Southeast Asia: News, Culture, Voices
Southeast Asian Refugees in the Bronx
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In 1980 – as tens of thousands of refugees fled violence in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos – President Jimmy Carter signed the Refugee Act. He declared that the United States would finally take responsibility for the devastating effects of its policies in the region.
Touch Roth, 65, a refugee from Cambodia, with her granddaughter in their Bronx apartment. (D Merina)
Within ten years, more than one million refugees arrived to American cities. But over two decades later, America’s promise remains unfulfilled.
I spent the last few months reporting on the Southeast Asian refugee community in the Bronx and produced a half-hour radio documentary called Mekong in the Bronx. You can listen here. It airs nationwide on July 3rd on Free Speech Radio News.
Also, check out a short clip of a song by rapper, Boomer. He’s one of the Cambodian American youth who was deported back to Cambodia under a secret agreement between the US and Cambodian governments.
Women Reps Gain in Indonesia’s House
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A record high 18 percent of Indonesia’s new Parliament seats will be filled by women. That’s according to the latest counts by the Centre for Electoral Reform. The Center reports that 88 seats have been filled by women reps so far from the April 9 elections. It expects that number to rise as the full tally becomes available.
A woman casts her vote during the April elections. (Photo: Yan Arief, flickr.com / Creative Commons)
One of those who is expected to win her seat is Rieke Diah Pitaloka. She told The Jakarta Post that, despite the gains, women will still face challenges in their new positions.
“Quantity is not always in line with quality. If these female candidates still carry with them a sense of inferiority in the face of the existing macho paradigm, then the record breaking percentage will not mean anything,” said Rieke.
The Inter Press Service also reports that, although the rise in women representation was unexpected, it may not necessarily mean a more active pursuit of women’s issues.
Still, nearly half of Indonesia’s 171 million voters are women and they have long been underrepresented in federal government. (The highest number of women seated in the House before now was just 65 seats, or 13 percent, during the 1987-1992 period.) In the latest election, 35 percent of the candidates were women, and advocates have long fought for a quota of 30 percent female representatives in the House to better reflect the country’s population. But efforts have hit stiff resistance from conservative parties.
Last fall, I sat down with a group of women in Jakarta to discuss issues that women face in the country. They were Catholic, Muslim and Christian; mothers and wives; government workers and journalists and writers. Check out a short clip of the video-in-progress below. (Subtitles coming soon!)
Obama Marks New Direction in US Relations with Islam
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Barack Obama, seated at far right, during his stay in Jakarta. His Indonesian stepfather, Lolo Soetoro, is seated far left.
President Barack Obama wrapped up his visit to Europe with a stop in Istanbul and a speech in which he appealed directly to Muslims worldwide to forge a new relationship with the U.S. With American forces still occupying Iraq and set to vastly increase their presence in Afghanistan, the response from the Islamic community has been mixed.
The United States is not, and will never be, at war with Islam. In fact, our partnership with the Muslim world is critical not just in rolling back the violent ideologies that people of all faiths reject, but also to strengthen opportunity for all its people. -Obama, 4/6/2009
In Southeast Asia, however, the US faces a range of policy issues.
Indonesia’s president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono says that Obama will visit Jakarta later this year. Evidently, at a breakfast meeting at the recent G-20 meeting, Obama used the Bahasa word capek to ask if Yudhoyono was tired – a gesture that caused the Indonesian president to fondly recall Obama’s time in Indonesia as a child.
When Obama visits Indonesia later this year, he will face a delicate counter-terrorism program and a country struggling with the global economic downturn. And, although many Indonesians praise Obama’s recent efforts, they are still wary of eight years of a largely unpopular Bush-era policy towards Muslims. (On election day last year, I traveled through Central Java and spoke with Indonesians about Obama – you can check out the story here.)
I also want to be clear that America’s relationship with the Muslim community, the Muslim world, cannot, and will not, just be based upon opposition to terrorism. We seek broader engagement based on mutual interest and mutual respect. -Obama, 4/6/2009
In Southern Thailand, a conflict between Muslim separatist forces and the central government has claimed more than three-thousand civilian lives over the last few years. When Obama was sworn in as president the Thai Indian community highlighted his remarks about the Muslim community.
But Obama’s efforts to reach out to countries in the region has drawn some criticism. In a Februrary 6th op-ed article, The Bangkok Post called for a more direct engagement with the new administration.
“Many in Thailand, which has 175 years of rock-solid support and harmony with the US, feel the new leadership in Washington is turning its back on an old friend. Singaporeans and Filipinos have said much the same. The new administration maintains it truly wants to focus on our region. It is important to include wary countries like Indonesia in the dialogue. But it is vital not to ignore old and trusted friends.”
And in the Philippines, many say the continuing US military aid to the country’s armed forces is making a decades-old conflict in Mindanao worse.
In the on-line weekly, Bulatlat, Bayan secretary general Renato M. Reyes, Jr. makes the connection between human rights abuses under the Arroyo administration and continuing support from the U.S.
“It behooves the Obama administration to reexamine its military aid to the abusive and corrupt Arroyo administration. Obama can do the right thing and cut aid to Arroyo now.”
Obama faces a range of complicated issues in Southeast Asia, but in the end, it may be his personal claim that edges him closer to a true reconciliation with Islam.
We will listen carefully, we will bridge misunderstandings, and we will seek common ground. We will be respectful, even when we do not agree. We will convey our deep appreciation for the Islamic faith, which has done so much over the centuries to shape the world — including in my own country. The United States has been enriched by Muslim Americans. Many other Americans have Muslims in their families or have lived in a Muslim-majority country — I know, because I am one of them. -Obama, 4/6/2009
Read the full text of Obama’s speech delivered to the Turkish Parliament on April 6, 2009 here.
Philippines One of Deadliest Peacetime Nations for Journalists
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More than 24 journalist murders have gone unsolved in the Philippines in the last decade. That’s according to a new report by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists.
Shawn Crispin, CPJ Senior Representative for Southeast Asia, told ABS-CBN news that the findings should prompt the Arroyo administration to act:
“Our research shows that the impunity rate in killed journalists’ cases here still hovers above 90 percent, one of the highest in the world,” he said.
From the CPJ report, released March 23rd:
At least 24 journalist murders have gone unsolved in the last decade. This pervasive climate of impunity has led to repeated attacks on the press, with renewed levels of violence recorded in 2008. In just one week in August 2008, radio journalists Martin Roxas and Dennis Cuesta were fatally shot. CPJ research has shown local courts to be ineffective in trying journalist murders. Witnesses have been threatened, attacked, and killed while cases were being tried in local courts. Local judges have been reluctant to proceed with cases involving influential public figures.
Check out the full report here. The only other country listed with more unsolved murders is Iraq, with 88. Other countries in the region listed as dangerous for journalists are Nepal, Bangladesh, and India.
Radio Reports: Indonesia and Clinton’s Visit
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Public Radio International’s The World, Feb 18, 2009:
After the bombings in Bali that killed more than 200 people, the Indonesian government cracked down hard on Islamic militants. It also developed a program to de-radicalize militants in prison. As Dorian Merina reports, officials are hoping to expand it to the country’s religious boarding schools.
Free Speech Radio News, Feb 18, 2009:
Anti-American protesters in Jakarta demonstrated against Secretary of State Hilary Clinton’s visits to Indonesia today – part of her East Asian tour this week. Clinton met with her counterpart, Hassan Wirajuda, and talked about constructing a wide-ranging alliance with the Muslim-majority nation. Clinton’s visit is being touted as a new step in the U.S.’s relationship with Indonesia: during the Bush administration’s so-called “war on terror”, the nation’s Islamic schools were often characterized as the breeding grounds of terrorism and violence.
But most schools and institutions provide an important place of education for the country’s poor and rural communities, while offering an ideological challenge to fundamentalist groups. FSRN’S Dorian Merina takes us to West Java, where a group of scholars and educators are promoting a progressive agenda of religious pluralism and gender equality – all within the schools themselves.
Ustadz Wahyuddin, current director of the Pondok Ngruki school in Central Java.
New Court Ruling Connects Philippine Government to Disappearances
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James Balao (Photo source: Cordillera Peoples Alliance, http://www.cpaphils.org)
This month, a regional trial judge in Benguet issued a writ of amparo in the case of disappeared activist, James Balao. The judge ordered the government to “disclose where [Balao] is detained or confined [and] release [him] considering his unlawful detention since his abduction.”
Respondents in the case include President Macapagal-Arroyo, Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro and Armed Forces chief of staff, Gen. Alexander Yano. A writ of amparo is essentially a petition to force the government to protect the constitutional rights of a citizen. In essence, the judge’s decision contradicts earlier statements in which the government denied knowledge of Balao’s whereabouts. It puts the responsibility squarely on Arroyo and the other officials named in the case.
Recently, I interviewed Bernadette Ellorin, the Secretary-General of BAYAN USA, on WBAI’s Asia Pacific Forum. We talked about Arroyo’s move to make changes to the Philippine Constitution. Listen to an excerpt of our interivew below.
Balao, the co-founder of the Cordillera Peoples Alliance, was abducted by armed men last September 17. According to his brother, Balao was aware of being under survellience in the the weeks leading up to his disappearance. At the time, the government claimed he was a communist leader – a charge his family and friends deny.
This court decision is part of the larger trend of killings and disappearances under the Arroyo Administration. In 2007, the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions issued a report that linked the Arroyo government to human rights violations. (Download the PDF report here.) And late last year, the United Nations Human Rights Committee concluded that the Arroyo government was involved in the 2003 murder of Eden Marcellana and Eddie Gumanoy in Mindoro.
Now, despite this significant ruling, the killings and disappearances continue.
Conflict in Gaza Angers Indonesians
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When I visited with religious leaders in Indonesia last November, many of them – even those from the most remote villages – spoke at length about the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Although the leaders had diverse interpretations of Islam, there was one point nearly all of them agreed on: the occupation of Palestine and the embargo on the territories was an affront to Muslims everywhere – and the U.S. support for Israel was always cited as a sore point.
Now, as the current incursion into Gaza stretches into its second week, Indonesians are expressing their outrage.
Indonesian boys at a rally in Jakarta earlier this week. Tarko Sudiarno / JP
The conservative Islamic groups, including the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), have called for Indonesia to send jihadists to Gaza to support the population there. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has resisted the call while condemning the attacks and pushing for humanitarian aid instead. He’s called the current conflict a territorial issue in an attempt to de-emphasize the religious aspect of the violence.
In West Java, hundreds of Muslim students rallied outside a McDonald’s, promising to boycott American products unless the Indonesian government sends humanitarian assistance immediately.
And in the port city of Surabaya, protestors sealed off a Jewish synagogue and hundreds more rallied in front of the U.S. embassy.
“If Israel doesn’t stop its attacks on the Palestinian people immediately, we will conduct raids on sympathizers, supporters and Israeli agents in the province,” a rally organizer warned.
Indonesians are also looking to Obama to speak out on the issue. There are some indications that his silence is straining the close bond that many Indonesians feel for the president-elect. See an opinion piece by Bramantyo Prijosusilo here in which he makes the case for Obama to come up with a concrete peace plan for the region soon.
Justice or Intimidation in Munir Case?
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Even after his death, the threats kept coming. On November 20th, 2004, Munir Said Thalib’s widow, Suciwati, received the severed head of a chicken with a note that warned her not to connect the Indonesian armed forces to her husband’s death.
“Do you want to end up like this?” the note asked menacingly.
Munir's widow, Suciwati, after the verdict. Photo by Berto Wedhatama/JP
This past week, the South Jakarta District Court acquitted retired Maj. General Muchdi Purwopranjono – formerly of the National Intelligence Agency – of all charges in the case of Munir’s murder.
“I have already lost my husband,” said Suciwati after the verdict. “Now, I lost justice.”
Munir, a lawyer, founded the human rights group, Kontras, and was known for his pursuit of human rights abuses committed during the Suharto era – a role which earned him plenty of enemies.
Did the warning and the threatening messages finally have an influence?
During the trial, five witnesses revoked their statements in the case. And, as Usman Hamid (the current director of Kontras) points out, prosecuters decided not to include a voice recording connecting Muchdi with Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto. Pollycarpus, the pilot of the Geruda flight on which Munir was poisoned, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the murder.
The National Police has said that the investigation dossiers had only been returned by prosecutors once in the lead up to the trial, suggesting that the evidence against Muchdi was solid.
Following Munir’s death in 2004, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono did the right thing by ordering a special investigative team to look into the matter. Now, following the startling verdict, he has “summoned” the National Police chief and the Attorney General for clarification into the decision. With a national election mere months away, the government cannot afford to gloss over this case.
But it remains to be seen if justice can still be salvaged – or if the work of anonymous threats will win out.
Radio Report: Religious Schools in West Java Push Progressive Islam
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When I spoke with Ansyaad Mbai, Indonesia’s top counter terrorism official, he pointed to the country’s Islamic boarding schools as places where the future of Indonesia’s Islam could be decided. U.S. officials have called the schools, or pesantrens, breeding grounds for terrorism. Yet, while a few of the schools have been connected to radical Islam, most provide an important system of education for the country’s poor and rural communities.
Indonesia's top counter-terrorism official, Ansyaad Mbai, in his Jakarta office. October 2008.
I visited a number of pesantrens in West Java and spoke with students, teachers and religious leaders. Listen to the radio report, broadcast this week on WBAI’s Asia Pacific Forum (99.5 FM, New York City).
Read more about the Fahmina Institute here: http://fahmina.or.id/en/
Wearing Jilbab While Reporting: A video interview with my interpreter
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“I would describe myself as a student, as a learner,” said Mita, 25, who accompanied me as an interpreter as I visited pesantrens in Central Java. “I’m open-minded.”
When I asked her to compare her experience of wearing jilbab while reporting with not wearing it during her regular life, she thought about it for a second.
“Yes, of course I feel different,” she said.
Watch our short video interview below.
