Celebrating 70 years

Over his 40-year career as a journalist Hidayat Djajamihardja has witnessed the rise and fall of presidents, social upheaval, natural disasters, military operations and political change.

Hidayat joined the ABC’s Jakarta office in 1966 as a local journalist during which time he covered major political and social changes in Indonesia.

He recalls the unorthodox methods used by the Jakarta office at the time to get voice reports to the ABC in Australia: ‘We would rush to the old Jakarta airport at Kemayoran and would approach any honest looking foreigner, preferably of European descent, and asked him or her to deliver our package of a 3-inch tape containing the story of the day. The kind-hearted passenger would then drop the package at Singapore airport, where the ABC had a liaison officer at the ready. The voice piece would then be sent to Sydney and Melbourne by a radio circuit.’

Hidayat says these primitive and complicated methods of filing reports meant Radio Australia was able to dominate the airwaves in Indonesia and South East Asia for many years – a situation that often made him unpopular with leaders and authorities in Indonesia.

On a 1969 trip to cover an uprising in the Central Highlands of Irian Jaya, Hidayat was placed under city arrest in Biak over a minor visa matter. The army general who ordered the arrest was a man with whom Hidayat had been good friends. The general later warned an ABC colleague that Hidayat was ‘on the CIA payroll’ – a popular accusation leveled by government and military officials against anyone they disliked.

Hidayat moved to Australia in 1969 and joined Radio Australia’s Indonesian service as a journalist. Although he found life in Melbourne much safer, Hidayat’s regular trips to Indonesia kept him on his toes. His experiences covering East Timor have particular resonance for Hidayat – he found himself in extreme danger at times, but also saw first-hand the important role Radio Australia played in East Timor during the Indonesian occupation.

On a 1988 trip ‘I found that the position of Radio Australia in the province was much more important than I realised. East Timorese were listening to Radio Australia for the latest reports about what was happening in the territory, but at the same time these people were risking their lives. Apparently at that time, though unofficially, it was an offence to listen to Radio Australia.’

It was during East Timor’s referendum vote in 1999 that Hidayat came into real danger. He was travelling in Dili with the ABC’s Jakarta correspondent, Mark Bowling, when their car was stopped by about 50 members of the Aitarak militia, many of whom were wielding machetes and hand guns. The militia members started kicking the doors of the car, then a large rock was thrown into the back of the car, hitting Hidayat in the back and sending broken glass showering over him.

‘I could hear them kicking the car and screaming “out, out, out!”. I came out limping, holding my mike and mini disk. Before I realised, a pistol was directed at me by a man in his late 20s. He held it about a metre from my head – I could see the barrel very clearly. People from both sides of the street were shouting “kill him, kill him”. At that moment, I felt as if I was frozen in the middle of the road. Then someone shouted “go, go, go”. I limped back into the car and the driver sped off, zig-zagging down the street under a shower of rocks.’

Despite the dangers, Hidayat says being a Radio Australia journalist comes with its own rewards.

‘Now that Australia has become a close friend of Indonesia’s, especially after the Boxing Day 2004 tsunami in Aceh, everything is beautiful,’ he says.

‘After the tsunami, things were good every time I approached people in the streets of Banda Aceh. When they saw the Radio Australia logo on the mike I was using, their immediate comment was always the same: “Australia?” they would ask. Followed by a big “thank you!” and a thumbs up!’