Wardah keeps social justice issues alive<\/p>\n
By Herry Nurdi<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Many television viewers still remember during a
\nrecent talk show how Wardah Hafidz maintained her cool and,
\nwithout raising her tone, relentlessly shot questions and
\nillustrations at an executive of the People's Sovereignty Party
\n(PDR) which she accused of committing money politics.<\/p>\n
Looking ill at ease but maintaining his party's innocence, the
\npolitician kept dodging Wardah's questions until the show ended.<\/p>\n
The episode served to display that when it comes to issues of
\nsocial justice and gender equality, the soft-spoken and cool-
\nheaded Wardah becomes tough.<\/p>\n
She spoke of phone calls threatening her and other activists
\nat the Urban Poor Consortium (UPC) after her revelations of
\nalleged abuse of US$800 million of social safety net funds by PDR
\nand Golkar, and yet she went ahead and reported her
\norganization's findings to the Election Supervisory Committee and
\nAttorney General Office.<\/p>\n
\"She has guts, hasn't she?\" said a woman reading a newspaper
\ncarrying a story on her visits to the two above offices.<\/p>\n
Born on Oct. 28, 1958, in the East Java town of Jombang, which
\nis often called the city of santri (students of Islamic boarding
\nschool), Wardah was raised on strong Islamic values.<\/p>\n
Somewhere along the way, she cultivated a strong streak for
\nindependence. After finishing the Madrasah Mu'alimah (an Islamic
\nhigh school), she balked from taking the path of her elders,
\nnamely going on to study at the State Institute for Islamic
\nStudies (IAIN). Instead, she chose to study the English language
\nat the Teachers' Training College in the hilly East Java town of
\nMalang.<\/p>\n
Following her graduation in 1978, she went to teach English at
\nthe pilot school in Curug, West Java, before going on to study
\nfor her masters on sociology in Indiana in the U.S.<\/p>\n
In 1983, because her contract had yet to expire, she went back
\nto teach at her alma-mater in Malang, and was soon offered a
\nposition as a civil servant. She refused, and resigned.<\/p>\n
\"I just can't stand being a civil servant, because it's so
\nbureaucratic,\" she said calmly.<\/p>\n
The fourth of ten siblings, Wardah is the only one in the
\nfamily to be actively involved in non-governmental organizations
\n(NGOs). She soon made her name following her studies and writings
\non feminism.<\/p>\n
Beginning in 1991, she expanded her attention and started to
\n\"fight\" not only for the fate of women but for the poor,
\nespecially the urban poor. \"I just feel that the 'stage' for
\nwomen's issues is already packed (with other women rights
\ncampaigners),\" she said.<\/p>\n
The former editor of the Islamic Journal Ulumulquran admitted
\nthat her childhood and memories of her time with her grandfather
\ncontributed to her decision to become an activist for the poor.<\/p>\n
\"My grandfather was a penghulu (Muslim cleric) in my village,
\nand he raised us to always be just, and to obey our religious
\nteaching,\" she reminisced.<\/p>\n
\"Because he always told us to be fair and just, I became aware
\nof (injustice) in my surroundings,\" Wardah said. She went on to
\ndescribe how poor farmers in her village worked so hard that they
\ndid not even have time to say their salat (prayer). The fact that
\nthey abandoned their religious duty, however, did not seem to
\nmake them feel guilty, she said.<\/p>\n
\"While I and my siblings were always told that we would go to
\nhell if we did not say our prayer,\" she said.<\/p>\n
\"That raised questions in me. Who's to blame when farmers had
\nto abandon their prayer because they had to earn a living for
\ntheir children? Where is justice in this situation?\"<\/p>\n
Those questions crystallized for Wardah in a conclusion: \"The
\npoor must be defended, their fate fought for.\"<\/p>\n
She remembered her first advocacy case of a land dispute in
\nJelambar, West Jakarta, several years ago.<\/p>\n
\"Where is the justice when inhabitants of slum areas in
\nJelambar had to pay more for clean water than those who lived in
\n(posh areas of) Menteng?\" she said spiritedly.<\/p>\n
Wardah takes pride when people call her \"a bum\" and often
\nrefuses invitations to seminars on the fate of the poor.<\/p>\n
\"How can we discuss the complicated reality (of the poor) from
\nair-conditioned rooms?\" she said.<\/p>\n
Child<\/p>\n
Married ten years ago to fellow NGO activist Wiladi Budihargo,
\nWardah remains without children. \"We agreed not to have
\nchildren,\" she said, explaining they were so busy and mobile they
\nwould not be able to give any child the utmost attention she or
\nhe deserved.<\/p>\n
\"Given my age now, I don't think it would be possible anyway,\"
\nshe said.<\/p>\n
Wardah looked unfazed despite accusations that she was
\npoliticking when she put forward her organization's findings
\nabout the alleged misuse of funds for the poor for the demotion
\nof PDR and Golkar. She remained calm despite terror threats she
\nand her fellow activists have started to receive recently.<\/p>\n
\"Last Wednesday, May 26, a group of people staged a protest
\nhere,\" she said at her office in the Billy Moon housing complex
\nin East Jakarta. \"May be they were from PDR, because I saw at
\nleast one PDR activist.\"<\/p>\n
On Friday, a group of unidentified people pelted a glass
\nwindow in front of her office with stones.<\/p>\n
\"Then on Sunday, there was another demonstration but I don't
\nknow who they were and what they wanted. They were there only to
\ncondemn me,\" she said.<\/p>\n
Some of the protesters carried banners which read, among
\nothers, \"Wardah against populist economy.\" The protest ended
\npeacefully after Wardah met them and shook hands with the protest
\nleader.<\/p>\n
The PDR has repeatedly denied Wardah's allegations of misused
\nfunds and even threatened to file a lawsuit against her.<\/p>\n
\"I am not afraid. Let's settle this problem through legal
\nprocedures,\" she said.<\/p>\n
Since the start of the government's social safety net program,
\nWardah warned against possible abuse because the project was
\nlaunched without a strong infrastructure or supervision. She
\nurged international donors to delay the disbursement of some of
\nthe funds until the parties involved had clear programs.<\/p>\n
She became the most often cited when reports recently surfaced
\nthat Rp 8 trillion of the total Rp 17.9 trillion social safety
\nnet funds went to undeserving parties. The regional affairs
\ndeputy chairman of the National Development Planning Board
\n(Bappenas), Herman Haeruman, confirmed the \"mistaken delivery\".<\/p>\n
There have been accusations that Wardah, too, has not been
\nvery responsible in managing foreign aid for her organization.
\nShe told The Jakarta Post, however, that indeed the Urban Poor
\nConsortium is a recipient of a number of both local and foreign
\nassistance including HIVOS in the Netherlands.<\/p>\n
Wardah insisted the UPC was more of a people's movement rather
\nthan a NGO, and is focused on the campaign to empower the
\ngrassroots.<\/p>\n
\"The UPC is not developing the people, but being the people's
\npartner,\" she said, adding that her sole goal is to help
\nestablish a strong organization of the people which will later be
\nable to give them prosperity.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/wardah-keeps-social-justice-issues-alive-1447893297",
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