"Indonesia is regarded to have a positive credibility by the Libyan government and people," said Mahendro Wisnu Wardono, Metro TV journalist who is currently assigned to cover Libya`s situation.
Mahendro said, on various occasions, the Libyan authorities allowed a Metro TV team to conduct their journalistic duties because they knew that this TV station came from Indonesia, including making exclusive coverage of the site of the first bomb attack.
Mahendro Wisnu Wardono was in Tripoli when ANTARA contacted him from Bogor, West Java, on Wednesday morning.
He is assigned to cover the Libyan crisis along with his two Metro TV colleagues, Andini Effendi and Edward AR.
Mahendro said despite the news coverage permission that his team had got, they were prohibited to take footage of victims in hospital when the US-led aggression forces began bombarding Tripoli a few days ago.
On the night the US-led forces firstly attacked the Libyan capital city, the TV journalists who were allowed to remain on the streets were just those of Metro TV (Indonesia) and Libyan government`s TV station.
Other media workers were "sheltered" at hotels, said the journalist who had ever made news coverages in Gaza, Palestine, in 2008 and 2009.
On Wednesday morning (Libyan time), there was a minor incident due to misunderstanding of a group of Tripoli about the Metro TV because they thought that it was Al Jazeera TV.
But, the misunderstanding that happened when the Metro TV team was taking the footage of people`s activities in Tripoli market could be resolved after the team members explained that they were from Indonesia and worked for an Indonesian news TV station, he said.
The Libyan servicemen also showed their cooperative and positive attitudes in various events when they knew that Metro TV was from Indonesia, he said.
"They even offer us snack and water," he said adding that the Metro TV team members did want to have an exclusive interview with Libyan leader Muammar Ghadafi though having that chance was not easy.
French, Britain and the United States forces have been launching military strikes to Tripoli over the past three days in their efforts to weaken the pro-Ghadafi military power.
Libya has been gripped by a civil war over the past month. In response to the growing fights of the anti-government camps in the country, Ghadafi ordered his military to crush his opponents.
Several thousands of Libyan civilians have been killed and the United Nations has issued Resolution Number 1973 on March 17. That UN resolution has given a mandate to the UN member states to protect the Libyan civilians, including imposing a no-fly zone in the country.
The USA and its two allies have translated that UN resolution into conducting a military operation against Libya.
In response to this military move, political analyst of Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) Siti Zuhro said it was an unacceptable violation of a country`s sovereignty and an act of destruction of Libya. (*)
(R013/H-NG )
Editor: Ruslan Burhani
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
