Indonesia Mourns the Passing of a Beloved Leader

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JAKARTA, Dec 31 (IPS) - The news about fourth Indonesian president and cleric Abdurrahman Wahid being admitted to the hospital last week merited only a passing mention in the national media. It was overshadowed by reports on the country's tumultuous political situation, such as allegations that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was involved in a banking scandal and the controversies hounding the country's corruption eradication agency.

Wahid, affectionately called Gus Dur, had survived a number of strokes and had been suffering from diabetes, near blindness and kidney problem for years. Thus, many people thought it was just a minor medical problem, from which he would soon bounce back to dispense his usual dose of wit and wisdom on the latest events.

On Wednesday news broke that Wahid had passed away after undergoing a dental operation. The 69-year-old former president is survived by wife Shinta Nuriyah and four daughters.

The entire nation received the news of his death with a mixture of shock and grief. No sooner than word spread that one of the most respected and colorful figures in Indonesia had died than legions of mourners began to flock to his residence in South Jakarta. Impromptu prayer gatherings among citizens of varied faiths, not just Muslims, were held across the country.

"He was a Muslim, but he became a blessing to all faiths," Jakarta Archbishop Julius Darmaatmadja, S.J., was quoted by the local press as saying, referring to the man who had symbolised Indonesian’s tradition of religious tolerance and political reform.

Wahid ruled Indonesia, between October 1999 and July 2001, at a time when the Muslim-dominated country had just emerged from three decades of dictatorship.

In Surabaya, East Java, people from all walks of life lit candles and put flowers on the downtown street in a spontaneous show of grief for their beloved leader.

"He had opened up freedom of speech for us (citizens of) Chinese descent and eliminated the differences (based on) religion, ethnicity, race," said Liem Tiong Soek, in between sobs, who described him further "as a great thinker, president and cleric. "He’s such a big loss."

Eulogies, prayers and expressions of gratitude also inundated social network sites Facebook and Twitter. Religious and ethnic minorities thanked him for being their "strongest defender." Journalists reminisced his quirky ways, informal leadership, incredible humor and open-mindedness -- which had often sparked anger among less-than-moderate Muslims.

Abdurrahman Wahid was born to a prominent and politically active cleric family. Paternal grandfather Hasyim Asy’ari was the founder of Indonesia's largest Muslim organisation, the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), which Wahid later chaired and reformed. His father Wahid Hasyim was the country's first minister of religious affairs.

He studied in a Muslim school in hometown Jombang in East Java before receiving a scholarship to study at al-Azhar University in Cairo, after which he continued his study in Baghdad. Returning home, he worked as a journalist, social commentator and academic. He was widely perceived as a man of deep knowledge, not just about religion and politics, but also about culture, film, music and sports.

Wahid had his initiation into politics when he campaigned for the Islamic-based United Development Party. As a leader of the 30 million-strong NU, he consistently maintained that government should be secular and that faith was a personal matter.

Following the downfall of Indonesian dictator Soeharto and the establishment of Wahid's National Awakening Party (PKB), Wahid announced he was running for presidency in 1999. Megawati's Indonesian Democratic of Party emerged as the winner of the South-east Asian country's parliamentary elections in June 1999. However, politicians, particularly conservative Muslims unwilling to have a woman president, joined together and formed 'Central Axis', urging the People's Consultative Assembly to elect Wahid. He then picked Megawati Sukarnoputri as his deputy.

When he assumed office, he dissolve two ineffective ministries that had long been the vehicle of the New Order (a term that had come to be associated with the Suharto regime). He curbed military influence in the government; revoked discriminative laws against Chinese Indonesians, enabling them to practice their culture and religion; he allowed publications to flourish on previously taboo subjects such as Marxism, communism and socialism; and released political prisoners.

His controversial political maneuvers - sacking military officers and ordering investigations into their alleged involvements in human rights violations - as well as erratic and unfocused leadership, which included excessive traveling abroad and lack of emphasis on economic recovery, however, earned him widespread criticisms from his enemies, particularly in the military.

When his own coalition parties began to turn against him, and amid allegations of corruption, his presidency finally collapsed. He was impeached by the parliament in July 2001 and replaced by Megawati.

In the following years he was in political isolation, and his party PKB was marred by internal disputes. But he remained an influential figure in politics. Considered his most important legacy was his advocacy for secular politics and religious tolerance/moderate Islam in an otherwise heterogeneous society.

This is especially important at this time, when many parties worry that the country has veered too much toward religious conservatism. There are also moves to limit freedom of speech and expression as well as intellectual freedom. The banning of several books this week by the Attorney General's Office, particularly those dealing with issues of communism and religion, has raised deep concerns among rights groups, calling it a violation of the Constitution.

This is a step backward from Wahid's vision of a country that recognises and celebrates diversity and prides itself on religious tolerance.

Indonesia has more reasons to mourn his passing.

Posted by hera at 10:26 PM | Permalinks | Comments

DEVELOPMENT: Indonesia Still Struggling with Disaster Management

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JAKARTA, Dec 6, 2009 (IPS) - Despite being hit by powerful earthquakes this year, Indonesia is still reeling from the lack of an effective disaster management system that could prevent extensive loss of life and damage to property.

At least this is the view of certain individuals and groups who are struggling to cope with the impacts of the earthquakes that have jolted Indonesia this year and claimed the lives of scores of people besides causing millions worth of damage to property.

Irfantoni Herlambang gets anxious at the slightest vibration in his office, located on the 17th floor of a 31-story building in central Jakarta business district. There is hardly any mitigation scheme that would secure the people should another quake hit the country, he rued. During this year’s earthquakes, for instance, many people appeared dazed and confused, not knowing what to do or where to go.

"Some said that we should hide under the table, others thought we should go downstairs while a few were running around like a headless chicken," said a staff of an American donor agency, who declined to be named.

"In many cases, the casualties (from earthquakes) were caused not so much by earthquakes as by buildings not being sturdy enough, causing them to collapse," said Cecep Subarya, noted earthquake expert from the National Coordination Agency for Surveys and Mapping (BAKOSURTANAL), which studies and collects geographical data, sees the need for the provincial administrations to include disaster risk into their urban planning. "In areas that are prone to earthquake, the buildings should be constructed differently to be able to withstand earthquakes."

This yea, a series earthquakes have rattled the country—a 7.5-magnitude quake on Sept. 2 in Tasikmalaya, West Java, and a 7.9-magnitude quake in Padang capital and Padang Pariaman regency on Sept. 30. The former resulted in some 79 casualties and displaced 285,808 people; the West Sumatra quake killed more than 1,000 people and destroyed thousands of buildings. On Oct. 16 another earthquake shook the Indonesian capital.

Indonesia sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire that is prone to frequent seismic activity. In December 2004, a 9.3-magnitude quake jolted Aceh in northern Indonesia, triggering a huge tsunami that killed about 125,000 people and affected at least ten countries, including Indonesia.

Stronger-magnitude earthquakes are expected in the South-east Asian country of an estimated 230 million people, seismologists have warned. The worst is yet to come, they say.

Herlambang is not alone in his predicament. Many Indonesians are scared of the prospects of another earthquake. His American colleague, Bryony Jones, said she was quite appalled that the management of the building where their office was located had not given its occupants orientation on the building’s security measures. There were no earthquake drills either.

This became evident when she saw people huddled together just outside the building, seemingly unaware that falling shards of glass from broken windows could hurt them severely, it not fatally, "especially during aftershocks," which can be more dangerous, according to Jones, who is no stranger to earthquakes, being a native of quake-prone California.

"Lots of people re-entered the building shortly after (an earthquake) to continue working, without any announcement (or precautionary warnings) regarding their safety from the building (management). Had this happened in San Francisco, most definitely people would not be allowed to enter the building immediately," she said. "I think most Indonesians are used to this sort of natural disaster," Jones added.

Despite Indonesia being prone to disaster, particularly earthquakes, there appear to be no systematic and carefully thought out efforts toward disaster prevention education for the people.

West Java, for example, is prone to landslides, since the area is porous and fragile, said Subarya. Yet, modest houses were built below the hills and around the landslide-prone area. "The construction of buildings should consider disaster risks. It does not have to be expensive. It just needs sturdier frame," he said, adding that this should form part of a disaster management scheme. Criticisms are also rife over the quality of disaster response and rehabilitation as well as reconstruction programmes, given numerous reports of uneven aid distribution, lack of cooperation and coordination among responsible government agencies.

Sunaryo Adhiatmoko of Al-Azhar Foundation, a non-governmental organisation focusing on education and charity, said there seems to be confusion in relief distribution and what kind of aid should be given to disaster victims.

"The food distributed, for example, has always been instant noodles. First, there’s usually hardly any clean water to cook it. Secondly, it is not healthy. Poor people are often not reached either, and in some cases, aids pile up in rich people’s houses," he said.

The government, he said, must identify first what the people actually need. Government data must also be verified at the grassroots level, added Adhiatmoko, whose foundation is building 300 quake-proof houses in West Sumatra.

"Dealing with earthquake is not the same as dealing with tsunami and floods. During earthquake, people lose houses, not their jobs, so the important thing is rebuilding their homes and giving them motivation and helping them find a way out (of their situation)," he said.

Two months after the West Java was hit by an earthquake, he said there were still inadequate facilities to house the affected individuals. Houses had yet to be built while some people were still living inside tents or with relatives or friends, and school children were still holding classes inside makeshift tents.

Syamsul Maarif, head of the National Agency for Disaster Management, explained that houses of affected people had yet to be built because the House of Representatives had just approved the budget to rebuild houses and infrastructure. This allocation came up to a total of 1.7 trillion rupiahs (180 million U.S. dollars) for West Java and seven trillion rupiahs (744 million U.S. dollars) for West Sumatra.

"Please be patient. It is not an easy job," he pleaded. "We also need people’s cooperation in this (effort) instead of expecting the government to do all the job." The government, he said, has employed teams of experts in West Java and West Sumatra to educate people on disaster risk and response as well as teach them how to build sturdier houses.

Hening Parlan, executive director of Humanitarian Forum Indonesia, which is made up of NGOs dealing with disaster management, said if the government was still struggling with a viable disaster management and recovery programme, it was only because it had never been a priority.

She pointed out that Indonesia did not have a disaster management law until 2007, three years after the Asian tsunami hit. Prior to that, the disaster management programme was being handled by the National Coordination Board for Disaster Management, whose tasks were limited to emergency response. Under its programme, there was no urgency to conduct risk reduction activities.

"Given that it was only in 2007 that we had the law, it is understandable that a good disaster management programme has yet to be in place. But organisationally and regulation-wise, there has actually been an improvement," Parlan said.

BAKOSURTANAL’s Subarya said that since the 2004 tsunami, the government has built a sophisticated early warning system for earthquake and tsunami throughout the country. "The system can decide the depth and magnitude of an earthquake in less than three minutes, as well as observe a tidal wave in ports nationwide," he said.

Yet some of the disaster equipment acquired after the law was passed have either been stolen or are not working, he said. He blamed this on "poverty (and) "lack of experts available to operate them," respectively.

Lack of disaster information among the people can only be attributed to the lack of an effective disaster management programme. "When the siren wails warnings about an earthquake or tsunami, many people still do not know what to do," he said.

Posted by hera at 8:10 PM | Permalinks | Comments