INDONESIA: ‘Serambi Indonesia’ back on newsstands again

After the Aceh daily newspaper’s offices were destroyed, with many of its journalists still missing, paper is published for the first time since the tsunamis hit

The Jakarta Post
Saturday, January 2, 2005

After six days of absence due to the destruction of its office and disappearance of most of its employees, Aceh’s only daily Serambi Indonesia hit the streets again on Sunday.

This time Serambi greets its readers not from its usual base in Banda Aceh, the capital of Aceh province, badly damaged from Sunday’s tsunami, but from a new base in Lhokseumawe, North Aceh.

Serambi’s office and printing house in downtown Banda Aceh were leveled to the ground, with nothing left intact, and many of its journalists are still missing, feared dead.

The daily, this time, is only 8 pages, half its normal size of 16 pages, due to shortages of manpower.

According to Serambi’s Lhokseumawe branch head Ismail M. Syam, the eight-page newspaper is currently being run by 10 people, comprising six journalists and four production staff.

The 10 people are not all Serambi’s employees from Lhokseumawe but rather employees from Kompas’s Persda network, sent from other parts of the country, including from Makassar, Batam and Jakarta. Serambi is owned by the Kompas Gramedia Group.

“Now, the status of editors and reporters is the same. Everyone has to get into the field and file stories. Otherwise, we will not be able to fill the paper with local news,” Ismail told The Jakarta Post here.

He explained that 60 percent of Serambi’s 225 employees — including journalists — are still unaccounted for.

Serambi is not alone, though. Since Sunday, media companies outside Aceh were also frantically trying to locate their reporters and staff based in the province.

Serambi was established in the early 1990s by several senior Kompas journalists, including its editor-in-chief Syamsul Kahar, who survived the tragedy.

Following the disaster, a number of Serambi people, backed by its parent publication, prepared printing of the paper from a new base, Lhokseumawe.

Lhokseumawe was chosen because the newspaper has a five-unit printing house in the city.

The publisher, PT Aceh Media Grafika, said it is printing 10,000 copies per day — compared to 100,000 before the disaster. All copies are being distributed free of charge, and it will remain free for the next week or so.

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You can see the website of the Indonesian-language daily, Serambi, at http://pendidikan.bangkapos.com/.

Date Posted: 1/2/2005

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INDONESIA: ‘Serambi kembali kios koran lagi

Setelah kantor surat kabar harian Aceh hancur, dengan banyak wartawan yang masih hilang, kertas ini diterbitkan untuk pertama kalinya sejak tsunami melanda

The Jakarta Post
Sabtu, 2 Januari, 2005

Setelah enam hari absen karena penghancuran kantor dan hilangnya sebagian besar karyawannya, hanya harian Serambi Indonesia Aceh pergi jalan-jalan lagi pada Minggu.

Serambi ini waktu menyapa pembacanya bukan dari dasar yang biasa di Banda Aceh, ibukota provinsi Aceh, rusak parah akibat tsunami hari Minggu, tetapi dari basis baru di Lhokseumawe, Aceh Utara.

Kantor Serambi dan percetakan di pusat kota Banda Aceh rata dengan tanah, dengan tersisa utuh, dan banyak wartawan yang masih hilang, dikhawatirkan tewas.

Harian, kali ini, hanya 8 halaman, setengah ukuran normal dari 16 halaman, karena kekurangan tenaga kerja.

Menurut kepala cabang Lhokseumawe Serambi Ismail M. Syam, surat kabar delapan halaman saat ini sedang dijalankan oleh 10 orang, terdiri dari enam wartawan dan empat staf produksi.

10 orang bukan karyawan semua Serambi dari Lhokseumawe melainkan karyawan dari jaringan Persda Kompas, yang dikirim dari bagian lain negara itu, termasuk dari Makassar, Batam dan Jakarta. Serambi dimiliki oleh Kelompok Kompas Gramedia.

“Sekarang, status editor dan wartawan adalah sama Setiap orang harus masuk ke dalam cerita lapangan dan file.. Jika tidak, kami tidak akan bisa untuk mengisi kertas dengan berita lokal,” kata Ismail The Jakarta Post di sini.

Dia menjelaskan bahwa 60 persen dari 225 Serambi karyawan – termasuk wartawan – masih belum ditemukan.

Serambi tidak sendirian, meskipun. Sejak hari Minggu, perusahaan media luar Aceh juga panik mencoba untuk mencari wartawan dan staf yang berbasis di provinsi tersebut.

Serambi didirikan pada awal 1990-an oleh beberapa wartawan Kompas senior, termasuk editor-in-chief Syamsul Kahar, yang selamat tragedi itu.

Setelah bencana, sejumlah orang Serambi, didukung oleh publikasi induknya, siap cetak kertas dari dasar yang baru, Lhokseumawe.

Lhokseumawe dipilih karena koran memiliki rumah lima unit percetakan di kota.

Penerbit, PT Aceh Media Grafika, mengatakan sedang mencetak 10.000 eksemplar per hari – dibandingkan dengan 100.000 sebelum bencana. Semua salinan yang didistribusikan gratis, dan akan tetap bebas untuk minggu berikutnya atau lebih.

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Anda dapat melihat website dari bahasa Indonesia-bahasa sehari-hari, Serambi, di http://pendidikan.bangkapos.com/.

Tanggal Terpasang: 2005/01/02

INDONESIA: ‘Serambi Indonesia’ survives the tsunami

Banda Aceh’s only daily newspaper pulls together to restore communication for the tsunami devestated area

The Jakarta Post
Friday, January 14, 2005

By Nani Afrida

A small, dirty shop-house with no parking space in the Beurawe area of Banda Aceh has now become the place where Aceh’s only daily, Serambi Indonesia, endeavors to rise from ashes.

The newspapers’s former office was badly damaged by the tsunami.

At the front of the house there is a reception area that also serves to receive advertisements and reports of missing persons. The meeting room is only 12 square meters in size while the editorial room is located in a corner with some 10 computers.

“Those were the only computers we could salvage; the rest of them were lost during the tsunami,” the daily’s head of human resources department, Nazamuddin Arbi, told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

Unlike previously, when the daily was located in a second story building in Baet village, there is no longer bursts of laughter or joking among the employees.

The earthquake and tsunami have wiped the smiles out from the surviving employees’ faces. Apart from ruining the daily’s office, 20 percent of the daily’s employees either died or have been declared missing as a result of the disaster.

“The disaster cost us 51 employees, nine of them journalists, including Serambi Indonesia‘s managing editor,” Nazamuddin Arbi said.

Serambi Indonesia‘s bureau in Banda Aceh had 288 employees, of which some 30 percent were journalists. At that time of the disaster, many of the paper’s employees preferred to live near the office.

“If families are also counted, the number of (our people) who either died or are missing has reached 185 people,” Nazamuddin said.

Serambi Indonesia, owned by the Kompas Gramedia Group, was set up in the early 1990s by several senior Kompas journalists, including its editor-in-chief Syamsul Kahar, who survived the tragedy.

The destruction of the paper’s facilities as well as the loss of its human resources caused Serambi Indonesia to disappear from the newsstands for six days.

On the third day after the disaster struck, employees managed to move some of the newspaper’s assets to Serambi Indonesia‘s Lhokseumawe office. Very little remained at the Banda Aceh office, most was swept away by the tsunami. With simple equipment they got back to work, determined to bring news to the people.

On Jan. 1, the daily was back on the newsstands, printed at its Lhokseumawe office. Lhokseumawe was chosen because the newspaper has a five-unit printing house in the city. The print run is now 5,000 copies, much less than its usual 25,000 copies.

The paper is published with eight pages — half its normal size of 16 pages due to shortages of manpower — and was initially distributed for free. The paper is now sold for Rp 1,500 a copy.

On Thursday the atmosphere of grief could still be felt in the daily’s office, but the spirit is still there.

“We do this despite our limitations because we cannot keep on mourning forever,” Nazamuddin said.

Date Posted: 1/14/2005

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Hanya surat kabar harian Banda Aceh menarik bersama-sama untuk mengembalikan komunikasi untuk tsunami devestated daerah

The Jakarta Post
Jumat, 14 Januari, 2005

Dengan Nani Afrida

Kecil, kotor ruko tanpa tempat parkir di daerah Beurawe Banda Aceh kini telah menjadi tempat di mana Aceh hanya harian, Serambi Indonesia, upaya untuk bangkit dari abu.

Bekas kantor surat kabar itu rusak parah akibat tsunami.

Di depan rumah ada area resepsi yang juga berfungsi untuk menerima iklan dan laporan orang hilang. Ruang pertemuan hanya 12 meter persegi sedangkan ruang editorial terletak di sudut dengan sekitar 10 komputer.

“Itu adalah komputer hanya kita bisa menyelamatkan; sisanya hilang selama tsunami,” kata kepala harian dari departemen sumber daya manusia, Nazamuddin Arbi, The Jakarta Post pada hari Kamis.

Tidak seperti sebelumnya, ketika harian terletak di sebuah bangunan cerita kedua di desa Baet, tidak ada lagi ledakan tawa atau bercanda di antara karyawan.

Gempa bumi dan tsunami telah menghapus senyum keluar dari wajah para karyawan yang masih hidup ‘. Selain merusak kantor harian, 20 persen karyawan harian yang meninggal atau telah dinyatakan hilang akibat bencana.

“Bencana ini menelan biaya 51 karyawan, sembilan di antaranya wartawan, termasuk redaksi Serambi Indonesia yang mengelola,” kata Nazamuddin Arbi.

Biro Serambi Indonesia di Banda Aceh memiliki 288 karyawan, yang sekitar 30 persen adalah wartawan. Pada saat bencana, banyak karyawan koran tersebut lebih suka tinggal di dekat kantor.

“Jika keluarga juga dihitung, jumlah (orang kita) yang meninggal atau hilang mencapai 185 orang,” kata Nazamuddin.

Serambi Indonesia, yang dimiliki oleh Kompas Gramedia Group, didirikan pada awal 1990-an oleh beberapa wartawan Kompas senior, termasuk editor-in-chief Syamsul Kahar, yang selamat tragedi itu.

Perusakan fasilitas kertas serta hilangnya sumber daya manusia yang disebabkan Serambi Indonesia menghilang dari kios koran selama enam hari.

Pada hari ketiga setelah bencana itu terjadi, karyawan berhasil memindahkan beberapa aset surat kabar itu ke kantor Lhokseumawe Serambi Indonesia. Sangat sedikit tetap di kantor Banda Aceh, sebagian tersapu tsunami. Dengan peralatan sederhana mereka kembali ke pekerjaan, bertekad untuk membawa berita kepada masyarakat.

Pada 1 Januari, harian ini telah kembali di kios koran, dicetak di kantor Lhokseumawe nya. Lhokseumawe dipilih karena koran memiliki rumah lima unit percetakan di kota. Jangka cetak sekarang 5.000 eksemplar, jauh lebih sedikit dari biasa 25.000 eksemplar.

Makalah ini diterbitkan dengan delapan halaman – setengah ukuran normal dari 16 halaman karena kekurangan tenaga kerja – dan awalnya didistribusikan secara gratis. Makalah ini sekarang dijual seharga Rp 1.500 salinan.

Pada hari Kamis suasana duka masih bisa dirasakan di kantor sehari-hari, tetapi roh adalah masih ada.

“Kami melakukan ini meskipun keterbatasan kita karena kita tidak bisa terus berkabung selamanya,” kata Nazamuddin.

Date Posted: 2005/1/14

Video 20th Serambi Indonesia

20th Serambi Indonesia