SHE DID IT HER WAY

Farewell the pioneer parachutist                                        

She was Kartini with a gun – bold, brave, and determined to compete in men’s traditional areas.  First journalism - then the military. 

Herlina Kasim (right, with President Soekarno) was the only female parachuted into the Papua jungle behind the colonialists’ lines.  This was during the 1961-62 Trikora (Tri Komando Rakyat - strategy for mobilizing the nation) campaign led by General Soeharto who later became the Republic’s second president.

The young writer turned warrior was also an exemplar of selfless patriotism. After being rewarded for her exploits by President Soekarno with a belt secured by a half-kilo gold clasp she was known as Srikandi Pending Emas (the gold buckle heroine).

Then she astonished the nation again by giving the prize back to the Palace.

She explained her gesture by saying that fighting for her country was honor enough and that the State needed the money for development.

When she died earlier this year from diabetic complications aged 75 her passing was little noticed. 

As a feminist she was way ahead of her time, a tomboy before the term became acceptable. In early photos she looks self assured as though wearing khaki was as natural as a floral dress. In one group she audaciously thrusts hands in pockets.

Herlina was born in Malang, East Java in 1941, the third of six children. Only one was a boy. After completing basic high schooling in Jakarta she left home in search of adventure in the Moluccas. It’s not known why she wanted to put about 3,500 kilometers between herself and her family.

In Ternate she worked as a journalist on a weekly paper and got involved in anti-colonialism campaigns.  It was a time of gross chauvinism.

Emboldened by shipments of Russian weapons and the backing of so-called ‘non-aligned states’, Soekarno started Trikora to wrest Irian Jaya from the Dutch.  Western diplomats thought the real purpose was to divert attention from a collapsing economy.

Volunteers were sought to fight behind enemy lines. Herlina offered her services and must have had a silver tongue because she persuaded the generals that girls could also be guerrillas. 

This was decades before women became active combatants in Western nations, with restrictions remaining in some armies.  Last year the US finally announced that all roles are open to females.  In Indonesia women in the armed forces are usually assigned to administrative and welfare duties.

After minimal training Herlina was parachuted into Irian Jaya along with 19 men.  Like an earlier seaborne assault which turned into a rout, the drop was not a professional operation. She missed her target, was knocked unconscious and came too in a field of mud. She then set out to find her companions not knowing some had been killed.

After a week of fruitless wanderings and supplies running low she met local tribesmen and was led to a fishing village. Three weeks later Herlina was ferried to an Indonesian island. She hadn’t fired a shot or seized territory.

Trikora cost 400 Indonesian and 126 Dutch lives.  But it showed Indonesia was serious about recovering colonial territory and the Dutch no longer had the stomach for war. Under international pressure they ceded the province to the UN.  In a later referendum selected Irian leaders voted to join Indonesia. 

By then Herlina had left active duties. For a while she worked in Jakarta as an educator in the Women's Army Corps, then as a press secretary in Foreign Affairs. There are reports that she was involved in a fake news campaign during Konfrontasi when Soekarno sent in the army to oppose the creation of Malaysia, but these can’t be confirmed.

She also married and had two sons, Rigel Wahyu Nugroho (born 1962) and now a trader, and five years later Aurigea Bima Sakti who works as a commercial pilot.  Both men live in Malaysia.

“My Mom had a very strong character,” Rigel said by phone and e-mail.  “She was disciplined, straight forward yet a very humble person.  She liked to help people, especially the poor.

Herlina with son Rigel

“She hardly ever wore her army uniform but didn't tell me why. She didn’t care much about her rank - not like others.

“After she left the army she was involved in a few businesses as well as social work together with my Dad Harkomoyo.  (When Rigel was nine his Mom divorced, later remarried but had no more children.)

“In the early 70s she got involved in sports and built the Caprina Football Club.  Again it was not for business but for social activities.  It was very successful. 

“She selected about 24 junior players and gave them accommodation and education.  She also ran a club for under 14s.

“After a few years the club joined the Indonesian professional league.  It was based in Bali and renamed Caprina Bali FC.  It also had a boxing team.

“I think my Mom was the only women who had a football team in Indonesia and maybe in the world.”

Nationally Herlina kept a low profile until 2011 and the 50th Anniversary of Trikora. She reportedly asked President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to change the name of Papua back to Irian.

It seems her motive was to negate the influence of the OPM (Organisasi Papua Merdeka, Free Papua Movement) because she believed its independence campaign damaged the reputation of Trikora.  Irian Jaya became Papua in 2002.)

Herlina was laid to rest in Jakarta. Her family was offered a place in a heroes’ cemetery but she had stipulated an ordinary plot in a public graveyard.  To the end she stayed determined to do things her way.

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All pictures courtesy of Rigel Wahyu Nugroho.  

(First published in The Jakarta Post 20 April 2017)

SUPPORTING INDONESIA'S DISABLED

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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