a 578

dangerous what comes to your mind? 579

D : To make sure I have all my gear go to where it’s happening 580

P : So number is your camera and number two is just go there 581

D : Yeah I feel like safety should get there 582

P : So get the story first? 583

D : Well you if someone had told me there had been a shooting in Sarinah well 584

yes but all we had a report of explosion 585

P : How about in Jerusalem, is demo like a daily? 586

D : Well i tell you the difference between Jakarta and Jerusalem. In Jerusalem 587

we drove our own car so everybody had a car 588

P : Okay 589


66

D : Okay, and inside my car I had two big boxes that were filled with jackets and 590

helmets and gas masks. I had enough for an army in there, when I arrived in 591

demo if my stringers didn’t have the right equipment or if they are broken I 592

would be able to resupply them. Even sometimes I give equipment to 593

freelancers who have nothing and they found themselves in very bad 594

situations. But in Israel, Jerusalem, and West Bank and even when I was 595

covering the Gaza war you could basically right to these locations and park 596

your car next to whatever was happening, you just don’t wanna park your car 597

too close or get damaged. But it was never where we had to park 10 kilometer 598

away because the traffic was so bad and everybody was driving to look. 599

Israelis don’t look at what’s making the explosions they go the other way they 600

go home or somewhere. In Indonesia everybody wants to go have a look and 601

the traffic is chaos. And so yeah. Traffic scares everyday 602

P : Is the demo in Jerusalem that you find every day? 603

D : No it’s usually every Friday if there has been any type of recent political 604

problems between the Palestinians and the Israelis it doesn’t, they don’t wait 605

until Friday after prayers to bend their frustrations and it can happen every 606

time, people are killed in Israel or West Bank, whether Israelis or Palestinians. 607

There they can be shot out of an act of violence they can be assassinated they 608

could be killed during arguments, there’s lots of reasons for suicide bombings 609

when i was there and buses and um… so… sometimes these things will 610

happen after these events if someone felt that there was injustice and they 611

made it to show their 612

P : It’s very similar like in here it always happens after Friday prayer 613

IC-3a


67

D : Yeah, well I think within the West Bank and within Gaza i think after Friday 614

prayers quite common time to protest there but it wasn’t always limited to that. 615

But there were areas within the west bank or Jerusalem that was expected. 616

And every time I cover those every Friday for five years 617

P : Every Friday for five years and you brought your own vest and helmet and 618

gas mask 619

D : Yes because I could drive to the location and park my car 620

P : But in Jakarta, but when you have FPI protesting Ahok did you ever think 621

that i also need to bring my gas mask? 622

D : I always bring gas mask or helmet. A bicycle helmet for stones and sticks 623

and rocks and i have a gas mask in my backpack sure. 624

P : And also in Jakarta you also do that except for the vest? 625

D : I don’t, I usually carry the vest in my car but the car is shared car in here 626

Jakarta, it’s not my car and the car could be heading where something was 627

happening if you have a gear in your car when something’s happening. You 628

know what live ammunition is not, Indonesian police isn’t firing live 629

ammunition every five minutes 630

P : But in Jerusalem they did that? 631

D : Um… yeah in Jerusalem they fired it was not lethal ammunition in Gaza you 632

have in the border yes lethal and they use rounds and every year artilery and 633

rockets. But in west bank in Jerusalem they are very particular very careful 634

when they are using live rounds. They use them. But they have other means to 635

use before they have to use that 636

P : Okay and 637


68

D : I’m talking about crowd control, riots. They have ways to stop somebody 638

without having to use a rifle and it works quite well 639

P : And 640

D : But in Gaza they dont have this policy in Gaza. They don’t use non-lethal, 641

they only use lethal 642

P : And so in Jerusalem and West Bank you saw these plastic bullets, rubber 643

bullets 644

D : You don’t see them 645

P : Huh? 646

D : (Wheeze) You don’t see them 647

P : You feel them 648

D : You see tear gas flying back and forth but rubber bullets you dont see, you 649

see once it hits somebody you don’t see it flying by, it’s a bullet 650

P : Okay, everyday you learn something new. So every Friday for five years 651

D : Minimum 652

P : You put on your bullet vest, you have your gas mask ready, you have your 653

cameras, helmet 654

D : And first aid kit 655

P : And your first aid kit. It means you’re so prepared to see all these violence. 656

How did that make you feel, you had to bring all these equipment every time 657

you go out? 658

D : I have no problems with that. Once you’ve been hit by something doesn’t 659

take, you don’t have to be rocket scientist, there are Palestinian journalists 660

who don’t use their helmet and I see them get hit on their heads and they end 661

up in hospital. Stitches all over their head, you know. They decide they don’t 662

IC-3b


69

need helmets so they don’t wear helmets. And that’s fine. But I have seen the 663

damage of a rock can do to somebody’s skull and with my eyes I saw 664

foreigner get hit on face with a gas canister and have his eyes removed. I 665

always chose to play in the safe side, also I was responsible for everybody’s 666

security so I have photographers in Ramallah, Nablus, Hebron, and everytime 667

there was these protests I would go watch and I would not always be at the 668

front taking pictures because maybe it wasn’t big story or it wasn’t, but I was 669

always watching for security making sure they wear their equipment Reuters 670

has a very strict rule about safety gear other photographers felt like they didn’t 671

need to wear it or they were too manly or they were too important and it was 672

my job to keep an eye on everybody safety on my team on the Reuters team 673

P : So now you’re the chief photographer in Jakarta, in Jerusalem were you also 674

bureau chief? 675

D : I was chief for four years and senior for one year. 676

P : Senior photographer for one year and chief for four years. That’s why you 677

were looking after everybody else. But before Jerusalem, you… you covered 678

the Philippines were you also bureau chief photographer 679

D : I was the senior photographer yes 680

P : What’s the difference between senior and bureau chief? 681

D : Because the. Well I’m not bureau chief 682

P : Wait wait chief photographer 683

D : There was a chief photographer in the Philippines but he was covering Iraq 684

so I took his place whether I was the chief or whether I was not the chief on a 685

piece of paper, I don’t know but i was the chief because he was away 686

P : And in Indonesia 2000-2006 687

IC-2b


70

D : Senior photographer 688

P : The chief photographer was someone else 689

D : Yes, by the way her name is Eni Nurhaeni she was very famous 690

P : I know my senior interviewed her for this very same thesis 691

D : She was very lovely person and famous 692

P : Where is she now? 693

D : In Jakarta? 694

P : working for who? 695

D : Just freelance 696

P : What’s her name again? 697

D : Eni Nurhaeni. You done 698

P : Yes 699

D : Good 700

P : Thank you 701


71


Nama : Darren Whiteside 2

TTL : Scarborough, Kanada, 15 Juni 1965 3

Pendidikan : Sejarah, Carleton University 4

Media : Reuters 5

Posisi/Jabatan : Chief Photographer 6

Lokasi : The City Tower, Jakarta Pusat 7


9

P : Peneliti 10

D : Darren 11

12

P : Can I ask you what’s your religion? 13

D : I’m Christian. 14

P : You’re Christian, do you consider yourself to be religious? 15

D : No 16

P : Or devout Christian? 17

D : No, I’m not religious. 18

P : Okay, do you mean you go to church 19

D : No 20

P : Do you pray 21

D : No 22

P : No, when you went to cover umm… hostile environment does it change? Do 23

you suddenly pray or nothing 24

D : No, nothing 25

71


72

P : Nothing, ok. You mentioned that Aceh was a closed province to foreigners, 26

since it is a Muslim majority 27

D : It’s got nothing to do with being muslim majority, it is a domestic political 28

separatist movement that was going on but it had nothing to do with the fact 29

that it was muslim majority, all of indonesia are muslim majority 30

P : Okay, umm… 31

D : Most of indonesia are muslim majority 32

P : How many places in Indonesia you have travelled for work 33

D : I don’t know, dozens and dozens and dozens from Papua to Banda Aceh, yes. 34

Many 35

P : Okay, have you ever been hurt while working, other than getting shot by 36

rubber and plastic bullet 37

D : I was in a car accident on the way to Sampit in 2001 when the car flipped 38

over in a canal 39

P : What year 40

D : I think 2000, 2001 41

P : So that was like 18 years ago, were you alone? 42

D : No i was with Reuters team driving 43

P : How many people were in the car? 44

D : Maybe three or four 45

P : What happened in sampit during that time? 46

D : At that time it was um… (clears throat) sectarian conflicts between dayaks, 47

muslims, madurese, so violence between those three ethnic groups and 48

religious groups 49

P : What caused the car accident 50


73

D : It was just slippery road 51

P : Did you get hurt? 52

D : No, nobody was hurt. 53

P : This car accident can you tell me more about it, the car slipped from? 54

D : Going fast on the road and the car slipped and we went on a ditch 55

P : How deep was the ditch? 56

D : The ditch was empty, it was a water canal and it was empty. We were very 57

lucky 58

D : Would you say how, how deep 59

P : One meter deep 60

D : How did you get the car back out 61

P : Passerby helped us later 62

D : So no one was hurt? 63

P : No, no seriously 64

D : Who’s driving? 65

P : Reuters journalist 66

D : So the three or four of you are working for Reuters 67

P : Women wearing jilbab is a common sight in Jakarta, how about in another 68

countries that you have visited for work? 69

D : Obviously in Middle East it was quite common. In malaysia, southern 70

thailand, parts of cambodia, singapore, and pakistan. I’ve been to pakistan 71

many times, afghanistan 72

P : So it’s a common sight 73

D : It’s a common sight for me and my travels, yes 74


74

P : During demo in Jakarta or maybe in West Bank area do you see women 75

protesting? 76

D : Yes, not so much in Indonesia, but yes. 77

P : But in West Bank it’s common for women wearing jilbab to join protest? 78

D : It’s common, they are minority in the group but it is mostly men yeah 79

P : What do they do usually? Do they… 80

D : Well like in any protest they take part and sometimes they do it’s non-violent 81

and sometimes it’s stone-throwing and things like that. And in Indonesia that’s 82

mostly non-violent 83

P : How do you feel at these women, who wear jilbab, but they were involved in 84

violent protests? 85

D : Um… well i wouldn’t say all women are taking parts in these protests are 86

violent when it happened. You know, i think the cause it really all depends on 87

what the cause is and the atmosphere and how they’re protests are being 88

accepted by the authorities 89

P : And you also mentioned something about going to Malta 90

D Uh’uh 91

P : Can you tell me what assignment that was? 92

D : It was fall of Ghadaffi regime in Libya, and the front line was a place called 93

Misrata. And to get to Misrata either. The only way to get to Misrata is from 94

Egypt, or a very long ride, very dangerous car ride or go with ship from Malta. 95

And I chose to go by ship, that’s what I did 96

P : Because you were covering the fall of Gaddafi 97

D : Yes 98

P : Was that violent demo? 99


75

D : It was a very violent demo, when I was there I didn’t experience any violence 100

a lull in fighting and it was during Ramadan. And at that time the period I was 101

there, it was a very violent civil war whatever ou wanna call it but when I was 102

there i didn’t experience any violence at all. When I was there I was at the 103

front line. I did see people firing at each other, tanks firing, and um… firing 104

rocketsand things but it wasn’t as violent as other people experienced were 105

unfortunate while I was there 106

P : Did you sail to Malta, you did right for many hours? 107

D : For 24 hours 108

P : Because I found an old Facebook post that you made 109

D : Oh yeah? 110

P : And it said 22 hours 111

D : Oh yeah? 112

P : Oke yeah, you were just checking if i’m telling the truth 113

D : Just checking. Sound to me like stalking (wheezes) 114

P : Yeah so 22 hours 24 hours-ish. Okay. um, what year was that? 115

D : You know, I don’t really remember maybe 2011 or 2012, not sure. 2011… 116

P : But at this time you were already posted in Jerusalem right 117

D : Yes 118

P : So you covered the West Bank but also went to other places? 119

D : Yes but not as much as I would have liked 120

P : Why do you say that? 121

D : Well because the position. Reuters position in Jerusalem is to look after 122

Israel West Bank and Gaza, and it’s a 24-hour job. The job isn’t to fly around 123

to other stories, this is Reuters way after looking after that position. Maybe 124


76

AFP, AP they have different rules, but Reuters chief at that time wanted me in 125

Jerusalem. 126

P : So you only went to Malta 127

D : I went to Malta, I went to different places for different stories. Abu Dhabi, 128

Bahrain… 129

P : You went to cover demos? 130

D : Different event, sporting events, for formula-1. And jordan was for different 131

events, yeah 132

P : Did you ever go to the Middle East? 133

D : That is the Middle East 134

P : (wheeze) I meant to say Afghanistan 135

D : Afghanistan is not the Middle East 136

P : Re… really? 137

D : Yeah, I’ve been to Afghanistan many times. In 1996 I went for the first time. 138

And before the Taliban in control of Kabul, and then I went after the 139

Americans and the western alliance took Kabul I was in Pakistan, covering the 140

story. 141

P : So in Afghanistan, do you remember how many times? 142

D : Three times I think 143

P : The first one in 1996? 144

D : Yea 145

P : The second one? 146

D : Umm… 2001, I don’t remember. 2001 2002 147

P : And the third one? 148

D : Same time, they were back to back. 149


77

P : Okay but during this time it was not covering war, or was it covering war? 150

D : No, it was covering the peace (wheeze) 151

P : (Wheeze) 152

D : The peace that was going on 153

P : And you said you went to Pakistan? 154

D : I was on my way to Afghanistan. A journalist was kidnapped and i stayed in 155

Afghanistan and i stayed to cover the story, Daniel Pearl. And I had to go 156

down to Karachi, where they think he was. And I covered that story, that was 157

during 2000, 2001 158

P : Okay, um… 159

D : And I left Karachi because I don’t think it was very secure being a foreign 160

journalist 161

P : Why is that? 162

D : Because they already had kidnapped one, and he turned out dead after that i 163

left 164

P : Was he working for Reuters? 165

D : No, he was working for the wall street journal 166

P : Okay 167

D : Daniel Pearl, they made a movie about it 168

P : Okay, you mentioned that your job covering war is sometimes violent, did 169

you ever, I don’t know, get nightmares get nightmares from events you 170

experienced? 171

D : No, I don’t have nightmares, no. 172

P : How about like, trauma or 173

D : I‘m sure I have 174


78

P : Do you go to therapy 175

D : No, I go to therapy (wheeze) 176

P : (wheeze) 177

D : For my back trauma, my knee trauma, and foot trauma 178

P : What happened to your back 179

D : I carried camera for 25 years 180

P : Heavy equipment ya, this one? 181

D : I injured my knee walking in Gaza, I tripped, it’s not a very exciting story. 182

P : You tripped? 183

D : I tripped. I was shot, this is the hole from (points to right knee) 184

P : But this was the part? Okay, yeah yeah, okay 185

D : Yeah and but that’s not when my knee it’s sore, at least i believed it wasn’t. I 186

tripped while walking 187

P : Why was that? 188

D : While walking, not a very exciting story (wheezes). I was in a very bad car 189

accident in Jerusalem, but it was not on. It was just commuting 190

P : Also you weren’t working? 191

D : I was working, in Jerusalem but you know. It wasn’t in West Bank, Gaza, on 192

my way to a job. I was just commuting 193

P : Okay, umm… you mentioned that the West Bank it doesn’t get very long 194

that the protest gets violent, so you’ve seen someone dead. 195

D : It was lots of people get injured 196

P : What kind of injuries? 197


79

D : People will be shot by rubber bullets, people will be shot by, hit by stones, 198

including soldiers. Other protesters getting injured from rocks from other 199

protesters, accidentally being injured. 200

P : So, did you see them get hurt? 201

D : Sometimes you see them get hurt sometimes you see them carried off or 202

treated at the scene 203

P : Was it like a lot of blood 204

D : Ah, sometimes 205

P : And how did you feel looking at that 206

D : Um, I don’t have a… I don’t have any feeling when i see it. I always feel bad 207

when somebody is injured. 208

P : But for you it’s like a usual sight? 209

D : Not a usual sight, but i understand this is the risks not only protesters take, I 210

know it was gonna happened. It happened to me 211

P : Knowing the fact that it could happen to you 212

D : Could 213

P : And it did happen to you, how did that make you feel about becoming a 214

journalist covering war zones? 215

D : Everytime something happens to me I try to make sure, that it doesn’t happen 216

again so I take precautions, change the way that I approach the area or the way 217

I stand or yeah 218

P : So you were posted in Jerusalem between 2009 until 2014, can you tell me 219

what was going on in West Bank, Gaza, Israeli-Palestinian border at that time? 220

D : Well I mean the Palestinian-Israeli is something that has been going on long 221

time and it’s the same story whether you look at the news in the 80s, in the 222


80

90s, in 2000s, it’s not much difference in the story so it was about Palestinian 223

riots and it was about, there’s an earthquake in Japan 224

P : Scary 225

D : And then, you know about the cellular issue and jerusalem, the Gaza 226

blockade, it’s the same story that has been going on for a long time 227

P : In Gaza you mentioned 228

D : And and its security 229

P : So, you’ve been to Gaza, West Bank, what were they like? What do they 230

look like? 231

D : Gaza is very densely populated, very dry, not a lot of trees, West Bank is 232

similar, barren. For me it’s very beautiful because it’s not something that i’m 233

accustomed to, growing up in Canada. Living in Asia, the desert is not 234

something that I’m familiar with or used to so i was very impressed by it, and 235

not sure I’m gonna live there, but um… no like working there, like being in 236

that environment. Very hot, very very hot. 237

P : Covering hostile environment, or war zones did you ever see people die 238

D : Yes of course 239

P : Is it normal to see people die? 240

D : No it’s not normal, but it happens in war zones, sure 241

P : Do you see a lot of dead bodies? 242

D : Um… no I don’t think I’ve ever been involved in any big massacre or 243

anything. No. I have seen a lot of dead bodies in accidents and environmental 244

accidents 245

P : How did that make you feel, seeing dead bodies in war zones? 246

D : Just um… um… you know i just, no. Life goes on man. 247


81

P : Okay what did they smell like? 248

D : Have you ever smelled a dead body 249

P : No 250

D : Well I don’t know dead bodies have such, something that you’ll know, you’ll 251

easily tell that this is dead body 252

P : And how did you feel, smelling dead bodies? 253

D : What do mean, well you have smell of dead bodies so when you smell it 254

again obviously you know something bad has happened or something you 255

know bad is around the corner or has happened. 256

P : But you never had nightmares from smelling it? 257

D : Well I don’t know what nightmares I have dear but I have sleeping trouble 258

whether because it’s because of that it’s someone to make out 259

P : But you have sleeping problem 260

D : Yea, I have sleeping problem 261

P : Since when 262

D : Years 263

P : Since when in your 20s? 264

D : Maybe last 15 years 265

P : Last 15 years . Okay so you think covering conflict zones has got nothing to 266

do with it? 267

D : I have no idea, could very well be 268

P : But you mentioned that you never get nightmares so? 269

D : Um… well no I don’t wake up having nightmares 270

P : I mean you don’t wake up like me thinking that I was adopted from 271

Cambodia 272

IC-2d

IC-2d

IC-2d


82

D : No 273

P : Okay, and you have also been to Africa to Somalia to 274

D : I have 275

P : To cover the civil war 276

D : Civil war and famine, the famine happened during the same time as civil war 277

P : War, was it that huge? 278

D : Um… anyone yes. So the Cambodian civil war I don’t remember which I 279

went first, think I went to Cambodia before Somalia. Then Somalia civil war, 280

famine. You done? 281

P : Yep 282

D : All right 283


Jessica Damiana

[email protected]

Multimedia journalism student at Multimedia Nusantara University

https://id.linkedin.com/in/jessica-damiana-047318ab

EDUCATION

2014-present Majoring multimedia journalism at Multimedia Nusantara University

EXPERIENCE

2017-present Intern reporter at Reuters News Agency, Indonesia Bureau

I cover mostly general news, politics, and wildlife stories. I assist Jakarta bureau in every aspects of news gathering, screen daily news, and arrange interviews with news makers

2017 Youth Newsroom World Press Freedom Day

As a social media coordinator, I worked with five social media strategists, reached more than 300.000 impressions on Voice of Millennials social media accounts, oversaw 360o photo and video project, and promoted news articles from our website (http://voiceofmillennials.com)

2016 Youth Newsroom Jakarta World Forum for Media Development

As a social media coordinator, I promoted articles from mugscope.id through Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. I also made a Facebook live broadcast on one of the sessions

2016 Youth Newsroom World Press Freedom Day

As a social media strategist, I applied my online journalism skills through writing articles and live tweeting

PUBLICATION

2016 Benign Tycoon: A Look at the Region’s Most Powerful Bosses

Presented at Jakarta World Forum for Media Development


https://id.linkedin.com/in/jessica-damiana-047318ab

http://voiceofmillennials.com/

kc.umn.ac.idkc.umn.ac.id/5201/7/lampiran.pdfkc.umn.ac.id

Documents