American begins hunger strike at quarantine<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Jack Gilbert West, an American quarantined for
\nallegedly misusing his visa and possessing obscene photographs,
\nstarted yesterday his hunger strike protesting his arrest and
\nincarceration.<\/p>\n
\"I'll start my hunger strike beginning today until I die
\nhere,\" the 51-year-old man told The Jakarta Post by telephone
\nfrom West Jakarta Immigration's Quarantine yesterday.<\/p>\n
\"I no longer have any hope that the American embassy here
\ncould do something to help extradite me,\" said West, adding the
\nembassy had even rejected his application for repatriation funds.<\/p>\n
His last meeting with someone from the embassy was two weeks
\nago, he said.<\/p>\n
Earlier, West sent a letter to the Post saying he would start
\nhis hunger strike immediately after the letter was published.
\nSome of his claims, not the letter, were published yesterday.<\/p>\n
\"If the U.S. government won't loan me the funds to go home,
\nthen they can ship my corpse home,\" he said in the two-page,
\ntypewritten letter he sent from Quarantine in Kalideres, West
\nJakarta, where he has been in detention since Feb. 4.<\/p>\n
During the telephone-interview yesterday, West denied all the
\nallegations made by the police and immigration officers.<\/p>\n
\"It's a lie. The pictures are my personal collection I brought
\nfrom the States and I'm not teaching anybody anywhere here,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
West said the charges against him were baseless.<\/p>\n
\"If the immigration officers accused me of taking the pictures
\nby myself could they tell me where I could process the films
\nhere?\" he asked.<\/p>\n
\"If they charged me with teaching without proper
\ndocumentation, could they tell me where I was teaching and show
\nme the students?\"<\/p>\n
West said his income came from a business in the States.<\/p>\n
Immigration officer Zaiman Nurmatias said West was arrested on
\nJan. 31 after military officers found him, with his pornographic
\nphotos, walking around the National Monument park. Later, police
\nlearned he had worked as an English teacher without a legitimate
\nvisa.<\/p>\n
\"West will be deported shortly after his ticket is ready,\"
\nsaid Zaiman, director for control and law enforcement on
\nimmigration affairs, last week.<\/p>\n
The officer did not say who would pay for the ticket.<\/p>\n
But according to West, the embassy has been unofficially
\ninformed that Indonesia wants to expel him, to the U.S., at his
\nexpense.<\/p>\n
West said he had no funds and had asked his wife to apply for
\nAmerican repatriation funds from the embassy so that he could
\nleave his small cell immediately.<\/p>\n
\"But the embassy ignored my application,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Family<\/p>\n
West's decision to start a hunger strike shocked his wife.
\nLiza.<\/p>\n
\"Oh, my God. What's he going to do?\" said Liza.<\/p>\n
\"He should have known what I'm doing outside here is to find
\nways so he could be released or extradited soon,\" she said.<\/p>\n
Liza said she was still unable to get a firm answer from the
\ngovernment on her husband's fate.<\/p>\n
\"Even to meet him at the quarantine, I have significant
\nproblems,\" she said.<\/p>\n
But Liza knew why her husband decided to hunger strike.<\/p>\n
\"He's in a serious depression, particularly due to the absence
\nof his government's help,\" she said.<\/p>\n
West said the reluctance of U.S. authorities to do him a favor
\nwas probably due to his poor relations with the US government in
\nthe past.<\/p>\n
He admitted to burning the U.S. flag in Singapore to protest
\nthe unfavorable steps taken by the American government toward him
\nfollowing his divorce from his wife in the States.<\/p>\n
The embassy might judge his case based on previous experience,
\nWest said.<\/p>\n
\"Therefore, I do not hope for any help from the embassy
\nanymore and have decided to start my hunger strike in this cell.\"<\/p>\n
West said the small cell he shared with six other foreigners
\nwas in bad condition. They were given the bare minimum to eat and
\ncontacting outsiders was almost impossible.<\/p>\n
West and Liza have two children; Endy, 6, and Rossa, 5.<\/p>\n
The news that her father had started hunger striking didn't
\nfaze Rossa.<\/p>\n
\"I don't care because he didn't like to give me good
\nchocolates,\" she said. (bsr)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/american-begins-hunger-strike-at-quarantine-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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