Indonesia House is more than just Bali

Zora Rahman, Contributor, Amsterdam

Amsterdam on a sunny Sunday afternoon in May. The Indonesia Media foundation has just opened a bazaar with various attractions: Sundanese dance, Balinese gamelan traditional orchestra, Javanese food and batik. Indonesian and Dutch visitors revel in nostalgia and enjoy themselves, watching all these nice shows while eating rice cake. The hall is so crowded that some people must stand in the corridor. Everything is decorated with red-and-white flags, even the cakes.

"When somebody presents Balinese dance, people stream from everywhere. But if you want to talk with them about the political or social problems in Indonesia, they stay at home," sighs a visitor who gets to stand at the door. He is active in another Indonesian organization based in Amsterdam -- Indonesia House -- which calls itself a center of solidarity, information and culture, in exactly this order.

Amsterdam on the same May Sunday, a little bit earlier in the morning. Around 40, mainly Indonesian, people try to squeeze themselves into one of those narrow brick houses one can find in Amsterdam everywhere, along its uncountable canals. Due to the posters hanging out in the windows, people passing by might think it a cultural meeting point for compatriots, as you might find for almost all nationalities living in Amsterdam. But not quite: Indonesia House is the heart of a European-wide network of Indonesian non-governmental organizations or those that are interested in Indonesia.

Founded only two years ago, Indonesia House already has a central role as a European solidarity and information center with a well-known reputation to insiders. It succeeded in broadening the Indonesian network as well as intensifying contacts with international forums such as the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the Dutch and European parliaments.

At the beginning, Indonesia House was often just seen as a successor organization to the Indonesian committee, founded in the 70s by exiled Indonesians who advocated Soeharto's removal from power. The committee dissolved itself in 2000, because the target had been achieved.

The students and mothers, civil servants, doctors and journalists working as volunteers for Indonesia House, however, see themselves rather as a mixed solidarity group supporting Indonesian citizens during the long transition toward democratization through their international network and cooperation.

The core group of around five people aims to become an independent organization by next year, since it is still supported by three other NGOs: Humanitarian Action for Indonesia (AKUI), Indonesian Forum for Human Dignity (INFOHD) and Committee for a Democratic Indonesia (KODEMO).

"We now have partners, not only all over Indonesia, but have also broadened our international network," says coordinator of Indonesia House Reza Muharam, proudly. "For international advocacy and campaigns these Indonesian partners can rely on our contacts to international forums such as the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Dutch and European parliaments."

On that Sunday, the partners, coming not only from Indonesia, but also from the UK, France, Germany and the Netherlands, wanted to rely on them. Among them were members of Amnesty International, Komnas Perempuan, Kontras, Solidaritas Nusa Bangsa and Indonesia Watch.

It might have been the largest Indonesian network meeting in Europe since the foundation of Indonesia House. It was at least the final meeting after a whole series of public discussions, workshops, seminars and cultural events. Indonesian students talked in front of Dutch students, Indonesian activists met with European representatives. The main topics were the progress of democratization, human rights and justice five years after Soeharto's resignation -- of course, at that time, with a special focus on the possible war in Aceh.

"Our greatest problem is that we have too many issues on hand -- and all are important," Reza Muharam says. "To be effective, we need to focus on a few points. Impunity and opposition to all forms of violence and discrimination top the charts."

At the end of the meeting, the participants agreed to build a common platform and to organize more joint activities over the coming year. Besides, the current campaigns "Against Impunity", "No Violence Against Women" and "Against Discriminatory Laws" will be continued.

Besides all these issues, one problem became very crucial: Sometimes it is very difficult to discuss Indonesia's internal problems with Europeans who think all Asians look like Chinese and Bali is the largest country in Southeast Asia. Although hundreds of thousands of Indonesian people are living all over Europe, they hold very little interest for the European public. If they are covered in the media, it is mainly in the form of stereotypes.

"Sometimes I am so tired of explaining that our country not only consists of Islamic fundamentalism or international terrorism," Reza says. "We definitely need to be better integrated into Europe -- and to develop a mutual understanding by Dutch and other Europeans with the Indonesian people."

Consequently, one of the important tasks of Indonesia House is to provide the Dutch public with critical views on current developments in Indonesia. The media used so far -- Internet homepages, public meetings, seminars, workshops and small publications -- have not been sufficient yet.

"If we want to reach a broader public, we need to develop new media for campaigning -- maybe documentary films, photo exhibitions and even theater or other performances," Reza says.

"We would like to organize more cultural activities to present contemporary, progressive cultural initiatives to the Dutch public."

As of now, cultural programs remain an exception among the other activities of Indonesia House. But maybe the addition of dance performances might help to attract more people from outside to come and stay later on for more serious events.

Of course, this is also a question of money. However, the center already provides some cultural programs -- as far as possible, small exhibitions or concerts by Indonesian artists. They also participated in events like an Indonesia Media bazaar on that Sunday in May. A group from the Indonesia House meeting even sang spontaneously some folk songs in between a gamelan and dance performance. Despite the rather complex texts, some spectators clapped their hands for the first time that afternoon. At about the same time, the military operation in Aceh was just starting.

i-box:

Indonesia House: indonesia-house.org