Ambalat row concerns KL students
Ambalat row concerns KL students
Yuli Tri Suwarni and Slamet Susanto, The Jakarta Post, Bandung/Yogyakarta
Azrah Hamzah, a 22-year-old Malaysian studying in Bandung, is
both saddened and concerned by rising anti-Malaysian sentiment in
Indonesia as a result of the dispute between Jakarta and Kuala
Lumpur over the Ambalat offshore area.
A post has been set up in front of the Gedung Sate government
building on Jl. Diponegoro in Bandung, where people can volunteer
to fight in the event that Indonesia and Malaysia go to war over
Ambalat. A sign on the post reads Ganyang Malaysia (Crush
Malaysia).
The Malaysian student, who is in her third year at Padjadjaran
University's medical school, said the tension between the two
governments over the Ambalat block, which is rich in oil and gas
deposits, concerned her.
"I am sad because we are studying here," she told The Jakarta
Post.
She said she was treated well by Indonesians but was concerned
that her studies would be interrupted before she finished her
medical degree in another three years.
"Thank God, all my Indonesian friends and the people I meet
have shown no animosity toward me. I hope the issue will be
resolved soon and bring peace to Indonesia and Malaysia," she
said.
Many Malaysian students have studied at Padjadjaran
University's campuses in Jatinangor, Sumedang and on Jl.
Dipatiukur in Bandung since the 1970s.
A spokesman for the university, Hadi Suprapto Arifin, said
there were more than 300 students from Malaysia currently
studying at the university, most of them at the medical and
dental schools.
In Yogyakarta, the approximately 100 Malaysian students
studying in this city of universities are alarmed by the rising
tension between the two countries and the anti-Malaysian posts
that have popped up around Yogyakarta.
However, they are convinced there will be no war and that
relations, and their lives, will soon return to normal.
"The sense of anxiety has made us more aware. But we are not
alarmed because we are convinced that Yogyakarta will remain
peaceful," Syira Haniza, a dentistry student from Penang, told
the Post recently.
Syira said that Yogyakarta was known as a peaceful city.
During the riots that hit numerous cities in the country in 1998,
the Malaysian Embassy set up dormitories and evacuation
procedures for Malaysians in Yogyakarta, but the city remained
quiet.
"Yogyakarta was not touched by the riots even though there
were scenes of anarchy and looting in many other areas. It is
based on these events that we are not intimidated because we are
certain that Yogyakarta will be safe," said Syira.
"But I am sure there will not be a war and that everything
will be settled at the negotiating table. Neither country wants
to go to war because the costs would be too high," she said.
Ahmad Yusuf, a Malaysian who graduated from Gadjah Mada
University's medical school in 2000, said he was positive there
would not be riots or violence in Yogyakarta.
"Yogyakarta is known as an educational and cultural center, so
I am sure there will not be any sweeping of Malaysian students
because people are civilized," Yusuf said.