The Crime-Fighting Power of Cross-Border Investigative Journalism | Bektour Iskender | TED

Translator: Rizki Febriani Reviewer: Maria Nainggolan

What makes organized crime strong?

Mengapa sindikat kriminal itu kuat?

It is very well-connected across borders.

Karena mereka terkoneksi dengan baik lintas batas.

Criminal leaders can cooperate over long distances,

Pemimpin sindikat bisa kerjasama dari jarak yang jauh,

build efficient logistics

membangun logistik yang efisien

and hide their wealth across many jurisdictions.

dan menyembunyikan kekayaan mereka lintas juridiksi.

How do we know about this?

Dari mana kita tahu ini?

One of the reasons is journalists.

Salah satu alasannya jurnalis.

We are often the first ones

Kami sering jadi yang pertama

to reveal the enormous schemes of organized crime networks.

mengungkapkan rencana besar jaringan sindikat kriminal.

At some point, journalists started connecting across borders, too.

Di satu titik, jurnalis mulai terkoneksi lintas batas juga.

During the last decade,

Satu dekade terakhir,

there was a number of groundbreaking, cross-border investigations

ada beberapa terobosan, investigasi lintas batas

that had dozens of media organizations working together.

yang melibatkan lusinan organisasi media bekerjasama.

“Panama Papers” is probably one of the most famous

“Panama Papers” mungkin adalah salah satu kolaborasi

of such cross-border journalism collaborations.

jurnalisme lintas batas.

It had more than 100 media working on it;

Investigasi tersebut melibatkan 100 media;

it affected countries on every continent.

itu mempengaruhi negara di setiap benua.

More importantly, it led to more than one billion dollars

Lebih penting lagi, itu mengarah pada lebih dari 1 juta dollar

to be recovered to the economies of the countries they were stolen from.

dikembalikan pada perekonomian negara tempat itu dicuri.

Now let’s take a look at maps that show which countries were featured

Sekarang, coba lihat peta yang menunjukkan negara-negara yang terdampak

in three major global investigations from 2016 to 2021.

dalam 3 investigasi global dari 2016 hingga 2021.

So this is “Panama Papers,”

Ini adalah “Panama Papers,”

“Paradise Papers,”

“Paradise Papers,”

“Pandora Papers.”

“Pandora Papers.”

As you can see, some countries keep being blank spots on these maps,

Seperti yang bisa kalian lihat, beberapa negara menjadi titik kosong,

and one of them is Kyrgyzstan,

dan salah staunya adalah Kyrgyztan,

my home country.

negara asal saya.

And does it mean there is no organized crime in Kyrgyzstan

Apa itu artinya tidak ada sindikat kriminal di Kyrgyztan

or maybe no corruption?

atau tidak ada korupsi?

No way.

Tidak mungkin.

There is a lot of corruption in my country,

Ada banyak sekali korupsi di negara saya,

and organized crime is a pretty powerful force.

dan sindikat kriminal juga kekuatan yang besar.

Kyrgyzstan was just not covered in major global investigations

Kyrgyztan tidak disebut dalam mayoritas investigas global

for a very long time.

untuk waktu yang lama.

I’m one of the founders of Kloop,

Saya salah satu penderi Kloop,

a very unusual media organization

organisasi media yang sangat tidak biasa

that I co-founded in Kyrgyzstan back in 2007 with my friend, Rinat.

yang saya dirikan di Kyrgyztan pada 2007 bersama teman saya, Rinat.

Initially it was just a news website and a journalism school.

Awalnya itu hanya website berita dan sekolah jurnalisme.

We would train journalists as young as 15 or 16

Kami akan melatih jurnalis semuda mungkin mulai usia 15 atau 16

to cover politics,

untuk menjelaskan politik,

human rights violations

pelanggaran HAM,

and many, many other stories that happened in our country.

dan banyak cerita lainnya yang terjadi di negara kami.

Throughout the years our journalists grew up,

Selama beberapa tahun terakkhir jurnalis kami tumbuh,

and by the time they were in their early 20s,

dan ketika mereka berusia awal 20 tahunan,

they thought they were too experienced to just cover daily news.

mereka merasa mereka terlalu berpengalaman untuk melaporkan berita harian.

They wanted to take on more involved stories,

Mereka ingin melaporkan cerita yang lebih dalam,

and they were eager to make a difference in Kyrgyzstan.

dan mereka tidak sabar membuat perbedaan di Kyrgyzstan.

So we started publishing bigger investigations

Jadi kami mulai menerbitkan investigasi yang lebih besar

with our young and engaged journalists,

dengan jurnalis muda kami,

but there were some difficulties though.

tetapi ada beberapa kesulitan.

In some cases, we did not have enough resources or experience

Di beberapa kasus, kami tidak punya cukup sumber daya atau pengalaman

to work on very complicated stories,

untuk mengerjakan cerita yang kompleks,

and sometimes it was just too scary.

dan kadang itu sangat menakutkan.

For example, once we even received a death threat

Contohnya, kami pernah dapat ancaman pembunuhan

for trying to investigate criminal activities of the then-president’s son.

karena mencoba menginvestigasi aktivitas kriminal anak presiden saat itu.

And the problem was we didn’t know who could protect us,

Da masalahnya kami tidak tahu siapa yang bisa melindungi kami,

and we eventually had to drop this investigation.

dan akhirnya kami harus menutup investigasi ini.

But then something important happened in 2017

Tapi kemudian hal penting terjadi di 2007

when we joined the network of OCCRP,

ketika kami bergabung dalam jaringan OCCRP,

Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project.

Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project.

It is an organization based in Bosnia.

Ini adalah organisasi berbasis di Bosnia.

It was initially formed to unite the best investigative media outlets

Awalnya dibentuk untuk menyatukan media investigasi terbaik

from the Balkans,

di negara-negara Balkan,

and later it expanded its network to many other countries in Europe

kemudian ia mengembangkan jaringannya ke negara-negara lain di Eropa

and then to Central Asia,

dan ke Asia Tengah,

Middle East, Africa, Latin America.

Timur Tengah, Afrika, Amerika Latin.

And the goal of this organization is in its name:

Tujuan organisasi ini sesuai namanya:

to fight organized crime and corruption with journalism.

untuk melawan sindikat kriminal dan korupsi dengan jurnalisme.

We were the first Central Asian member of this network,

Kami adalah anggota Asia Tengah pertama dalam jaringan ini,

and oh, how many changes it has brought.

dan oh, berapa banyak itu membawa perubahan.

We turned Kyrgyzstan from a blank spot on the map

Kami mengubah Kyrgyztan yang adalah titik kosong di peta

into a country where organized crime and corruption are investigated

menjadi negara dengan sindikat kriminal dan korupsi yang diinvestigasi

as never before.

dengan detail.

In 2019, we joined our efforts with OCCRP and also with Radio Liberty,

Di 2019, kami menggabungkan upaya kami dengan OCCRP dan Radio Liberty,

a media organization based in Czech Republic,

organisasi media berbasis di Republik Ceko,

and Bellingcat, an Investigative Center from the UK.

dan Bellingcat, Pusat Investigasi dari Inggris.

And together we published a series of investigations

Bersama-sama kami menerbitkan seri investigasi

about an underground cargo empire.

mengenai kerajaan kargo bawah tanah.

A secretive family clan that transported goods from China to Central Asia

Klan keluarga rahasia menyeludupkan barang dari China ke Asia Tengah

and didn’t pay all the taxes and tariffs,

dan mereka tidak membayar pajak dan tarifnya,

if you know what I mean.

jika kamu tahu apa maksud saya.

In order to do that,

Untuk melakukannya,

they bribed the Kyrgyzstan Customs Service,

mereka menyuap layanan bea cukai Kyrgyztan,

and a significant chunk of this bribe went to this person:

dan sebagian besar dana sogokan berakhir di satu orang:

Raimbek Matraimov,

Raimbek Matraimov,

the Deputy Head of Kyrgyzstan’s Customs.

Deputi Kepala Bea Cukai Kyrgyztan.

Our investigations revealed

Investigasi kami menunjukkan

that even high-ranking officials in Kyrgyzstan are involved in corruption,

bahkan pejabat tinggi di Kyrgyztan pun terlibat korupsi,

poisoning their whole institutions with the worst possible practices.

meracuni seluruh institusi mereka dengan praktek yang jelek.

People in Kyrgyzstan were outraged when they read this,

Masyarakat Kyrgyztan sangat marah ketika mereka membaca ini,

and this led to an unprecedented chain reaction.

dan ini membawa reaksi berantai.

So first there were protests in Kyrgyzstan

Jadi pertama ada protes di Kyrgyztan

because of what was published in the investigation itself.

akibat hasil investigasi yang diterbitkan.

A year later, in 2020, even larger protests happened

Setahun kemudian, di 2020, protes yang lebih besar terjadi

when some of the politicians who were featured in our investigations

ketika seorang politikus yang difiturkan dalam investigasi kami

had their party taking second place in the Parliament elections.

partainya justru ada di posisi kedua di pemilihan Parlemen.

As a result of these larger protests,

Hasil dari protes besar ini,

Parliament election results were annulled,

hasil pemilihan Parlemen dibatalkan,

government was changed

pemerintahan diubah

and eventually the president of the country was forced to resign.

dan akhirnya presiden negara dipaksa mundur.

(Applause)

(Tepuk tangan)

But this investigation was important not only for Kyrgyzstan.

Tapi investigasi ini penting bukan hanya untuk Kyrgyzstan.

Remember I told you about this family clan

Ingat ketika saya menyebutkan klan keluarga

that started this scheme in the first place?

yang memulai ini pada awalnya?

They earned a lot of money in Central Asia.

Mereka mendapatkan banyak uang di Asia Tengah.

We revealed and had evidence of at least 800 million dollars

Kami mengungkap dan memiliki bukti setidaknya 800 juta dolar

that went through their business,

masuk ke dalam bisnis mereka,

and the real figure might be even higher.

dan angka sebenarnya bisa jadi lebih besar.

And where exactly did they spend their money?

Dan kemana mereka menghabiskan uang mereka?

Well, they bought this house in Los Angeles, California,

Mereka membeli rumah di Los Angeles, California,

and this mansion in the UK;

dan rumah besar di Inggris;

they started a construction project in Augsburg, Germany;

mereka mulai proyek konstruksi di Augsburg, Jerman;

they bought many apartments in Dubai.

mereka beli banyak apartemen di Dubai.

In other words,

Dengan kata lain,

there is probably no such thing as local organized crime investigation.

mungkin tidak ada yang namanya investigasi sindikat kriminal lokal.

Because of how organized crime is structured,

Karena struktur sindikat kriminal

almost every investigative story about it has at least a regional significance,

hampir setiap cerita investigasinya punya setidaknya kepentingan regional,

and in many cases it has a global significance.

dan dalam banyak kasus punya kepentingan global juga.

So now there are several messages that I want to deliver today.

Jadi sekarang ada beberapa pesan yang ingin saya sampaikan.

Message number one:

Pesan pertama:

journalism networks are actually very efficient and important.

jaringan jurnalisme sebenarnya sangat efisien dan penting.

You don’t need 100 media organizations for every investigation.

Kamu tidak perlu 100 organisasi media untuk setiap investigasi.

You know, like in our case, we only had four,

Seperti di kasus kami, kami hanya punya 4,

and it was already a huge game-changer.

dan itu sudah mampu membalikkan keadaan.

And for local media organizations like Kloop,

Dan untuk organisasi media lokal seperti Kloop,

this is also a safety measure.

ini juga demi keamanan.

As I mentioned before,

Seperti yang saya bilang,

working on investigations alone is scary.

melakukan kerja investigasi sendirian itu menakutkan.

Within our network we not only share knowledge or resources,

Melalui jaringan kami tidak hanya berbagi pengetahuan atau sumber daya,

but we also care about each other, and we keep each other secure.

tapi juga saling peduli dan menjaga satu sama lain.

Message number two:

Pesan kedua:

support local media organizations all around the world.

dukung organisasi media lokal di seluruh dunia.

When global journalism collaborations first began,

Ketika kolaborasi jurnalisme global pertama mulai,

it was mostly media from Europe or the Americas

kebanyakan media dari Eropa dan Amerika

that would have a leading role

yang berperan sebagai pemimpin

as they had the greatest resources.

karena mereka memiliki sumber daya terbesar.

But media organizations from other continents are very important too.

Tapi organisasi media dari benua lain juga sangat penting.

We have unique expertise, insights and connections.

Kami memiliki keahlian yang unik, sudut pandang dan koneksi.

Before I move to the third and final message,

Sebelum saya pindah ke pesan ketiga dan terakhir,

I want to share something personal with you.

Saya ingin berbagi hal personal pada kalian.

Last year I moved to Ukraine

Tahun lalu saya pindah ke Ukraina

because Kloop planned to start a new regional media project there,

karena KLOOP berencana memulai proyek regional media yang baru,

and we are now forced to do it in another country

dan sekarang kami terpaksa melakukannya di negara lain

because this man was belligerent enough to invade Ukraine,

karena orang ini memulai perang dan menginvasi Ukraina,

the country that became my second home.

negara yang menjadi rumah kedua saya.

But I want to highlight a role of another country in this war:

Tapi saya ingin menyoroti peran negara lain dalam perang ini:

Belarus.

Belarus.

Belarus is very corrupt.

Belarus sangat korup.

It has been run by Alyaksandr Lukashenka,

Dipimpin oleh Alyaksandr Lukashenka,

a dictator that has been ruling this country since the 1990s.

diktator yang sudah berkuasa di negara ini sejak tahun 1990.

Lukashenka did something unthinkable.

Lukashenka melakukan hal yang tidak terbayangkan.

He provided the territory of Belarus to the Russian army

Dia menyerahkan wilayah Belarus ke tentara Rusia

to attack Ukraine from the north.

untuk menyerang Ukraina dari utara.

One of the similarities between Belarus and Kyrgyzstan

Salah satu kesamaan antara Belarus dan Kyrgyzstan

is that both our countries are small

adalah keduanya merupakan negara kecil

and get little attention from global media.

dan dapat sedikit perhatian dari media global.

At the same time,

Pada saat bersamaan,

for decades, local media in Belarus did not have enough resources

media lokal di Belarus tidak punya cukup sumber daya

or safety measures to thoroughly investigate Lukashenka

atau metode keamanan menyeluruh untuk menginvestigasi Lukashenka

and corrupt officials around him.

dan pejabat korup disekitarnya.

The thing is, Lukashenka is not really a super powerful leader

Masalahnya, Lukashenka bukan pemimpin yang kuat

of global magnitude.

secara global.

Unlike Putin, he could [have been] weakened years ago.

Berbeda dengan Putin, dia bisa dilemahkan bertahun-tahun lalu.

What helped him stay in power was massive pressure on civil society,

Dia bisa tetap berkuasa adalah tekanan kuat pada gerakan masyarakat sipil,

on local media

media lokal,

and lack of financial measures from other countries.

dan kurangnya dukungan finansial dari negara lain.

If the global community took stronger action against Lukashenka,

Jika komunitas global mengambil langkah tegas terhadap Lukashenka,

if local media were stronger and better linked with global networks,

jika media lokal lebih kuat dan terkoneksi dengan jaringan global,

I believe Russia could have lost its key ally a long, long time ago.

saya yakin Ria akan kehilangan sekutu kunci dari dulu.

A better-timed collaborative journalism investigation could save many lives.

Kolaborasi jurnalisme investigasi di waktu yang tepat bisa menyelamatkan banyak nyawa

So here I come to my final message.

Jadi, disini lah saya membawa pesan terakhir.

Let's leave criminals and corrupt officials without access to their money

Mari tinggalkan kriminal dan pejabat korup tanpa akses pada uang mereka

before it’s [too late].

sebelum terlambat.

This is where journalists need help from activists,

Ini adalah dimana jurnalis perlu bantuan dari aktivis,

politicians

politikus

and even bankers,

bahkan pegawai bank,

not just from each other.

bukan hanya dari satu sama lain.

We must expand our cross-border networks outside of the media world too,

Kita harus memperluas jaringan lintas batas diluar dunia media juga,

because every exposed, corrupt official,

karena setiap pejabat korup yang terekspos,

every arrested organized crime leader

setiap pemimpin sindikat yang tertangkap adalah

is a chance to protect our world not only from smugglers and thieves,

kesempatan untuk melindungi dunia kita bukan hanya dari penyeludupan/pencurian,

but also from dictators and warmongers.

tapi juga dari diktator dan provokator perang.

Thank you.

Terima kasih.

(Applause and cheers)

(Tepuk tangan dan sorakan)