Muara Lembu

Muara Lembu adalah tempat dimana orang biasa membiarkan kerbau mereka merumput. Ada ratusan kerbau dibiarkan makan, minum dan istirahat. Saya tak pernah melihat pemandangan ini. Kami main ke Muara Lembu, mengambil video kerbau, sungai serta padang rumput luas. Herman Yanuar, Lovina, Aang Ananda Suherman, Yaya Nurul Fitria dan Rubianto Lee bergurau ketika tercium bau kotoran kerbau ... atau baru lain ya?

Mereka semua mahasiswa dari Universitas Riau, Pekanbaru. Suka bergurau. Suka bergaya. Suka diskusi. Bercanda dari pagi hingga malam.

Rubianto Lee berasal dari Bagansinembah, Riau. Dia suka main musik dan seorang drummer. Kini belajar peternakan. Menyenangkan bisa bicara dengan orang yang tahu soal pertanian dan peternakan. Lebih asyik lagi dia juga musikus. I always enjoy my time with these students.

©Andreas Harsono

Crackdown in Abepura

On October 19, 2011, Indonesian police and the army fired warning shots to disperse approximately 1,000 Papuans gathered for a peaceful pro-independence demonstration in the Papua provincial capital, Jayapura, after one of the leaders read out the 1961 Papua Declaration of Independence. In an ensuing crackdown by the security forces on the demonstrators, at least three people were killed and dozens were injured. Witnesses said several had gunshot wounds.


At about 2:30 p.m. on October 19, at the “Third Papuan Congress,” Forkorus Yaboisembut, chairman of the Papuan Customary Council, read out a 1961 Declaration of Independence, and said that he and Edison Waromi, the president of the West Papua National Authority, had been elected by the Congress as president and prime minister respectively of the “Democratic Republic of West Papua.”

About 30 minutes later, the event concluded and the crowd started to disperse, but about 1,000 people remained in the field, talking, and socializing. At approximately 3:30 p.m., the police and military, who had deployed anti-riot trucks and surrounded the field since midnight the night before, began firing military assault weapons over the crowds and into the air.

Witnesses said that most of the people in the field began running. Others stopped and surrendered, putting their hands up. The police then arrested approximately 300 people, ordering them to strip down to their underwear. Witnesses say that security forces pistol-whipped or beat those they arrested with rattan canes and batons, resulting in several injuries.

Many others fled into the woods near the field, with some using a road by a nearby school and military outpost. Witnesses said the police and military forces followed into the woods and there arrested numerous others.

The three reported deaths are:

• Daniel Kadepa, 25, a law student at Sekolah Tinggi Ilmu Hukum Umel Mandiri. A witness said that Kadepa died from gunshot wounds to the head after soldiers fired on him as he was running away.
• Max Asa Yeuw, 35, a member of the Penjaga Tanah Papua (Papua Land Guard or PETAPA).
• Yakobus Samansabra, 53, a member of PETAPA, had bullet wounds to his torso, reportedly in the back.
• Several other PETAPA members had gunshot wounds.

Saidatul Fitriah di Lampung

Aku diundang hadir dalam acara ulang tahun Aliansi Jurnalis Independen di Bandar Lampung. Majalah mahasiswa Teknokra mengundang aku datang ke acara mereka dimana Teknokra dan AJI Lampung memperingati kehidupan almarhum Saidatul "Atul" Fitriah dari Teknokra. Mereka memberikan Anugerah Saidatul Fitriah.

Pada 28 September 1999, reporter Atul ditugaskan Teknokra mengambil foto sebuah demonstrasi mahasiswa di Universitas Bandar Lampung. Menurut Juwendra Asdiansyah, redaktur Teknokra yang menugaskan Atul, Atul dipukul kepalanya oleh aparat keamanan.

Di rumah sakit, Atul mengatakan bahwa dia merasa sudah diincar aparat saat liputan. Menurut hasil rontgen, tengkorak Atul cekung melengkung, akibat pukulan benda tumpul. Atul meninggal di rumah sakit Abdul Moeloek pada 3 Oktober 1999. Polisi Lampung tak pernah melakukan investigasi serius terhadap kematian Atul. Alasan mereka kurang bukti.

Teknokra menginapkan aku di sebuah villa di pinggiran kota Bandar Lampung. Pagi hari ketika bangun aku mendapatkan pemandangan mengagumkan. ©Andreas Harsono
AJI Lampung dan Teknokra ingin ada liputan serius terhadap kematian Atul. Sudah 12 tahun berlalu dan belum ada jawaban terhadap kematian wartawan mahasiswa ini. AJI Lampung juga mengadakan Anugerah Saidatul Fitriah.

Juwendra Asdiansyah, kini bekerja untuk Tribun Lampung, tahu banyak soal kejadian tersebut. Mereka minta aku pidato pada malam ulang tahun tersebut. Aku kira memang harus diupayakan dana dan team guna menyelidiki ulang kematian Atul.