Finding Indonesian environment at 'Kampung Melayu' in Leiden

By Ida Indawati Khouw

LEIDEN, The Netherlands (JP): When an Indonesian gets homesick while in the "country of windmills", the best thing he could probably do is visit the International Student House in Leiden.

Although it is an "international" boarding house, the ambience is very much Indonesian, maybe because Indonesian students account for the majority of the occupants.

Indonesian food is easy to find; contemporary and traditional songs can be heard and people speaking Bahasa Indonesia are at every corner. And the unique familial spirit is strong -- all which makes the atmosphere very much "Indonesian."

The four-story flat, located at Stationplein 242, is actually provided for students from all over the world, but Indonesian students have transformed the building into a "Kampung Melayu" (Malay kampong), as the complex is dubbed.

Indonesians account for the majority of residents from a single national group, occupying 17 out of the 52 rooms.

The small city of Leiden, about 15 minutes by train from Amsterdam, has over a century's history of being the center of Indonesian studies in the Netherlands.

It was here that Indische Vereeniging (the Society of the Indies) was founded in October 1908. The association was then renamed Perhimpoenan Indonesia, a political association of Indonesian students in the Netherlands seeking an independent Indonesia.

The best time to experience the Indonesian atmosphere is on the weekends, especially when a farewell party is held for a departing buddy or when a fellow countryman celebrates his or her birthday. Usually they go Dutch, partying until early in the morning.

The weekend party is usually held in the room of a student. Indonesian food is served and party goers sing popular Indonesian songs, dance and chat.

One of the regular party goers is a an indo (Eurasian) man popularly called Oom (Uncle) Ed. He is even willing to finance the events.

Some non-Indonesian students in the house also join in and enjoy the parties.

"Maybe there are also those who don't like our habits. There is a foreign friend who shows her dislike for us by always criticizing Indonesian food as being too oily," said Alai Nadjib, a student majoring in Islamic Studies at Leiden University.

Indonesian values, such as family spirit are upheld. So when Alai once forgot to bring her wallet when she went shopping at a nearby supermarket, she just called Yuun Oppusunggu, a student of law, to come and help her.

On another occasion, an army of the flat's occupants went to Schiphol airport to help two friends who were going back to Indonesia, to see them off, although there had been a farewell party.

"It is very typically Indonesian, their feeling of being one family when they are abroad. Such a feeling maybe won't exist among us (Dutch people) when we meet each other abroad," said curator of the Amsterdam Historich Museum Lodewijk Wagenaar, who is also an expert on Onrust island of Jakarta bay.

Thus, Indonesians usually "dominate" the kitchens on each floor where jokes, casual conversation and even serious discussions are heard all the time.

The kitchen also transforms into a meeting room every time Indonesian scholars, artists, activists or other public figures visit the Netherlands. Among well-known figures who dropped by the house lately were psychologist and expert on gender issues Saparinah Sadli, artist Sujiwo Tedjo, anti-AIDS activist and gay campaigner Dede Oetomo, woman activists Ita Fathia Nadia and Yanti Muchtar and two Acehnese activists Agus Wandi and Suraiya.

"Sometimes scholars come to visit who happen to be in the Netherlands like Nurcholish Madjid when he came to Amsterdam, The Hague and Leiden. Usually we ask them to share their perspectives on Indonesia current affairs," said Yuniyanti Chuzaifah, who studies woman issues from an Islamic perspective.

Indeed, they are always thirsty for news on Indonesia.

The Indonesian students rely on the Internet for news about Indonesia, which can be freely accessed at the Leiden University's library -- some 10 minutes walk from the flat.

Creating an Indonesian atmosphere is a way to stave off their homesickness, or to let out any frustration.

"Studying abroad is the dream of many people but it is not something easy (to go through). (Aside from being a student) I am a mother (of two children) and a wife," said Yuniyanti, a woman activist who has studied in Leiden for almost two years and left her husband and their two children in Jakarta.

The first three months was her most stressful time. "And the kitchen, where I could chat and cook together with (Indonesian) friends, is the place where I was able to forget those feelings," she said.

Concurring with her experience is Suryadi who had to leave his wife who was pregnant in Padang, West Sumatra. The thing he regretted most was when his wife gave birth last May he could not be there by her side.

"I would always call home, waiting anxiously and trying to give attention (to both of wife and baby) through any possible means like buying equipment for the baby. When my baby was born, I wished I could hold her tiny hands," said Suryadi who studies linguistics.

On his friends' advice, Suryadi talks to his baby each time he makes calls.

The luxury that the students can enjoy in Holland but not in their home country is the modern facilities they need to support their studies.

For instance Alai enjoys the book collections of the library of Leiden University or that of the Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal,-Land-en Volkenkunde (KITLV the Royal Institute of Linguistics and Anthropology).

"I really envy their collections, something that I won't find in my country," she said.

For Yuniyanti the Netherlands also provides her with the "luxury" of security.

"Here I take for granted the good and reliable transportation. Civil servants are friendly yet firm and have a good sense of orderliness," she added.

Week days is the time when they have no contact with fellow nationals. "It is very quiet here during week days," said Eko Endarmoko, a visiting researcher from Kalam journal in Jakarta, who stayed temporarily in the flat.

Alai added that sometimes they never met each other for the whole week, "it's funny, sometimes we communicate through mobile phones even though we are in the same building."