A few days ago I posted some information on a group called Coalition
for Caring for the Rohingya and their petition to President Jokowi asking that
Indonesia cut all ties with Myanmar until all Rohingya are acknowledged as
citizens and given all rights due them. JMD
additionally reports that a CNN news story in Indonesia stated that the
petition also seeks to take Myanmar to International court for crimes against
humanity.
The petition was posted to the House of Representative Tuesday, with
a copy to the President, and additional admonitions from Malaysia’s Prime Minister Mahatir to expel Myanmar from ASEAN, but so far there is no word
regarding how the petition was treated, dealt with, or paid attention to. I did find out a little more abut the
Coalition, however, and the man who started it.
Apparently, the Coalition for Caring for the Rohingya was the idea
of attorney and Muslim activist Adnin Armas of Jakarta. Pak Adnin is also head
of the Indonesian Society for Social Transformation (INSIST) in Jakarta. One of their web pages is embedded in the
Quebec-based Alternatives International site, which states:
INSIST goal is to eliminate all types
and forms of injustice by promoting empowerment of groups that have, to this
point, been placed in weak, marginalised positions. They must be empowered to
become active, critical actors in all processes of social transformation,
moving towards the realisation of more just economic, political, and cultural
systems, so that they can make a greater contribution to the advancement of
civilization and humanity overall.
Okay,
great. However, their other web page, http://insist.or.id/?lang=en, is far
more vague and frankly I can’t figure out what their mission is:
Since the late 1980s, there has been a
restlessness in seeing the development of many NGOs in Indonesia. After a long
process of reflection, supported by many real experiences in the field and
critical studies, INSIST (the
Institute for Social Transformation) was established in Jogyakarta, 10
December 1997. Since then, much has been done that has put INSIST at the
forefront of Indonesian efforts to develop critical discourse, alternative
perspectives, and new discourses. INSIST has become a creative, productive
supporting system for people’s organizations and social movements in this
country.
In other words: yakety-yak-yak-yak.
I do love a good academic discourse.
Likeminded agencies in Jakarta have signed the petition, but it’s
still unclear as to which “communities” in Aceh or what members of those
communities signed it. We hear that many
Rohingya in the camps signed it, but still don’t know if it was signed by local
leaders, community members, or others.
JMD called contacts in Banda Aceh and at the Governor’s office; no on
seemed to know much about it. Which is
either a sign that the petition is a flash in the pan (as JMD suspects; there
are often “pop up” groups in Aceh responding to political or social events), or
indicative of an Aceh bureaucracy still too preoccupied with itself to pay
attention to outside issues. Either way:
not so good.
I also came across an interesting group that JMD has never heard of,
but who are apparently very good at raising funds to help the Rohingya. The gofundme.com campaign of the Us-Sunnah
Foundation has so far raised $80,000 to provide food and supplies to Rohingya
refugees in Indonesia. http://ussunnah.org/rohingya The Foundation, stared by Al Camarata of
California, is registered in the US (possibly Arizona) and in Indonesia; their
office is outside Jakarta in Tangerang. I am
so happy that a faith-based organization has so much good ground support and
seems to be directing their funds to those most in need.
However.
Again, no one we spoke to has ever heard of this foundation, yet
they boast that “We have seen other fundraisers for the refugees online but have not
seen any of them on the ground. . . . . we are working in coop[eration] with
all organizations on the ground as well as the Indonesian government. . . . we
are the only organization . . . actively
seeking funds internationally for these refugee camps.”
Excuse me????
So of course my blood starts to boil and I call my stalwart
detectives, who tell me that none of their friends or colleagues know of this foundation either, but further digging reveals that they do support a
known entity at the camps, who Robert met, called ACT, (Aksi Cepat
Tanggap) a Jakarta based NGO who has built a meeting hall and classroom/study
area at the camp in Aceh Utara.
Us-Sunnah also stated that they purchased some land near the camp in Aceh
Utara to plant rice to feed the refugees:
Yesterday
us-Sunnah (registered nonprofit US and Indonesia) completed the purchase on a
7,500+ sqm (81,000+ sqft) rice field and put the down payment on another about 4,000 sqm (43,000 sqft), both of which can be used immediately and are
already prepared for use. This is the first plot for our waqf (endowment) which
will harvest several tonnes of rice every 4 to 6 months for hundreds or
thousands of years.
But JMD tells me that as far as anyone knows, there has been no
purchase and these plans are far from final and that acquiring land from the
government could be difficult. Perhaps
it’s just a lease? Either way, it would
be good to know if the refugees can work in this field to grow their own food,
or if the government has to provide labor and maintenance.
So I have asked JMD to please get in touch with Mr Camarata from us-Sunnah
and introduce ourselves as the ONLY LOCAL agency working in Aceh and the agency
that established the Rohingya camp in Aceh Timur in 2009 and perhaps we could conduct some mutual support and information sharing in the future.
They’re doing a nice Ramadan campaign on their Facebook Page, https://www.facebook.com/ussunnah and if all their proceeds go to the Rohingya I
will seek them out and thank them personally myself.
