People-profile-Dillon<\/p>\n
JP\/20\/DILLON<\/p>\n
HS Dillon -- a man who knows no fear<\/p>\n
Joyeeta Dutta Ray
\nContributor\/Jakarta<\/p>\n
In a country rife with corruption it takes a person of immense
\ncourage to fight for justice without once giving in.<\/p>\n
Dr. Harbrinderjit Singh Dillon is one such person.<\/p>\n
As Dillon sits at his desk and readies for the interview, he
\nremarks, \"This is the year of the Rooster -- this is my year!\"<\/p>\n
Like the traits associated with his birth sign, there is an
\nelement of vibrancy about him. His first words of welcome in
\nBahasa Indonesia put in perspective who he really is: Dillon has
\nthe face of a debonair Indian Sikh, but his soul belongs firmly
\nin Indonesia.<\/p>\n
Dillon has been at the forefront of political activism for
\nmore than two decades. He is a voice for the peasants, a champion
\nof human rights. He has also been a figure of terror, primarily
\nfor the corrupt. His words spare no one.<\/p>\n
He is solid figure but his observations are cutting. Like a
\nknife chiseling wood, he fashions the story of his life, nicking
\nsome along the way, carving out hope for others.<\/p>\n
\"My great grandfather was a farmer in Punjab, India, who
\nmigrated to Medan decades back. Plantation runners were much in
\ndemand by the Dutch in Indonesia then. But unlike in Malaysia,
\nwhere the bulk of plantation workers were Indians deported by the
\nBritish, here they were mostly locals,\" Dillon says.<\/p>\n
One wonders if the Indian Sikh family, with their traditional
\ncostumes and turbans, were readily accepted in North Sumatra.
\nDillon turns wistful.\"In my entire career, I have been
\ndiscriminated against because of my turban just once, when I was
\ntold that I could never make a minister, coming from a minority.<\/p>\n
\"Indonesians are very warm people. There is no reason for them
\nto discriminate against Indians. Sikhs have been part of the
\nIndonesian fabric from way back. Even in my great-grandfather's
\ntime they were a fairly large community of two to three thousand
\npeople employed as mostly farmers.\"<\/p>\n
His great-grandfather joined this workforce and went on to
\nfound the Khalsa School for the people of his community.<\/p>\n
By the time Dillon entered the world three generations later,
\nSikhism meant less to him than his forefathers. Instead, he was
\nmore interested in being an Indonesian.<\/p>\n
Growing up in Medan, Dillon was exposed to the unfortunate
\nlives of the farmers at first hand. It made him understand the
\nimportance of a strong agricultural economy.<\/p>\n
As he puts it today, \"Agriculture and agriculture-based
\nindustrialization should be at the center of economic strategy.
\nWhen you enhance agricultural productivity, you increase
\nincomes\".<\/p>\n
However, the situation in the 1950s was a far cry from his
\nunderstanding of today. The plight of farmers was characterized
\nby poverty and negligence.<\/p>\n
The gross injustice of their plight struck a chord in Dillon.
\nHe wished to speak out against it but he realized at a young age
\nthat to be heard one first needed to be armed with the power of
\nknowledge -- and money.<\/p>\n
After his basic education in Medan, Dillon went on to Cornell
\nUniversity in the United States, where he was offered a
\nfellowship in agricultural trade and development. He majored in
\ninternational trade and development and also studied resource
\nmanagement, economics and developmental sociology.<\/p>\n
He came back to Indonesia to serve as a researcher in the
\nMinistry of Agriculture, rising to assistant for the minister of
\nagriculture over the years.<\/p>\n
For a man with a degree from Cornell, it was an unusual
\ndecision to head back to Indonesia. Why did he do it? \"Because I
\nam somebody here. There is an impact (I can make),\" he says.<\/p>\n
He turned down a lucrative job for a lesser paying one to
\nrealize his burning ambition -- to help the farmers and make a
\ndifference.<\/p>\n
But rampant corruption at every level made him, he says, a
\ndisillusioned man. Not one to take things lying down, he spoke
\nout against important officials in no uncertain terms. This deed
\ncost him his job in the state bureaucracy.<\/p>\n
Dillon opted for consultancy work thereafter and embarked on a
\nvariety of challenging posts, including as a commissioner for the
\nNational Commission on Human Rights; a member of the Council for
\nthe National Economy (DEN) reporting to the president; a member
\nof the Joint Investigation Team (Anticorruption) reporting to the
\nAttorney General.<\/p>\n
Today, Dillon sits as the Executive Director of the
\nPartnership for Governance Reform in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
Interviewed and selected from over 500 candidates, this
\nposition brings him much peace of mind. \"This is the job of my
\ndreams. I am paid to do what I like doing best\", he said.<\/p>\n
Talking of donors, Dillon offers his views about tsunami-
\nstricken Aceh. \"A lot of money has been generated for the tsunami
\nfrom here and abroad. I say don't give money, instead give water
\npurifying plants, pre-paid housing and the like. We are becoming
\nnothing but a clearing house for Aceh.\" he says.<\/p>\n
Dillon goes on, \"Aceh is full of injustice. If there is no
\ngovernance in Aceh, Indonesia is doomed. But I am always
\noptimistic. One must have asah (hope) -- asah untuk bangsa (hope
\nfor the country). If we have hope, we can build a new Aceh. The
\nfuture of a new Indonesia is tied up with the future of a new
\nAceh.\"<\/p>\n
In Dillon's dictionary nothing is impossible. His statements
\nring with earnest passion. His outspoken, often critical views
\nhave made and broken his career. But he has no regrets. \"I am a
\nproud man. I am grateful that I have been confident about
\nspeaking out\".<\/p>\n
How is it living with a man of such immense ideals? His
\nIndonesian Muslim wife of 29 years is a perfect companion to the
\nman she married. With a sharp mind of her own to match his, she
\nbreaks in, \"My husband is a Rooster, I am a Rabbit. We are six
\nsigns apart -- a match that is quite a mismatch. We are at
\nloggerheads everyday. That is why we are together still\", she
\nsays with a smile.<\/p>\n
Dillon explains, \"My wife, Droupti, is a doctor, a
\nnutritionist. We are poles apart. It is said in Chinese astrology
\nthat in a marriage when two people are this dissimilar, it is
\nbound to last. Once differences are mended, that is the end of
\nthe relationship,\" he says, tongue in cheek.<\/p>\n
Dillon is a father of three sons. It is a close-knit family
\nwhere the relationship thrives less on authority and more on
\nimbibing from each other. But one wonders whether they gravitate
\ntowards any one religion, as is the case in most mixed marriages.
\nDillon's answer is as forward-thinking as his views.<\/p>\n
\"I haven't raised my children as either Sikhs or Muslims. If
\nwe are the bow and they the arrows, we should let them go on
\nahead as good people,\" he says.<\/p>\n
Dillon is a prolific writer, an ardent speaker, an intent
\nlistener and an optimistic believer. Most of all, he finally has
\nthe power, expertise and the means to see his vision of a dynamic
\nnew Indonesia.<\/p>\n
There is only one concern. \"The scarcest commodity is time,\"
\nhe says.<\/p>\n
He has nothing to fear. After all, the year belongs to him. As
\nfor the future, there is always asah. Asah untuk bangsa.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/people-profile-dillon-1447893297",
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