Indonesia will honor its almost forgotten hero

Indonesia will honor its almost forgotten hero

JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto has agreed to look into a
proposal to confer an almost forgotten, fierce anti-colonial
fighter the title of national hero.

The man is Syekh Yusuf, originally from Goa in South Sulawesi.
He fought against Dutch colonialism in West Java in the 17th
century before he was sent to exile to Cape Town, South Africa.
He died there in 1699.

His existence and his precise contribution, both to Indonesia
and to the development of Islam in South Africa, was discovered
by Dr. Sulaiman Dangor, a professor at Durban University.

Dangor's research traced the history of the Indonesian
community in South Africa back to the days when hundreds of
Indonesian people were sent there by the Dutch as forced
laborers.

Dangor was in Jakarta this past week along with Achmad David,
head of the committee commemorating the recent 300th anniversary
of the landing of the European settlers in South Africa.

Both men met with President Soeharto on Thursday, accompanied
by Achmad Nurhani, who represented Indonesia at the commemoration
last month.

"President Soeharto said that, God willing, we will also
confer the title of national hero to Syekh Yusuf along with the
heroes of his time such as Sultan Iskandar Muda, Sultan Agung,
Sultan Ageng Tirtayasa and others," Achmad said after the
meeting.

These heroes have already been immortalized by having streets
named after them in Jakarta.

The Dutch put Syekh into Robben prison island where South
African president elect Nelson Mandela also served time for 20
years.

Achmad said that Mandela acknowledged that Syekh was not only
a hero for Indonesians, but he also set example for the African
people in their own fight against colonialism. He made these
comments during the commemoration last month.

Soeharto agreed the need to reestablish contacts with the
descendants of the Indonesian community in Cape Town, Achmad
said. "We could say that for 300 years there have been no
contacts at all."

There are now an estimated 700,000 people of Indonesian origin
in South Africa, making up a significant part of the 2.5 million
Moslems in the country.

Reopening contacts with Indonesian South Africans is easier
now, since Indonesia is planning to open diplomatic ties with
South Africa following the recent first non-racial general
election.

Achmad said Dangor's research also uncovered a host of other
anti-colonial fighters from various parts of Indonesia who were
sent into exile to South Africa. (02)