Indonesia House is more than just Bali

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