Not a back seat person
When she
finishes performing at the London Paralympics in September athlete Ni Nengah
Widiasih, 19, will fly to the far side of the world.
The tiny
Balinese powerlifter will spend ten days in New Zealand inspiring people with
her life story and helping raise money for other disabled Indonesians.
Her trip
comes thanks to the energy and initiative of Bill Russell, the chair of the
Rehabilim Trust. This NZ charity
supports young, physically handicapped Indonesians learn skills they can use to
earn money, and become independent.
“I first
met Nengah six years ago. She’d been
crippled by polio and could only move on all fours,” said Mr Russell. The same
disease also struck his father shortly after the family moved to NZ from
Scotland when Bill was a teenager.
“Nengah
went to Yogya for treatment and operations, then took up weightlifting in the
40 kilogram class. Her achievements
have been astonishing.”
The class
relates to the athlete’s weight. At the
2011 ASEAN ParaGames Nengah won gold, lifting 87 kilograms. NZ is sending a
team of 26 to the Paralympics, Indonesia only three.
Helping the
disabled in the Republic is a curious turn about for a man whose first
knowledge of Indonesians was as enemies in the jungles of Southeast Asia.
In 1963
President Soekarno tried to crush Malaysia claiming it was a creation of the
former British colonial power. Commonwealth forces, including NZ soldiers,
defended the new nation.
Private
Russell was ready. He’d been in
Peninsula Malay since 1961 starting as a 22-year-old professional soldier
patrolling the Thai border, stopping communist guerrillas heading south.
“I enjoyed
being with the locals,” said Mr Russell.
“I got invited to weddings and other events. I learned a few hundred
words of Pasar Malay. There was a
gentleness and politeness.
“I saw
people with nothing – a situation I’d never encountered in NZ. It caused me to think about ways to help.
“Fifty per
cent of our troops were Maori. The
Malays were surprised to discover we were multicultural, unconcerned about
color and ethnicity. It helped us
relate.”
Fortunately
he never saw Indonesians at the wrong end of his rifle. When Soekarno sent three aircraft to
parachute troops into Johore the young Kiwi was heading the other way on leave.
After three
years soldiering he returned home, joined an agricultural supply company, got
married and raised a family. He also became involved with Rotary, the volunteer
international service club, and still serves in senior roles.
“I’m not a
back seat person,” he said. “My modus
operandi is to make a difference. So
many people have helped me and I want to pass that on and leave things better.
I’ve learned this is best done through an organization.”
It wasn’t till
1981 that he got back to the tropics – this time to Indonesia – first on
holiday, then on business. Since then
he’s made well over 100 visits.
“I’ve been
so lucky and seen so much,” he said. “But I’m not a culture buff. The more I think I know, the less I realise
I know. I started a company selling seeds for horticulture and looked around
for a market in Indonesia.
“In those
days business was done on the strength of a handshake. A trader in Medan once
owed me US $30,000. I reminded him – he
apologized for the oversight and I got a cheque a couple of days later.
“I still
stay in contact with the family. It’s
important to develop personal relationships when doing business in
Indonesia.
“This is a
message I push to NZ education institutions trying to recruit Indonesian
students: You’ve got to understand your customers and they need to know you –
just sending in business cards doesn’t work.”
Next month
(September) Mr Russell will be in Bali running a workshop where 20 Indonesian
agents will get information on NZ education services from tertiary providers
and immigration authorities.
His
company, Education Network Indonesia, is a group of universities, polytechnics
and schools presenting a common approach.
“We need to
taker a fresh look at Indonesia as an education market,” he said. “In a few years Indonesia will be a major
manufacturing economy with a lower cost structure than China.
“There’s
going to be a big demand for middle level management skills. This is an area
where we can really help.”
While
wandering the Archipelago last century the seedsman heard of Colin McLennan, a
fellow Kiwi working at the Yakkum rehabilitation center he’d founded in Yogya.
“At the
center a young girl wearing callipers was learning to walk using parallel bars,”
Mr Russell said. “Eventually she
stepped away and walked by herself. I
saw her smile. It’s something I’ve
never forgotten.”
Impressions
are fine, but actions are better. Back
in Wellington and with others (all the Rehabilim Trust’s eight unpaid directors
have visited Yakkum) he set out to raise funds from well-wishers, church
groups, service clubs and philanthropists around the nation.
Interest
earned on money left by Mr McLennan when he died in 2007 can only be used for
scholarships; two disabled young Indonesians are now being helped to study
tourism and pharmacology.
Mr Russell
has promised that all donations go to Indonesia so he approached Kiwi economist
Gareth Morgan who immediately offered NZ $3,000 (Rp 23 million) for Nengah’s
air fares.
In NZ
Nengah will be taken to the Halberg Trust formed by former middle-distance
runner Sir Murray Halberg, a gold medal winner at the 1960 Rome Olympics.
The trust’s
policy is to ‘honor sporting excellence and link people with a disability to
sport and active leisure, whatever their ability and without exception.’
Said Mr
Russell: “I hope Nengah’s visit will
boost people’s understanding of Indonesia while showing her that in this
country we respect the rights of the handicapped.
“Sport is a
major influence in the lives of the disabled in NZ. It would be great for
Indonesia if Nengah wins. Then more
attention might be paid by the government to the needs of the handicapped.”
(First published in The Jakarta Post 13 August 2012)
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