MORE THAN A REFUGEE

BEAUTY WITHIN TRAGEDY                     

Life is uncertain everywhere but Cisarua is extreme. Unlike most Indonesian boroughs the locals are wary.  Greetings are rare. For the Bogor hill town is no longer a cool climate retreat for the well-known regulars fleeing the filthy Jakarta sauna, but an open jail for despairing foreigners on the run.

In decaying overcrowded flats the reluctant residents have a persistent question: Will I die here in exile or go mad first?

There are no threatening black-clads clicking safety catches to intimidate. The walls aren’t scarred by shrapnel. People come and go; there’s public transport to just about anywhere, though still no escape.  This is where thousands of refugees rot.

Trapped in this limbo for almost a decade was journalist Abdul Samad Haidari. Like most squatters a refugee from Afghanistan where the Taliban has been ruthlessly persecuting the Hazara ethnic minority and oppressing writers with dissident voices.

Abdul fled his homeland when he was seven and wandered Pakistan and Iran.  He got to Indonesia through people smugglers promising settlement in Australia even while knowing that portcullis had been dropped by former Immigration and then Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton. 

The tough-talking former cop and his colleagues had declared the seekers for safety “would never set foot in Australia”. That included the internationally famous Kurdish-Iranian writer and film-maker Behrouz Boochani, held for six years in Papua New Guinea.

After Dutton’s demotion to Opposition Leader, Behrouz stamped hard on the red dirt, raising dust by lambasting Australia’s approach to human rights and praising Abdul’s work.

Both men found freedom in green Aotearoa which has shown compassion by taking 150 refugees a year. Abdul says NZ’s “glad landscapes speak with God and the reviving fragrance of oceans clears the lungs.” 

Much personal damage is probably irreparable: “I survived the genocide but how should I survive the traumas?”

Abdul’s second book The Unsent Condolences has been published in Australia by Palaver. In a foreword Behrouz writes:

“Each and every poem builds the unconquered fortress within the human who has endured the atrocities of evil. (Abdul’s) erudite vision reverberates our hearts, harmonises our minds, ignites our humanity to stand up and take action. In our history, there are only a few poems that have inspired marches against injustice, here we have an entire collection.”

Unable to practice journalism in Cisarua, Abdul turned to poetry.  His first collection The Red Ribbon was published in 2019 by Gramedia, promoted as a search for “peace and hope in a country that has offered him a sanctuary of human love – Indonesia.” 

That’s generous; the Republic hasn’t signed the 1951 UN Refugee Convention so the stateless can’t work, get health care or education, only temporary sanctuary.  Abdul couldn’t even sign a publisher's contract for his book that became a best-seller.

Asylum-seekers get small support from the UN High Commission for Refugees.  There are more than 12,000 of these homeless strugglers from 50 countries – mainly Afghanistan.

Abdul told an interviewer in NZ that The Unsent Condolences was: “a form of resistance against the confiscation of our lands, culture, religious beliefs, language, and history … these poems bear witness to the bitter affliction of persecution, colonization, discrimination, and dehumanization faced by the Hazara people.”

His memories are raw.  He writes about his birthplace Dahmardah “where the glorious orchards were full of vibrant dreams, the magnificent mountains stood tall as God’s height, and the rivers flew like veins, singing in rhymes as though God and nature were in an eternal dialogue about life.”

Then roaring down the road comes reality: “Hilux vehicles sprouting white flags — two at the front; two held at the back.

 “Machine guns and loudspeakers up on rooftops, shouting Taliban Zindabad. Long live the Taliban.

“They march in the village; some head down to madrasa (an Islamic school) and some to Khanju (an area in Dahmardah) searching house to house, Kalashnikovs, their necklace of carnage; rockets rank their shanks.

“They hunt down adults, forcing them to submit, elders are ejected — ‘a waste of space’. Women are silenced, shut off, guns on their heads;

“Sharia Law is enforced to carry out the slow grindings. Mothers hush children to fall asleep with Taliban’s myth. I will call the Taliban if you don’t go to sleep”.

The Australian philosopher Professor Raimond Gaita (famous for his biography and film Romulus, My Father writes of Abdul’s work:

"As Australians, we should know that our governments have shamed us with their ruthlessly devised and enforced policy against refugees fleeing their homes by land and sea. Had we understood what Abdul tries to make us understand no government would have dared implement those policies.”

The Unsent Condolences is dedicated to family and backers impressed with his talent, like former NZ High Commissioner to Indonesia Pam Dunn: “You helped me overcome the feelings of darkness during the last five years. You have been the light guiding me to find the direction to home where my soul found comfort.”

His passion won’t move the concreted minds who mix Islamic refugees with terrorism, job losses and high rents.  But for the rational rest here are insights, language to stimulate, and wisdoms that transcend politics and lines on maps:

“I am but a journalist, the lord of my own words, giving volumes to moral and righteous voices which carry the truthful hymns of the voiceless.  I am engaged, remain curious, firm and utterly prepared. 

“Because I am more than a refugee.”

##

First published in Inside Indonesia, 9 September 2024:

 https://www.insideindonesia.org/archive/articles/book-review-beauty-within-tragedy

ACEH GETS A BAD PRESS - NOT OUR EXPERIENCE

Visitors, foreign nationals, and even native Indonesians may have already had their ears ‘bashed’ – as the Australians would say – by friends and well-wishers alerting them of fearful religious oppression in Aceh a.k.a. the ‘Veranda of Mecca’ – a place only few outsiders have actually visited.

Some experts in Java told us, before we visited Aceh, that we would not be able to sleep in the same hotel room or sit together in the back seat of taxis unless we could prove we had been joined in the sight of a Deity — though, in our case, that would be a civil registrar. My Indonesian Protestant wife, Polin, was advised to wear a jilbab (headscarf) in public and never behave in any way suggesting affection. The strict Sharia laws that apply nowhere else in the nation were upheld by morality police and could lead to public floggings for miscreants.

To put it briefly, Aceh has recurringly been painted by some people as an Indonesian version of theocratic Iran, which is not exactly the sort of image to encourage overseas investors and certainly not holidaymakers. Westerners are rare in Aceh and are mainly drawn by the surfing spots in the northern part of the province. No alcoholic drinks are allowed, either. Most tourists are usually from Malaysia; there are direct 90-minute flights from and to Kuala Lumpur, to boot.

As the warnings came from professionals and even senior staff from an international agency who had previously made many visits to Aceh, we decided to treat their advice seriously. We photocopied our marriage certificate and Kartu Keluarga (family residence card) and reluctantly bought a headscarf.

Our anxieties were reinforced once we arrived at the Sultan Iskandar Muda International Airport. In Jakarta, air hostesses were bare-headed, displaying splendid coiffures and trim figures. Here in the capital city of Aceh, Banda Aceh, the hostesses’ heads, shoulders, and chests were covered, making them appear shapeless and almost unrecognisable. In the airport arrival lounge, every woman covered their face and hands — except my beloved wife who wanted to preserve her religious identity without causing any strife. She drew glances more than stares from the locals, more likely driven by the sight of a cross-cultural couple than the outfit my wife was wearing.

Acehnese Women Wearing Hijab (Headscarf)

We sat together in the back seat of the cab without the driver demanding legal proof of betrothal. Instead, he volunteered that our stay would be peaceful and safe, and spent the 40-minute drive to Banda Aceh emphasising his point that a headscarf was unnecessary to wear by non-Muslim women. The unsought assurance was repeated at every contact. At the hotel where we stayed, no marital documents were needed to be shown, either.

In the supermarket where we stopped by, we saw a white-skinned mum wearing a headscarf which caused us a brief worry. However, at the next check-out, a bareheaded local assured us that there would be no issue whatsoever because the practices of other faiths were respected and, as a Christian herself, she had never copped abuse. Moreover, the small Chinese population in Aceh follows Buddhism and Christianity. On top of that, there is a prominent Catholic church in the centre of the city.

The locals joked with us that Aceh stands for “Arabic, Christian, Europa and Hindi (India)“.

We frequented kampong eateries and were never refused service. We held hands when crossing roads — not to irk anyone; we simply wanted to cross the roads safely. Annoyances, turned out, were minor. Banda Aceh had more places to pray than stay, we also discovered. Public attractions, such as the spectacular and moving Tsunami Museum, would close from 11.30 AM to 2 PM so that the Muslims could conduct their afternoon worship. The public signs, we observed, were bilingual. The second tongue here is not English as in Java and Bali; instead, it is Arabic.

It did not escape our attention that this December will mark two decades after the devastating Indian Ocean earthquake which was then followed by the world’s most powerful recorded tsunami that took 228,000 lives – the majority of whom were the citizens of Aceh. Out of the city, a flat grassed area with a single-wave memorial marked the mass grave of 46,718 unknown victims, their bodies too damaged to be identified. The survivors would regularly recall the horrors to help visitors understand the size of the tragedy. They were also keen to thank foreign countries for their help in rebuilding the city.

Human rights activist Farida Haryani was running a non-governmental organisation called Pengembangan Aktivitas Sosial Ekonomi Masyarakat (PASKA) Aceh that also helps the disabled who are the survivors of the tsunami. “I tell our 20 staff that we must accept God’s will,” Haryani said. “That doesn’t mean we cannot ease their plight through re-education, medical care, and equipment like wheelchairs to help them live [worthwhile] lives.”

The headquarters of the organisation is situated in Sigli; the building was donated by Canadian agencies. There were two camps near the headquarters, holding hundreds of ethnic Rohingya asylum seekers who fled Bangladesh after being forced out of the Myanmar homeland by a ruthless military junta. Despite stories of hostility towards the refugees, PASKA Aceh nonetheless made available a teacher to help these asylum seekers communicate; most of whom were monolingual and poorly educated.

Maybe we were lucky and only met helpful moderates during our visit, but none of our bleak predictions came to pass. In fact, we discovered that the people of Aceh were friendlier than those in East Java.

Should readers consider visiting Aceh as well? That should be a personal decision. Having said that, it should be noted that the roads there were relatively uncrowded and the traffic was generally smooth. The landscape was also enchanting and the climate was relatively tolerable. There were no ‘morning price’ touts, either.

There is much to see and admire in Aceh. Polin’s headscarf is for sale now; it has never been used. Turns out, Aceh is not Iran.

First published in Indonesia Expat, September 2024:  https://indonesiaexpat.id/outreach/observations/aceh-is-not-iran-an-expat-observation/

MATES WITH INDONESIANS - BUT NOT THE TNI

Which one looks like a miliary man?

 The paperwork signing late last month by Defence Minister Richard Marles (left) and his Indonesian counterpart Prabowo Subianto in Magelang (Central Java) is being paraded as an extraordinary advance in relationships. It’s not.

Why is this dud deal being sold like a Nobel Prize? Because scores of news outlets here and overseas are cutting-and-pasting press releases. In effect, much media has become a PR team for the government betraying voters.

Some facts to underpin this shameful assertion:

For the past two years, bureaucrats have been to-ing and fro-ing with the Australia-Indonesia Defence Cooperation Arrangement. Now ratified, it has become an “agreement”.

We, the Fourth Estate, aka chooks (as former Queensland Premier, Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen called us hacks), haven’t had a peep inside the thick covers and so have to take what’s fed.

Something more nutritious may come if independent experts get the full text to decode definitions and reveal what we’ve sold to appease our huge neighbour.

Marles’ media says the deal is about complex joint activities and exercises. The two militaries can “operate from each other’s countries for mutually determined cooperative activities” and swap soldiers for education and training in science and technology, though these are not disciplines where Indonesia is internationally admired.

Much hullabaloo so the lads can don camouflage and play in the same sandpit – something they’ve done before and are doing now.

Fellow journos, unarmed, doing their job, murdered by RI soldiers

Through design or coincidence, that signing night ABC Australia telecast the 90-minute documentary Circle of Silence with Indonesian subtitles. It’s the story of the Balibo Five journalists in East Timor, killed in 1975 by Indonesian soldiers who knew the men were reporters.

Marles’ opposite number is also president-elect and will take over in October. He’s a former general with a dark past allegedly involving human rights abuses.

Researcher Pat Walsh, who was involved with the East Timor truth commission report, Chega! wrote: “As a member then a commander of Kopassus, Prabowo undertook at least four tours of duty in East Timor… (he was) anything but an innocent or bit player.

“Kopassus is the Indonesian military’s secretive ‘special operations’ force. It specialises in unconventional warfare, counter-insurgency, intelligence gathering and anti-terrorism.

“In plain English, locals are recruited and bribed to do Kopassus’s dirty work and, if necessary, to take the blame.”

(It is not suggested that Prabowo killed the Balibo Five. He has never been charged with war crimes.)

In 1998, he was cashiered for disobeying orders so he ran away to exile in Jordan. That fact has rarely been mentioned since he was convincingly elected in February with a 58% majority.

Ten days before the Magelang signing, Prabowo came to Canberra, ostensibly to approve the “arrangement”. But according to the AFR’s James Curran, his real mission was for “more Australian involvement in the Indonesian economy, especially in agriculture and countering narcotics”.

Apart from watching body language and facial expressions, why did any media bother to front the Canberra show? Journos were told “no questions”, suggesting the ministers fear inquiries and are unable to be straight with their employers, the public.

The men’s minders know any professional would ask Prabowo about blood on his hands, and his resulting fury would destroy the “arrangement”.

Transcribed texts show the two sides are not on the same page.

Marles said it was “profoundly historic” and “the deepest, the most significant agreement that our two countries have ever made”.

Profoundly nonsensical. In 1995, former prime minister Paul Keating secretly signed the Agreement on Maintaining Security with dictator and second president Soeharto.

That was a biggie, though four years later it was shredded by his successor, Bacharuddin Jusuf ‘BJ’ Habibie. He was furious the Australian-led peacekeeping force had entered Timor after the people had voted 8-2 to free themselves from Indonesian control.

Marles and Anthony Albanese said four times that their “arrangement” was about “security”. Prabowo used the word once and prefaced it with “food”. The best label he could muster was a “good neighbour agreement”.

Apart from language slippage, what’s not mentioned in diplomatic back-slaps is often more important. Absent was Australia’s new agreement with the US for their fighters, bombers and spy planes to use NT bases.

Also not in the handouts was Indonesia’s proposed law to let “active-duty personnel hold positions in civilian government ministries and agencies”.

If passed, the Republic will return to the last century dwifungsi (dual function) policy of soldiers controlling domestic departments irrespective of their skills and merits. (In most Western democracies civilian and military affairs are kept apart.)

Also ignored was the Indonesian military’s actions in West Papua, a prolonged and brutal campaign against independence seekers that’s allegedly taken thousands of lives.

Instead, Prabowo stressed that whatever subtexts might be imagined, there would be no revision of the county’s neutrality:

“As you know we are, by tradition, non-aligned. By tradition, our people do not want us to be involved in any geopolitical or military alliances or groupings. I myself, am determined to continue this policy.”

If Indonesians thought their nation was secretly sliding into the US camp through a deal with the region’s “deputy sheriff”, riots would result and Marles’ arrangement trashed.

He’s already crept close. In The Washington Post the Marles reportedly said: “We’re working together (with the US) to deter future conflict and to provide for the collective security of the region in which we live.”

While many elsewhere-based reporters parroted Marles media, The Australian’s Jakarta correspondent Amanda Hodge got her cautions buried on page four but accurately reflected the Jakarta view that the arrangement falls “well short of a mutual security guarantee” and without the weight of a “visiting forces agreement”.

Another realist was the ABC’s Stephen Dziedzic, noting Prabowo only said the two countries had made “great progress” in “ironing out legalistic details” in the arrangement. That’s the job negotiators are paid to perform.

While Marles was in Central Java about 200 Australian troops were dashing around East Java’s north coast in the two-week Super Garuda Shield exercises. Also with the Diggers are almost 2,000 US Marines, supposedly thinking about cyber threats plus toys that go bang.

In the smog of industrial Sidoarjo are sweating soldiers from NZ, Singapore, Canada, France, Thailand and the UK. Not China this time, though the PRC participated in 2009.

Before The Australian implies this means Indonesia is in the Western camp and the signings aimed at “countering growing Chinese threats”, Lachlan Murdoch should know this:

The annual fun-with-guns games have been underway since 2006; next year Beijing’s troops will be starring in yet another “bilateral training exercise”.

If this wasn’t so serious, the idea of Grunts helping Indonesia, then their Chinese equivalents doing the same thing would be a fine film plot. Title suggestion: Dancing with Demagogues.

First published in Pearls & Irritations, 4 September 2024: https://johnmenadue.com/never-mind-the-quality-feel-the-words/

https://johnmenadue.com/never-mind-the-quality-feel-the-words/

NAVEL EXERCISE

 

 Albrecht Dürer - themorgan.org, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18682721

 

 

Who you are doesn’t matter. You’re one of us and I’m one of you.

Gender, Colour, Ethnicity, Nationality, Culture, Language?

Deity?  Ten thousand religions to choose from - or ignore.

Whatever you wear - or don’t wear.

Height, age, width, fit or sick - we’re all the same.

All from the same place, a woman’s womb.

Proof is the navel  Everyone has one.  It’s our badge of birth

Even Adam and Eve.

Who were made ‘in God’s image’.

Work that one out.

DG

THANE OF JAVA, KING HEREAFTER

FATHER KNOWS BEST?  NOT THIS TIME

Pic:  The Jakarta Post

How comfy the throne, how rapid the change; a humble Republican from a riverbank shack is now plotting to be King of Indonesia with a regal family as courtiers.

Young Indonesians have had enough of outgoing President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo's blatant nepotism, the rise of dynastic politics and a return of the oligarchs.

Furious protests in major cities last week sent the market trembling and forced the Parliament to adjourn. TV news showed police firing tear gas and water cannons as the crowds surged and spotfires flared.

Less than two months before disgraced former general Prabowo Subianto takes office in the land next door, students, workers and idealists are starting to snarl.

Tens of thousands have protested against legislators’ contempt for electors; they’re  demanding respect for representative government and the rule of law - and so far they’re succeeding.

The world’s third largest democracy (after India and the US) has allowed the principles of equality and equity to be slowly trampled during the leader’s past two five-year terms.

The crisis is a reminder that 19^th   century British politician Lord Acton’s quote is ageless and universal: Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Several universities in Indonesia have reportedly issued petitions criticising the current state of democracy and calling on Jokowi to maintain state ethics.

Indonesia’s labelled a ‘flawed democracy’ by the Economist Intelligence Unit’s World Democracy Index. This ranks the Republic at 52;  the Nordic nations and NZ lead the 167 states surveyed.

Last Thursday more than 3,000 police were hopelessly outnumbered by ten times that number in Jakarta as masses condemned planned changes to the Republic’s regional election law in a bid to overturn a ruling by the Constitutional Court. There were no reported casualties or arrests.

Comments from the crowd would resonate with young Australians; fist-thrusters  were there  to protest state abuse of democracy, though also fed up with the rising cost of living, low wages, the power of elites and long delays in bureaucrats responding to complaints of inefficiency.

Once again this highly-charged political shemozzle involves the family of the super popular but ultra cunning Jokowi.  He’s trying to cement his legacy by slipping rellies into power and through them maintaining his grip on the state.

After two five-year terms he can't legally remain in office, though pushed to stay by big business backers. They've argued his rule should continue because it’s led to high economic growth (now above five per cent) mainly through Chinese-funded infrastructure, mining projects and loans.

Two years ago Jakarta owed Beijing  more than AUD 30 billion - a figure now believed to be much higher.

This week the  Court decided candidates in local elections must be at least 30 years old.  That ruled out Jokowi’s youngest son  Kaesang Pangarep, 29, from having his name on a ticket in the November poll.

Jokowi rustled up backers and rapidly garnered support from eight parties already in his pocket. They whipped up new bills a week before  the  candidate registration period to let  Kaesang stand.

Earlier this year the Court, then run by Jokowi’s brother-in-law  Anwar Usman, judged that citizens under 40 could stand for high office if they had prior government experience.

This allowed Jokowi’s eldest son Gibran Rakabuming Raka, 36, the former mayor of Solo in Central Java, to offer himself to the public in a three-party race as sidekick to Prabowo.

In February the pair scored 58 per cent in the general election. Prabowo is now the president-elect and Gibran vice president-elect.

Chief Justice  Anwar was reprimanded by his colleagues for - among other things - committing a “serious violation of the code of ethics” and failing to be impartial.

Daddy's boy Gibran

He was demoted but the Court’s decision was upheld.

This month it all got too much with Daddy’s bid to get Kaesang onto the public teat. Another princeling, son-in-law Muhammad Bobby Nasution, 31, is already suckling as mayor of Medan, the archipelago’s fourth biggest city.

The eager legislators said  right-oh boss, swift  passage of contentious laws coming up. But after rocks were chucked and attempts on Thursday to tear down the gates of Parliament, attitudes changed.

Lawmakers remembered the 1998 riots which tore down second president Soeharto after 32 years of autocracy, so suddenly discovered caution.

Jokowi sought to soothe the crowds, not in person but through a video: "We respect the authority and decisions of each state institution. This is a normal constitutional process that takes place within our state institutions."

No one was fooled.   The politicians peered out through barred windows and concluded keeping the status quo might be safest.

Deputy House Speaker Sufmi Dasco Ahmad was reported by Reuters as ruling out changes in the law, claiming insufficient time for debate.

In an Instagram posting, former Ambassador to the US Dr Dino Patti Djalal, who now runs a foreign policy think tank said attempts by politicians to bypass the Constitutional Court "have harmed the quality and credibility of Indonesian democracy.

"This has shaken people's trust in state institutions and damaged  Indonesia's good name in the international community.

“We are worried to see the rampant indications of politicization of law, where legal cases are used as tools to secure the political agenda of certain parties. We must all work hard to fight corruption, collusion, conspiracy, and nepotism.”

Jokowi’s replacement Prabowo has a reputation for being a hard-right disciplinarian. At an investment forum this year after winning the Presidency  he complained that democracy is “really, very, very tiring … messy and costly,”

Winston Churchill was more articulate.  He’s supposed to have said: “Democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those others.”

Once in the top chair frustrated Prabowo might try “those others”.  Instead of placatory words maybe rifle butts and mass arrests.  Tense times loom.

##

  First published in Pearls & Irritations,27 August 2024:  https://johnmenadue.com/father-knows-best-not-this-time/