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National SAR agency head calm and collected amid tragedy
Bambang Soelistyo
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Bambang Soelistyo. Antara
As the current head of the National Search and Rescue Team (Basarnas), Air Chief Marshal FH Bambang Soelistyo has been at the forefront of the operation to locate and retrieve wreckage and bodies from AirAsia flight QZ8501, which crashed into the waters of the Karimata Strait on Dec. 28, 2014.
One easily observed trait is his perennial calmness, always collected and ready to answer any questions regarding the operation, in spite of the fact that he has rather a lot on his plate at the moment and the success or failure of the entire search and rescue (SAR) operation rests on his leadership.
'I have a responsibility to you [journalists] to provide you with information but also to the [victims'] families and the public. So, of course we have to do our best when carrying out the operation,' Soelistyo said two days after the search operation began.
He has also been very reliable as the authoritative voice of the
operation.
Every time the 57-year-old delivers the latest update on the SAR operation, he always makes sure that the journalists covering the operation completely understand the information he provides.
He is direct in asking news reporters if they understand the details of his statements.
Soelistyo, who grew up in Yogyakarta, is also comfortable in responding to questions from foreign journalists and he makes sure that his English is as fluent as possible.
He has also made sure that everyone knows that he is fully in charge of the operation, even if that means contradicting the chief of the Indonesian Military (TNI) Gen.
Moeldoko.
Last week, when Moeldoko arrived to take over the leadership of the SAR operation, Soelistyo coolly responded in front of the TNI chief that he remained in charge of the operation.
When Moeldoko made his own conclusion that the flight data recorders could have been damaged on impact, Soelistyo said, 'The black boxes are made of metal that has been manufactured to be able to withstand impact and temperature,'
But despite his stoic demeanor and military training, the crash, in which all 162 people on board the plane died, has taken an emotional toll on him.
He was very emotional during the first three days of the operation, when the joint SAR team had not been able to find any bodies or debris from the aircraft's wreckage in the Karimata Strait, between Bangka Belitung islands and Kalimantan.
'Every day, I have a teleconference with the families [of the victims] there [in Surabaya]. The last time [I did], tears were streaming down my face,' Soelistyo said.
He explained that during a time of horrific tragedy such as a plane crash, the ones most affected are the families of the victims and this had prompted him to do the best he could to help the victims'
next of kin.
'I put myself in the shoes of the families so that I know what they're hoping for,' said Soelistyo.
That is also why he decided to visit the victims' families in Surabaya on the third day of the operation.
'When I visited them, some of them greeted me with a smile. That pleased me because I thought they might greet me with tears or even anger,' Soelistyo said.
The Basarnas chief is also hell-bent on ensuring the success of the SAR operation so much that he has acknowledged he has only got two or three hours of sleep each day since the first day of the
operation but he will not allow sleep deprivation to interfere with the operation.
'I've been making do with little sleep because I have to keep monitoring [the operation] and planning for tomorrow's operation,' Soelistyo said. 'Usually I finish my night duty between 1:30 a.m. and 2 a.m. After that, I have to wake up at 5 a.m.'
Given such little time to rest, he decided to sleep at his office, robbing him of quality time with his family.
'Of course [I miss my family]. I have kids and grandchildren,' Soelistyo said.
Before being appointed as the chief of Basarnas in April 2014, Soelistyo spent his career in the Indonesian Air Force (TNI-AU).
In 1982, he graduated from the Air Force Academy.
By the early 1990s, he had become one of the Air Force's top pilots, with achievements including piloting a Hawk MK-53 during the Jakarta Air Show at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in 1996 and leading the Jupiter Acrobatic
team in 1997.
Soelistyo was also a member of the United Nations Military Observer team from 1993 to 1994 as part of the Garuda Contingent XIV in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
In 2009 he was appointed as the spokesman for the Navy.
His most recent position before he was appointed to replace Alfan Baharudin as the chief of Basarnas was director general of defense strategy at the Defense Ministry
in 2013.
After over two weeks leading the flight QZ8501 SAR operation, Soelistyo has become personally invested in the tragedy.
He has made the task of returning the bodies of the crash victims to their families a point of honor.
On Tuesday, he paid another visit to the victims' families at the East Java Police's Victim Identification Unit (DVI) post in Surabaya to bring the latest news about the operation to them.
Soelistyo, accompanied by East Java Police chief Insp. Gen. Anas Yusuf and East Java Governor Soekarwo, once again met the familiar faces.
This time he was able to bring what could be considered as closure for some of the victims' next of kin.
'This is so that the victims' families understand [the difference] between their hopes and the reality of what is happening,' he said.
'We have informed the families about what we have done in searching for the victims' bodies up until now, and what our future plans are,' the Basarnas chief added.
