‘Do Good, Be Useful’: Indonesia’s Disaster Hero Spends Dying Days Helping Ohers

Jakarta, MINA –The role of information chief of Indonesia’s National Disaster Management Agency  (BNPB) is undoubtedly a stressful and busy job for any person to take on. But Sutopo Purwo Nugroho’s over eight-year commitment to the agency has remained unchanged despite the fact he now conducts much of his business from a hospital suite where he is undergoing chemotherapy, Asian Correnpondent reported.

Sutopo continues his long days, supplying the people and press of this earthquake-prone nation with vital information, as he battles stage four lung cancer, remaining upbeat and fulfilling his desire to spend his final days trying “to do good, to be useful.”

Never has his work been so crucial as this year, in which Indonesia has experienced a string of earthquakes that devastated parts of Lombok and Sulawesi islands between July and September, killing more than 3,500 people.

“I have written about 500 press releases this year, so it’s more than one press release a day,” the 49-year-old told BenarNews when they visited him in his offices earlier this month.

The cancer has now spread to the bones in his back, Sutopo told the news agency. As well as chemotherapy, he also has to undergo a regular procedure that he describes as “extremely painful” to clear blood and fluid from his lungs.

Despite all of this, the father of two insists on continuing with the day-to-day workings of his position, often writing press releases and fielding phone calls from his hospital bed.

I can hardly sleep at night

“When I work I forget all the pain, even more so when my press conferences are attended by many journalists,” Sutopo said.

“But when I don’t do anything, just sitting, I feel excruciating pain. I can hardly sleep at night.”

He has maintained his upbeat and positive outlook throughout his treatment, posting thought-provoking and often funny posts to his social media accounts.

He has also used the platforms to urge his followers eat their fruit and vegetables, live a healthy lifestyle an quit smoking – a bad habit, he himself, never picked up.

Ensuring accurate information is getting out to the people that need it has continued to drive him despite his January diagnosis. He recognises his role in combatting the increasing problem of “fake news” and the damage this can cause after a disaster has struck.

The eruptions of Mount Agung

Citing the eruptions of Mount Agung on Bali last year, Sutopo said he used his access to placate tourists who believed the island was a no-go area due to exaggerated news reporting and inaccurate social media posts.

“As more and more Indonesians have access to the internet, fake news and hoaxes have become more prevalent in recent years… They used to spread only via text messages, but now they become viral via WhatsApp, Twitter and Facebook,” he said

“What I did was post photos showing people doing yoga or pre-wedding photos with erupting Mount Agung in the background, to show that Bali was safe, and only a small area was off-limits.”

But he is the first to acknowledge that social media has been a significant tool in his disaster management role. And his online presence has not only gained him the reputation as a source of reliable information, but it has garnered him a fair few fans too.

Posts about his battle with cancer receive thousands of likes and shares on Twitter, along with countless well wishes.

Among those well-wishers was Indonesian pop star and Sutopo’s favourite singer, Raisa, who the chief got to meet in person after a popular hashtag #SutopoMeetRaisa appeared on Twitter.

Indonesia’s president Joko Widodo has also expressed his admiration for Sutopo’s unwavering commitment to his job. He told reporters in October: “His dedication to his work is extraordinary… It’s really inspiring to us all that while he is in ill health, he has an undying spirit to do the work that he has been doing for years.”

But perhaps the most philosophical about his diagnosis is Sutopo himself. He told BenarNews he has come to terms with what the future holds, believing it has been “ordained by God.” His only hope is that he has helped others and that he can continue to do so in his last days.

“Life isn’t determined by how long we live, but how useful we are to other people.” (T/RS5/RS1)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)