Paras Indonesia, September, 14 2006 @ 01:31 pm
Australian TV Crew Faces Deportation
By: Roy Tupai
An Australian television news crew will be deported from Indonesia after being caught
attempting to work in Papua province, which has a ban on foreign journalists.
The five-member crew from the Seven Network's Today Tonight program had flown
from Bali to Papua, apparently with the aim of filming a story about an orphaned boy
due to be eaten by a tribe of cannibals. Authorities on Wednesday (13/9/06) ordered
them to leave because they were traveling on tourist visas.
Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Desra Percaya said Thursday the Australians had
been told to leave the country as soon as possible. "We have evidence that they were
conducting journalistic activities, which is in contravention of the specific purpose that
has been given for the visa on arrival," he was quoted as saying by the Australian
Associated Press.
He denied reports that the crew, led by controversial presenter Naomi Robson, had
been jailed overnight, saying they stayed at the Sentani Indah hotel in the provincial
capital Jayapura.
Papua Police spokesman Kartono Wangsadisastra said the crew had planned to stay
for three days and requested permission to cover "cultural" stories in Jayapura and
Merauke. They were told to leave and return with proper permits, he added.
An unnamed member of the crew said they were flying out of Indonesia on Thursday
morning and had been advised not speak publicly about their trip until out of the
country. He confirmed they had not been detained.
The Australian Foreign Ministry said the five had been questioned about their visas
and were told to leave.
In Jakarta, Foreign Affairs Ministry secretary general Imron Cotan said the crew would
be sent back to Bali and deported because they violated immigration and visa laws.
"They claimed to be tourists, but they brought equipment for journalistic purposes and
were carrying out journalism," he was quoted as saying by The Age daily's online
edition.
Percaya said authorities were yet to decide whether the five would also be fined or
banned from returning to Indonesia.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard played down the affair, saying he "would be
amazed" if it reignited diplomatic tensions between Jakarta and Canberra. He said he
was unaware of any requests for diplomatic assistance. "Obviously if any Australian
anywhere in the world wants consular help they will receive it. But I am not aware of
any particular requests, particular responses, particular contact," he told ABC Radio.
The Seven Network said "the crew are on a special assignment" and "in a difficult
situation". Seven's news and public affairs director Peter Meakin said authorities were
tipped off about the trip. "Journalists are not always welcome and to get into places to
cover stories they sometimes work on tourist visas and it happened in Indonesian
Papua a few months ago with Channel Nine operating on tourist visas but they didn't
get pinged," he was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.
Meakin did not apologize for sending the crew to Papua illegally. "This is a short-cut
that has been taken by a few people. It's fairly standard operating procedure when
you're not allowed in to do stories in the public interest. It happens very commonly.
Channel Nine was up there recently and I believe they used tourist visas as well," he
told Southern Cross Broadcasting.
He declined to comment on reports the crew had been sent to film a story about
cannibalism. "I'm being really tight-lipped here... for a number of reasons, we're still on
the ground there and I don't want to do anything that jeopardizes us journalistically or
politically... The Indonesians are being very decent at the moment and they're
handling the situation in a quite mature manner and I don't want to do anything to
inflame them,"" he said.
Bob Brown, the leader of Australia's left-wing Greens Party, hailed the Seven Network
for attempting media coverage of Papua. "I don't know what their motivation is, and we
will have to wait to find out about that, but I do know that as far back as in 1979 I was
refused a visa to go to Papua to climb a mountain. Nothing has changed and it's very
difficult to get in there and let's be frank about this, there is repression of media
coverage of what's happening in Papua. And so if people are trying to get some news
about Papua and the plight of the Papuan people back to the rest of the world then
good on them," he was quoted as saying by the Australian Associated Press.
"It's a resource-rich province and it's got a military presence which cracks down on
democracy, cracks down on human rights, cracks down on the cultural life of one to
two million Papuans - aided and abetted by the Howard government by the way," he
said.
Australian media pundits are enjoying Naomi Robson's latest fiasco. She has been
widely criticized this year for: wearing a khaki outfit shortly after Steve 'Crocodile
Hunter' Irwin's death, abandoning the scene of a mining accident to attend an awards
show, referring to her audience as "stupid", and being romantically linked to a fugitive
cocaine dealer.
Cannibalism Victim?
It seems unlikely the Today Tonight crew was in Papua for any hard-hitting political
stories or an examination of recent deadly inter-tribal clashes. The program's website
shows its latest stories were about "a 15-year-old teenager... showing you do not
have to be stick-thin to be beautiful on the catwalk as she enters the world of
plus-size modeling", a millionaire offering his fortune to the needy, and tributes to
Steve Irwin and late racing driver Peter Brock.
The online edition of Australia's Daily Telegraph reported the Today Tonight crew had
intended to locate a young boy named Wawa, who was reportedly to be eaten by
cannibals, and take him to safety in nearby village.
"The problem was they were only going to put him in more danger by going in there
and disrupting his situation. If so it's a good thing they got detained - it probably has
saved him in the end," the daily quoted an unnamed television source as saying.
Seven Network later admitted the plan and accused the rival Nine Network of
sabotaging the story. A source at Nine said the network's 60 Minutes program had
considered doing the same story but decided it was too risky and could further
endanger the boy.
Prior to the spread of Christianity, cannibalism used to be common in Papua,
generally either as a traditional rite of passage or as a form of tribal punishment.
Copyright (c) 2005 - PT Laksamana Global International. All rights reserved
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