Satrio Arismunandar (born 1961) was a student movement activist from

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

. He founded the

Alliance of Independent Journalists The Alliance of Independent Journalists (, abbreviated as AJI) is an Indonesian organization that promotes press freedom in the country. The AJI was founded in 1994 by Satrio Arismunandar, Ahmad Taufik, Goenawan Mohamad, the founder and editor ...

(AJI) in 1994, as an organization that opposed the

Suharto Suharto (8 June 1921 – 27 January 2008) was an Indonesian Officer (armed forces), military officer and politician, and dictator, who was the second and longest serving president of Indonesia, serving from 1967 to 1998. His 32 years rule, cha ...

regime and has since become Indonesia's leading body for journalists. Its involvement in the labor movement led to him being forced to step down from the daily newspaper

Kompas ''Kompas'' () is an Indonesian national newspaper published in Jakarta, founded on 28 June 1965. It is published by PT Kompas Media Nusantara, which is part of Kompas Gramedia Group. The paper's head office is located at the Kompas Multimedia ...

in 1995.

Education and student activities

He was born in

Semarang Semarang (Javanese script, Javanese: , ''Kutha Semarang'') is the capital and largest city of Central Java province in Indonesia. It was a major port during the Netherlands, Dutch Dutch East Indies, colonial era, and is still an important regio ...

, on 11 April 1961 as the first child of six children in the Wiharto Arismunandar family. He graduated from 14th National Middle School in

East Jakarta East Jakarta (; ), abbreviated as Jaktim, is the largest of the five administrative cities (''kota administrasi'') which form the Special Capital Region of Jakarta, Indonesia, with a land area of 188.03 km2 (72.6 sq.miles). It had a population ...

in 1980, and graduated with a major in electronics from the

University of Indonesia The University of Indonesia (UI; ) is a public university in Depok, West Java and Salemba, Jakarta, Indonesia. It is one of the oldest tertiary-level educational institutions in Indonesia (known as the Dutch East Indies when UI was established) ...

(UI) in 1989. His father, a middle officer in the Indonesian airforce, died from a disease just ten days before Satrio graduated from UI. Satrio's activities as a student were varied. He was a member of the Democratic Student Body, a head of the Electronics Students Association, member of the nature lover association, editing the campus newspaper and active in the local

mosque A mosque ( ), also called a masjid ( ), is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Salah, Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard. Originally, mosques were si ...

. He also participated in receiving new members for the

Muslim Students' Association The Muslim Students Association, or Muslim Student Union, of the U.S. and Canada, also known as MSA National, is a religious organization dedicated to establishing and maintaining Islamic societies on college campuses in Canada and the United Sta ...

in 1981 and became a member of the ISAFIS (The Indonesian Student Association for International Studies), although in the end he decided to concentrate on journalism related activities on campus. After working from 1986 to 1995 as a journalist, he went back to do a

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

in Defence Studies at the University of Indonesia, and graduated in August, 2000. His thesis was on ''The role of student journalism in the student movement in 1998: A case study of the bulletin Move! at the time of stopping president

'', which became the material for a book.

Journalistic experience

Since he was a student, Satrio had already worked as a freelance writer (1981–1986), journalist for the daily Harian Pelita (1986–1988), the daily

(1988–1995), and the magazine D&R (1997–2000). As a journalist in Kompas, he became a specialist on the politics of the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

and international conflict, after reporting from the

Gulf War , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

and the conflict in

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

. He now works in television.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arismunandar, Satrio 1961 births Living people Indonesian journalists Indonesian activists People from Semarang