Press Releases

Program for Aceh Tsunami Survivors Going Strong as 300th Episode Approaches

DY Suharya/Internews Internews reporter Dadang Budiana interviews Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, Head of the Indonesian Government’s Bureau for Reconstruction and Rehabilitation. The 10 minute interview was broadcast on Peuneugah Aceh on April 20, 2006.

(May 26, 2006) Internews’ radio program about Aceh’s rehabilitation and reconstruction marked its one year anniversary in March of this year, and is fast approaching its 300th broadcast of vital information to a population still reeling from the South Asian tsunami. Internews has worked with the radio, television, and print media of Aceh since soon after the tsunami struck on December 26, 2004.
 
Peuneugah Aceh (News from Aceh in Acehnese) has an estimated daily audience of one million listeners. The program has recently been focusing on the progress of the August 2005 peace agreement between the Government of Indonesia and the separatist movement known as GAM.

Peuneugah Aceh has quickly become an authoritative media voice in Aceh. The team of Acehnese and Javanese journalists is regularly called upon by national and international bodies to help inform Acehnese about the pivotal regional elections coming to Aceh in August; many feel that the success of the peace process depends upon free, fair and peaceful local elections, the first in which GAM can participate as candidates. 

In April, Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, the Head of the Indonesian Government’s Bureau for Reconstruction and Rehabilitation (BRR), offered Peuneugah Aceh an exclusive interview in response to a local newspaper ad in which condolences were expressed on behalf of the local businesspeople in Aceh who had been left out of the BRR’s plans to rebuild the province’s infrastructure. Peuneugah Aceh Editor Dadang Budiana and Internews Aceh Field Officer DY Suharya conducted the interview, during which Mangkusubroto attempted to explain to the Acehnese why progress in providing permanent housing and new livelihoods for Aceh’s dispossessed has shown few tangible results 16 months after the disaster.

Using satellite technology provided by First Voice International, Peuneugah Aceh is distributed via satellite to digital radio receivers placed at 31 Aceh radio stations and 200 Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps. The stations relay the program or tape and rebroadcast it as they like.

The Peuneugah Aceh program and production facilities have served as a training ground for Aceh’s radio journalists; reporters from throughout the province contribute voice reports on what is happening in their region, and less experienced journalists spend time working side-by-side with the Peuneugah Aceh crew during one month internships. The production studio and its contents will be donated to a local NGO in Aceh later this year, so that the facilities can be used for producing vital information for Acehnese listeners for years to come.

With the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Internews is currently conducting a two-year media development project in Java, North Sumatra and Aceh called “Building on Foundations Project: Strengthening a Responsible, Responsive Broadcast Media in Indonesia.” The Peuneugah Aceh program is just one of the activities in the project, which also provides training and equipment to Aceh’s struggling broadcast industry.

Internews’ reconstruction work in Aceh is also supported by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the British Department for International Development (DFID), and the Dutch NGO Hivos.

Listen to the English version of some of the stories aired by Peuneugah Aceh on President Clinton's UN Office of the Special Envoy on Tsunami Recovery web site.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Wayne Sharpe, Internews Indonesia Country Director

Eric Sasono, Internews Indonesia Program Manager