Expats: Staying put through it all<\/p>\n
Bruce Emond and Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
\"Nita\" and her fiancee, \"Jack\", are living in a state of
\nconfusion. She thinks of him all the time these days, anxious
\nabout what he is doing. At night, she worries that someone may
\ncome knocking on their apartment door.<\/p>\n
Her greatest fear is that \"something terrible\" may happen when
\nhe is in a taxi stopped at a traffic light.<\/p>\n
The facts tell the story. Nita, 25, is an Indonesian Muslim
\nwho has been living with Jack, a 29-year-old American, for the
\nlast two years. They had planned to marry early in 2002.<\/p>\n
Sept. 11 has thrown their plans into turmoil.<\/p>\n
\"Everything is crazy,\" Nita said, her voice a mixture of anger
\nand bemusement. \"I keep asking Jack if he wants to go home, and I
\nwill follow later.\"<\/p>\n
She added that she was angry that groups were using religion
\nto bolster their position in anti-American protests and in urging
\na \"sweep\" of U.S. nationals and others from countries in the
\nU.S.-led strikes on Afghanistan.<\/p>\n
Nita's fears are shared by others who are married or
\nromantically involved with foreigners, or who work with them.
\nSome feel torn by their own personal condemnation of the Sept. 11
\nattacks and the \"sweep\" threat, along with their outrage at the
\nU.S. government's response.<\/p>\n
Away from the tearing up of flags, the attacking of symbols of
\nU.S. culture like McDonald's and Coca-Cola, the inflammatory
\nrhetoric, there are also human stories of people caught in the
\ncrossfire.<\/p>\n
Rulita \"Ermita\" Anggraini is married to American Mark Winkle,
\nand they run a PR company together. Mark converted to Islam when
\nthey married eight years ago and Ermita said his long periods
\nspent in different parts of Asia prepared him well to live in
\nIndonesia.<\/p>\n
But Ermita added that she \"understood\" how some of her
\ncountrymen were outraged by U.S. actions.<\/p>\n
\"To a certain extent, I understand what has happened. It's not
\njust about the events of the last two weeks, it's a cumulative
\nthing from the past,\" Ermita said. \"But now it's going away from
\nthe goal of having your voice heard, and sweeping and cutting off
\ndiplomatic relations is off track.\"<\/p>\n
Expat exodus<\/p>\n
The problem is that it will take more than a couple of strong
\nstatements from the government and the police to keep an
\nexpatriate exodus from occurring if groups come true on their
\nthreats to sweep for foreigners.<\/p>\n
More relevant and meaningful will be community efforts to make
\nforeigners feel secure, such as the \"anti-sweeping\" campaign
\nlaunched by the residents of Jl. Jaksa, long the city's hub for
\nbackpackers, on Thursday. The residents turned back a group of
\nactivists from one hard-line group when they attempted to enter
\nthe street.<\/p>\n
The chairman of the country's largest Muslim organization
\nNahdlatul Ulama (NU), Hasyim Muzadi, urged the public to be wise
\nand protect foreigners.<\/p>\n
\"Having solidarity (with Afghans) is OK, nothing's wrong with
\nthat, but don't create trouble in our own country. It's other
\ncountry's conflict, why make it ours? Don't lose the sense of
\nnationalism in the name of solidarity,\" he told The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
Hasyim further asked people to avoid doing things that will
\nput the country in a more difficult economic position.<\/p>\n
\"Sweeping is the right of the country, not the citizens. What
\nwe should do now is ask the government to form international
\nsolidarity to force the United States to stop the attacks. We
\nshould also form a solidarity of humanity,\" he asserted.<\/p>\n
Others, such as noted Betawi (native Jakartan) leader Ridwan
\nSaidi from the Betawi Cultural Institute, think it would be
\nbetter for expatriates to leave until the situation has returned
\nto normal.<\/p>\n
He said it is difficult to tell the public not to express
\nsolidarity over Afghanistan. The threats and anti-West sentiment,
\nhe added, were the consequence of the global situation.<\/p>\n
\"Afghan people suffer more. That's why I think it's best for
\nexpatriates to just leave the country for a while,\" Ridwan said.<\/p>\n
But picking up and leaving is not such an easy decision for
\npeople like Nita and Ermita.<\/p>\n
Nita hopes the government will take a \"strong stance\", and
\nalso that Indonesians will start to concentrate on the problems
\nat home instead of the war abroad.<\/p>\n
Ermita believes she will know if and when the time comes to
\nleave, but she also hopes that the worst will not happen, for the
\nsake of her children, aged five and half years and 11 months.<\/p>\n
\"We don't want to be moving around, from place to place,
\nbecause it will disturb us as a family,\" she said.<\/p>\n
After all, this is her and Mark's home, too.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/expats-staying-put-through-it-all-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }