An Unsettling Homecoming

Well, I’m back in Aceh, after too long an absence.  It has been wonderful to get around the province with our new (as of this year) Associate Director and one of our Field Officers who’s been with us since JMD first opened.  We visited the Lamno (Aceh Jaya) projects and spoke with a number of Robusta coffee farmers regarding our ongoing attempts to assist them in reclaiming their approximate 1,000HA of coffee plantations virtually destroyed by the 30-year conflict.  We braved the bad roads (and lack of roads) to get to what is probably the current project dearest to my heart: an intrepid group of women cocoa farmers who, with very little equipment funding and lots of training and support from the Aceh Timur district Field Officer, have actually managed to make a go of cocoa as a sustainable (and growing) economic force in their community.

 

But as I returned to Banda Aceh I was struck by how . . . quiet things are here.  This visit marks the first time I have been to the province since the mass exodus of the last of the post-tsunami international NGOs, and while I expected the international activity level to be much less, it is accompanied by something a little harder to put my finger on.  A circling of the local wagons, if you will.  A change in the climate.  I’m not sure it bodes well.

As I reported here several months ago, Aceh’s elections resulted in Zaini Abdullah replacing Irwandi Yusef as Provincial Governor.  Since his election he has made sweeping changes in personnel that has resulted, at least on a local level, in an incredible slowing-down of government services and activities as these new appointees learn (or choose not to learn) their jobs.  Before, you could always see the indomitable spirit of regular citizens showing through  in all aspects of public interaction—from laughing and joking on the street to pleasant and cheerful conversation even in the face of hardship.  Now, it seems that every face everywhere—in the street, in offices, in the shops-- is very dour.  So much seriousness and sadness.  It is very strange.

Also, for the first time in the eight years I have been coming here, Immigration officers came to our office looking for foreigners that were reportedly living and working here.  JMD’s Aceh Registration allows for one international person to work at an NGO, but an Acehnese colleague told me that for some reason, government officials are coming down hard on foreigners, checking everyone’s papers, etc.  Each time a foreigner goes to a new district he/she has to register with the Chief of Police and have a travel permission document. This seems so counterproductive, especially when harassment is directed at one of the only, if not THE only, local livelihoods NGOs in the entire province.  What are they thinking?  Anyone not Acehnese is made to feel not welcome.

I wonder: are they doing this to tourists?  International Palm Oil representatives?  Coffee and Coca companies like Starbucks, Mars, and Nestle?  Or is this new provincial government bent on eliminating its entire local humanitarian and social services base entirely?  And what will the province be like when that happens, which from what I can tell will be quite soon?

 

 

Back to Aceh . . . in time for the Indonesia Specialty Coffee Auction!

During the past months of involvement with agencies dealing with the Rohingya crisis, JMD has not been idle in Aceh.  As thouse of you know who have been following this blog, JMD’s work started in Aceh Jaya district right after the 2004 tsunami, and we still have offices in Lamno subdistrict, where for four years we’ve been trying to assist the 400-plantation Robusta coffee farming community, which was devastated by the 30-year conflict and has yet to recover.  This region of Aceh, and in fact of Indonesia, is home to some of the best Robusta coffee in the world, and prior to the plantations’ near-destruction was known as THE best coffee in Indonesia.  Robusta is used in espresso, blends, and instant coffee.  It is the coffee most widely used in Asia and Indonesia, while the west favors the milder Arabica blends.  Traders the world over are moaning about the lack of high-quality Robusta—necessary for really good espresso.  Italy, in particular, collectively weeps at the dearth. 

One reason, we believe, that Robusta is given such a tiny berth on the ship of coffee commodities is that until now, no universal quality standards have been developed for its production, evaluation, and marketing.  Imagine our delight, then, to receive the gracious assistance of the Coffee Quality Institute (CQI), which itself developed Arabica standards and is now embarking on the equally challenging task of creating a world market for Robusta. 

 To make a long story short, one of the ways that CQI is helping us refine our successful Arabical production peer education training is by submitting beans from this year’s harvest for evaluation at the Indonesia Specialty Coffee Association’s Coffee Auction in Surabaya from the 12-14th.  That’s tomorrow—or rather today in Indonesia.  Unfortunately, the larger cupping competition and conference was cancelled due to the keynote speaker’s inability to attend, but the auction segment of the program promises to be very useful to all attendees.  When we find out if these beans have the potential to be high enough quality to merit an investment in reclaiming these plantations, we’ll start submitting proposals to agencies including USAID for basic assistance to get production back to where it was pre-conflict.  Our goal for the 400 Lamno (Aceh Jaya) farmers is to return Robusta production from 50 tons to 500 tons per year, which would raise the local economy’s revenue from $130,000 to $1,300,000 per year—from coffee alone.  If that works, we can  expand northward in the district where additional 5,000 Robusta coffee farmers  need assistance. With some economy of scale re-established in Aceh , Robusta can begin to be treated like the future “It-Commodity” that we know it is destined to be.

 I’ll keep you posted, but do look in on the folks at SCAI, as well as CQI—both great groups whose aim is to improve the standard of living of people producing global commodities.

Specialty Coffee Association of Indonesia

Asosiasi Kopi Spesial Indonesia

Plaza Aminta Lt. 3 Suite 302, Jl. TB Simatupang Kav. 10
Jakarta, 12310 Indonesia, Tel: +62-21-7511941 ;  Fax: +62-21-7511411 ; Email: Info.scaindo@gmail.com

Coffee Quality Institute

Long Beach, CA
http://www.coffeeinstitute.org

 

SCHEDULE

Date	Time	Activities	PIC
30 September 2012	10am -11.30am	Press Conference ISCA 2012, Jakarta	SCAI
12 October 2012	2pm -3.30pm	Press Conference ISCA 2012, Surabaya	SCAI
12 October 2012	8am-5pm	Roasting Class	Manuel Diaz from Coffee Quality Institute 9Master Roasting and Q/R Grader Instructor)
13 October 2012	9am onwards	Judging 30 coffee samples for auction	National and International judges
14 October 2012	9am-10am	Registration	SCAI
	10am	Opening Ceremony	Vice minister of Agriculture (TBD)
	10am – 12am	Cupping buyers	SCAI
	12am	LUNCH BREAK
	1pm – 5 pm	Auction	SCAI
15 October 2012	7am – 5pm	Visit Plantation in Kaliwining,Jember-East Java	SCAI
16 October 2012	8am-11am	Visit Indonesia Coffee and Cacao Research Institute	SCAI
	12am	LUNCH BREAK
	1pm – 4pm	Heading to Kalisat Jampit area
17 October 2012	9am-11am	Visit coffee plantation own by PTPN XII	SCAI
	12am	LUNCH BREAK
	1pm – 9pm	Return to Surabaya

 

Here's How YOU Can Help

Burma Muslims, a very comprehensive website, has appeared in recent days, created by a consortium of agencies interested in providing humanitarian assistance to refugees in Myanmar.  One of the member agencies, the Pennsylvania-based Arakan Rohingya Union, is Dr. Wakar Uddin, of whom I have spoken in this blog.  I first contacted him in 2009 when we were in northern Aceh assisting 200 Rohingya who had fled Myanmar back then.  Another group had also landed in Aceh and were being assisted by the Indonesian government, but JMD was the only agency assisting these 200 men for a long time, until we began to receive (minimal) assistance from international donors.  The ARU was in its infancy at the time, and it’s both heartening and sad at the same time to learn how much it has grown, to match the increasing needs of this persecuted group.

Please visit their website; they are tracking the latest news and information regarding the provision of humanitarian assistance to the Rohingya and other ethnic minorities in Myanmar and the region.

http://www.burmamuslims.org

 

from the website:

Organize!

To Stand with Rohingya Muslims!

National Call In Day: Sept 5 to Bangladesh Ambassador

National Call In Day: Sept 10 to Secretary of State

100 City Rally to Stop Genocide: Sat. Sept 22, 2012

100 City Rally

to Stop Genocide in Burma

Organizing Resources:

Even 10 people standing up for Burma is significant. Tell us how we can help you organize in your city. Send an email to organize@BurmaMuslims.org if:

• Your city is standing against genocide on Sept. 22

• You need custom flyers, posters, placards or press releases

• When you sign up to hold a rally, we can provide you with a rally kit, masjid kit and a kit to contact Congresspersons.

Burma Task Force USA

Burma Task Force USA is a united effort by Muslim Americans founded by: Burmese Rohingya Association of North America, Burmese Muslim Association, Free Rohingya Campaign, American Muslims for Palestine, Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago (CIOGC), Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA NY), Majlis Shura of Atlanta, Majlis Ash-Shura of New York, Michigan Muslim Community Council; & Muslim Peace Coalition USA.

Rallies scheduled for Sept. 22

A number of rallies have already been scheduled for the weekend of Saturday, Sept. 22 all across the country.

The schedule can be found on our 100-City Rally page or on the Events page at Facebook.com/BurmaTaskForce.

We're still working to have at least 100 rallies in 100 cities.

This united effort is being held in conjunction with the American visit of Aung San Suu Kyi, Nobel Peace Prize winner and leader of the opposition party in Burma.

We have great respect for the leader who was under house arrest for many years, but we want to urge Ms. Suu Kyi to speak up about the plight of Rohingya Muslims.

If you would like to organize a rally in your city, email us at organize@BurmaMuslims.org. Download information for the rally at our "100-City Rally" page, which also includes tips on organizing and other useful tools, including publicity information, a flyer and sample placards.

Will a Second Visit Also be Whitewashed?

As I said to Dr Uddin of the Pennsylvania-based Arakan Rohingya Union, I hope they didn’t pretty things up for this second OIC visit as well.  He'd received first-hand reports of the Buddhist-led government officials painting and repairing mosques before the arrival of internationals, then taking them to those specific locations to show what nice places the Muslim minority had at their disposal.

 

Former RI VP joins Myanmar Peace Process

M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar | World | Mon, September 10 2012, 6:21 PM

Chairman of the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI), former vice president Jusuf Kalla traveled to Naypyitaw, the capital of Myanmar, on Monday, to join talks on finding peaceful solutions to the long-standing civil conflict in the country.

In the forum, Kalla shared some of the lessons learned from the Indonesian experience in striking a peace deal in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam.

“We told the Myanmarese government that the most important issue in the negotiation with insurgent groups is that the groups need to leave the past behind and start talking about future plans. A peace negotiation is about building a future and not history,” Kalla said after the meeting.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2012/09/10/former-ri-vp-joins-myanmar-peace-process.html

 

Just What a Starving Country on the Brink of Disaster Needs: A Basketball Team

This is really interesting and makes me embarrassed, on so many levels, to be an American. Someone should tell the State Department that people are starving and being killed in Myanmar and a basketball team and businessmen are not what is needed. One day I hope we will get our heads out of our asses.   http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/8304113/us-sends-hoop-players-coaches-myanmar

YANGON, Myanmar -- The U.S. has appointed an ambassador to Myanmar and helped bring in American businessmen keen on doing business in the rapidly reforming Southeast Asian nation. Now, Washington is sending professional basketball players and coaches in a bid to boost cultural ties.

The U.S. Embassy said Sunday that four "sports envoys" will be in the country this week as part of a U.S. State Department-sponsored program "to emphasize the importance of academics, cooperation and respect for diversity."

The group will conduct several sports workshops with local youth before leaving Friday. Three of the envoys arrived this weekend and the last one is due to fly into Yangon later Sunday.

The group includes Charlotte Bobcats basketball team manager Richard Cho, a Myanmar native who migrated to the United States. Also traveling are Los Angeles Lakers assistant coach Darvin Ham, former Women's National Basketball Association player Allison Feaster and former NBA player Marty Conlon.

Buddhist-dominated Myanmar has a national basketball team and courts are a common fixture at private and missionary schools. But the sport's popularity pales in comparison to soccer.

President Thein Sein's government has embarked on a series of dramatic economic and political reforms since a long-ruling military junta ceded power last year, prompting the United States and other Western powers to lift sanctions. Rights groups, however, say corruption and human rights abuses are still rife and bloody skirmishes between the army and rebels continues in northern Kachin state.


Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press

Don’t believe Everything you Read . . . But Keep Reading!

My latest post was going to be titled “What Drugs is the US on Now?” or “Dear Hillary: Have You Lost Your Mind?” but since I learn something new every day about the Rohingya crisis (and very little of it is good) I have revised my opinion of the presumed freewheeling permissiveness of the US Administration towards Myanmar human rights violations and seen it for what it is: business as usual.  And not business in a vacuum.  The “democratization” of Myanmar has created a veritable love-fest, a pajama party of the highest order, between nations near and far who want a piece of that fairly lucrative and certainly untapped market.

Last week that cagy government-sanctioned media outlet Myanmar Breaking News reported that “the US has denied Saudi Arabia allegations that an ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya Muslim community is taking place in Myanmar,with the complicity of the authorities.” 

Of course, this is designed to convey US approval, or at least tolerance, of the way the Myanmar government is handling itself.  No problem here! Myanmar can say.  Those pesky Saudis—always trying to throw money at stupide things like mosques, poverty, starvation.  Who needs ‘em when we have Coca Cola and Pepsi on the way?

But I digress.

Now, I am not giving my Administration a hall pass on this, but the fact that I and others like me saw nothing to counter this story tells me a bit about how either we really don’t care that much, or how tired the world is, how truly worn out, from all these hate-based calamities.  There just aren’t enough column inches to cover everything.  Witness last week’s parallel incendiary activities in Assam, India, where an alleged attack on the Bordo by Assam Muslims from (surprise!) Bangladesh led to retaliatory violence, over 70 deaths, and a mass exodus of Muslims back into among other places (double surprise!) Bangladesh, from whence they came after being encouraged by the Indian government to resettle for the purposes of increasing voter rolls during crucial elections and, of course staying and straining the social and economic infrastructure.

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/365841/20120723/assam-rioting-bodo-muslims-bangladesh-immigrants.htm

Interesting sidebar: “The Indian government has blamed unidentified groups in Pakistan for uploading images of what appear to be massacres of people in Myanmar and Thailand and passing it off as [the Assam area in] Northeast India.” http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/southasia/view/1221106/1/.html

Make no mistake about it: this is a universal issue.

So imagine my confusion when last week I asked a former top-ranking US official in Myanmar if there appeared to be a trend in the region of persecuted groups following the Rpohingya’s lead and making a break for it in the hopes that the global spotlight would finally expose their situations as well.  I asked this to learn what the experts thought the political and social landscape of southeast Asia would look like over the next two years.  The response? “I don’t know anything about those other countries; that’s not my area.”  Which is precisely the mindset that got us into this position ijn the first place.  Pardon me while I slit my wrists.

However.

Let us crawl back to Myanmar for a moment and examine the US’ rather Suu-Kee-ish response to the crisis.

Instead of stating, as the Myanmar press claimed, that human rights violations are certainly not happening in Myanmar, State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell’s August 10^th press brief had the familiar blandness of a damp dishtowel: “ . . . we continue to urge all parties to exercise restraint, to refrain from further violence, and to uphold principles of non-discrimination, tolerance and religious freedom. We obviously have some concerns about making sure that [the displaced] get humanitarian aid.”

Not a battle cry, but not a Saudi-bashing disavowal, either.

So . . . why is the US, in the body of the State Department, being so circumspect when in the last 3 weeks practically every human rights organization and media outlet has amassed enough information, despite government-staged visits of refugee camps, to be pretty sure that the Myanmar government, especially the Myanmar local governments (state leaders, military, police) are taking this opportunity to join their regional neighbors in passively (if you can call it that) exterminating this group?

Let’s go to the bedroom, and see who’s crawled under the covers so far.

Well, there’s the US, of course, a little late to the party but still trying to take up as much space as possible via lucrative Pepsi and Coca-Cola contracts, there’s the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey,  and they’re all trying to be quiet as mice about talk of genocide because that tends to shut the old door when you want to get in a country and start making money.  The US can “loosen” but not “lift” embargos on Myanmar that will appease human rights watch groups while at the same time put a toe firmly in the door for corporate interests to slide through.  Myanmar, for its part, welcomes this attention because in addition to not being able to pay its expenses (including its army), this friendly interest from large countries presents the semblance of things “getting better.”  In The Disunion of Myanmar in the August 18 Latitude, Swe Win writes that contrary to trying to alleviate ethnic issues, “the government has been exploiting the situation: rather than intervene to ease communal tensions and finally clarify the murky legal status of Rohingyas, it is further stigmatizing them in order to ingratiate itself with the [Buddhist] majority.”

So things haven’t gotten better; they’ve just gotten different.  From a militarily-ruled closed system, a democracy emerged that by definition had to at least pay lip service to sunshine.  "Politically, [Parliament member] Aung San Suu Kyi has absolutely nothing to gain from opening her mouth on this," Maung Zarni, a Burma expert and visiting fellow at the London School of Economics, told the Associated Press. "She is no longer a political dissident trying to stick to her principles. She's a politician and her eyes are fixed on the prize, which is the 2015 majority."  (the Independent) So the “progress” that the world sees in Myanmar is not so much the changing of anyone’s beliefs or ideology so much as the actual presentation of tiny bits of information where there had only been our imagination.  So sure, they’re starving and oppressed and treated like animals but look!  We’ve decided to feed them!  Next step (of course): human rights for all.

China's also in on the sleepover.  According to the August 12 Express Tribune (Pakistan), “China had earlier warned Pakistan on the Burma issue by imposing restrictions on Ramzan fasting. They have also worked behind the scenes or may even have warned Saudi Arabia. With this aid and not blaming anyone, Saudis keep their good name with Muslims and also obey China. Burma, China and Japan have a sizable Buddhist population. With US oil and gas production increasing and the US reducing its oil imports, no oil exporting country can afford to alienate China, Japan and India. Burma has strong Chinese support. Even Bangladesh has no sympathy for the Muslims in Burma. This gesture [the $50 million in aid from Saudi Arabia] will make the Burma issue forgotten in no time. The substantial Buddhist population in China, Japan and Burma have not forgotten the Bamyan Buddhas [destroyed in Afghanistan] and they do not blame the Taliban for the destruction. They blame the forces behind the Taliban that incited and influenced [them]”. http://tribune.com.pk/story/421139/saudi-arabia-gives-50-mln-aid-to-myanmar-muslims/

Funny thing, one can think that media and global pressure have led to today’s AP announcement that “Burma's government said today it would no longer censor local media outlets, the most dramatic move yet towards allowing freedom of expression in the long-repressed nation.”  Or one can be cynical like me and wonder if this is not a first step in the allowing of these commercial global markets to be able to be more successful in the country via the use of media, and that it has nothing to do with honoring any kind of idea of freedom of speech or expression.  AP adds that “reporters will still have to send their stories to the Press Scrutiny Department after publication so government monitors can determine whether their work violated any publishing laws.”

The official with whom I spoke made it quite clear: if the Rohingya continue to demand minority nationality status, they will never make any gains.  The only way that they may ameliorate their current situation is to accept citizenship status—not minority status, but just citizenship status.  (and that isn’t even offered yet.)  Swe Win’s article also reports that “[the Burmese government] has announced that it will place any “illegal” Rohingyas — meaning, in its view, any Bengalis who settled in Myanmar after independence in 1948 — in detention camps to be run by the U.N.’s refugee agency or send them away to other countries.”

One would conclude that this might give pre-1948 “citizens” (ie anyone over 64 years old) a country, but no compensation for generations of abuse, no ability to seek asylum as a persecuted minority, and no recourse from what will most likely be a continuation of human rights violations by local militia and citizen hate groups.

But at least Pepsi will be able to sell soda, and Hillary will be happy.

Must-watch Video on Rohingya

On Tuesday, the New York Times Lede blog published this post on the Rohingya. http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/14/visiting-myanmars-threatened-rohingyas/

The article features a video from BBC's Channel 4 -- one of their reporters was able to sneak into Rohingya camps, get footage of razed villages burned to the ground
http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid601325122001?bckey=AQ~~,AAAAAEabvr4~,Wtd2HT-p_Vh4qBcIZDrvZlvNCU8nxccG&bctid=1785256986001