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.