By Wahyudi Soeriaatmadja
Indonesia Correspondent
wahyudi@sph.com.sg

 

IN JAKARTA

WHEN it comes to TV, soap operas are by far the most popular shows in Indonesia. That was until the concept of Reality TV hit the small screen.

Lately, real time TV has dislodged the soaps from their number one position in TV ratings and even higher ad revenue potential.

But earlier this month, a terror-related incident put on the guise of a reality show, and captured audiences around the country and maybe around the world.

Although it was not a planned gesture, the non-stop coverage of the events by TV channels, pushed it to become a real-life drama, replete with music for effect — and maybe with an eye on viewer ratings and economic compulsions.

The event in play was a raid by Indonesian police early this month on a house where Asia's most wanted terrorist Noordin M. Top was supposedly holed up along with his accomplices.

Reporters and cameramen on various television networks scrambled over each other to get to the story, crawled to where the action was unfolding, and commented live in whispers to keep up with the mood of the incident.

Some settled at a spot near the house, some in the bushes, some behind trees, all the while trying to zoom their lenses as close to the antagonists as possible.

Up close and personal; looking at the back of the house after the raid.
PHOTO: Wahyudi Soeriaatmadja

TVOne got nearest to the action, capturing moments of police sporadically firing shots at the holed-up terrorists and at times hurling grenades at their target.

Their team could be heard whispering into the microphone, giving the audience minute by minute coverage of the happenings at the scene.

The production team back in the studio did their bit for the ratings by repeating the most intense moments of the gun-fight, with background music for added effect.

At the end of the 18-hour siege, the team got close enough to get footage of the heavily-armed police troops snooping their way around the house and finally barging in. As they emerged with just one body bag, TV stations ran a flash across their screen screaming 'Noordin Top Killed'.

Police examine what's left of the house after the raid.
PHOTO: Wahyudi Soeriaatmadja

No one bothered to question what happened to the supposed accomplices who were also firing back from the house at the police.

Dramatic and overwhelming, the coverage had audiences on the edges of their seats, believing all the time that the police had Noordin within their grasp.

Newspapers also carried similar reports the next day.

A day later, however, doubts were expressed over the identity of the slain terrorist. Was he really Noordin?  

In the days that followed, a series of DNA tests were carried out, which confirmed without doubt that the terrorist shot down by the security forces was not Noordin, but one of his accomplices Ibrahim, who was responsible for smuggling in the explosives used in the bomb attacks of two Jakarta hotels on July 17.

At the end of the entire episode, it may seem that the entire live-feed exercise may have been futile. But, going by the viewer ratings, it wasn’t.