Former East-West Center fellow killed in Indonesia province
By Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writer
Journalist Ersa Siregar, a 2002 Jefferson Fellowships program participant at the East-West Center in Honolulu, was killed Dec. 29 during a gunbattle between government and rebel forces in the Aceh province of Indonesia.
East-West Center
Siregar, a 52-year-old father of three from Jakarta, was a senior reporter for Rajawali Citra Televisi Indonesia (RCTI), Indonesia's first private television station. He had also worked as a producer and editor, had written extensively for various newspapers and magazines and had published several books.
Ersa Siregar, who was a Jefferson fellow in 2002 at the East-West Center, was killed Dec. 29 in Indonesia.
While a part of the East-West Center's Jefferson Fellowship program, the center's most prestigious fellowship for journalists, he presented a paper arguing that then-Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz's characterization of Indonesia — the world's largest Muslim nation — as a nest for terrorism was inaccurate and unproductive.
"All of our Indonesian journalists have felt that way," said Susan Kreifels, coordinator of media services for the East-West Center.
She said Siregar's death had shocked and saddened East-West Center officials and the Jefferson fellows who had known him.
"He was so well liked, and was such a kind and knowledgeable person," she said. "It just goes to show we must always remain vigilant about protecting the rights of journalists around the world."
The Jefferson fellows who knew and traveled with Siregar in May 2002 have been sending heartfelt messages to one another since his death, she said.
Siregar was reporting on the conflict between government forces and Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels when he and cameraman Ferry Santoro were taken hostage on June 29.
Aceh is an oil-and-gas-rich province on the northern tip of Sumatra island. Rebels have been fighting for an independent state since 1976.
The rebels released a statement a few days after Siregar and Santoro were captured, saying the hostages were suspected of spying. The group later dropped that accusation.
For months, a number of international journalists' organizations worked to negotiate Siregar's release, but the rebels demanded a seven-day cease-fire and an exchange that did not involve government forces, conditions the government, which had declared martial law after launching a major military offensive against the rebels in May, refused to entertain.
Siregar's body was found Dec. 29, after a firefight between government and rebel forces.
A spokesman for the rebels said government forces shot Siregar in the chest and neck. Siregar had been wounded in the leg during an earlier raid, and was unable to flee, the spokesman said.
Government officials accused the rebels of using Siregar as a human shield.
On New Year's Eve, the International Federation of Journalists asked United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan to support an independent inquiry into Siregar's death.
Siregar's cameraman, Santoro, who had been able to flee the gunbattle that killed his co-worker, was allowed by rebels to speak via satellite phone on Dec. 31 to The Associated Press in Jakarta.
He said he feared he might be the next to die.
Reach Karen Blakeman at 535-2430 or kblakeman@honoluluadvertiser.com.
