NU ready to provide shelter to 20,000 Acehnese orphans
NU ready to provide shelter to 20,000 Acehnese orphans
Tiarma Siboro and Nana Rukmana, Jakarta/Cirebon
Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the country's largest Muslim organization,
urged the government on Tuesday to revoke its ban on Acehnese
children affected by the recent tsunami leaving the province.
NU Chairman Hasyim Muzadi said NU's pesantren (Islamic
boarding schools) in West and North Sumatra, as well as Java,
were ready to accommodate up to 20,000 children left orphaned or
separated from their parents by the Dec. 26 tsunami
"If the government reconsiders its policy and allows the
children to leave Aceh, thousands more of them will be able to
live in safer and healthier circumstances.
"The NU has prepared places across West Sumatra, North Sumatra
and Java provinces to shelter them," Hasyim told a press
conference in Central Jakarta.
He said a number of NU pesantren in Aceh had been damaged or
destroyed by the earthquake and tidal wave that shattered the
province.
"However, we still have about 15 pesantren there that can
accommodate 4,350 Acehnese orphans, with 350 of them already
having been sent to our pesantren in Banda Aceh, Pidie, Aceh
Besar and Bireuen," he said.
In a bid to protect Acehnese children, the government has
issued a regulation banning any movement of Acehnese infants and
children out of the province.
NU cleric Adib Rofi'uddin Izza from West Java said he was
willing to provide shelter to 15,000 Acehnese children in 36
pesantren in West, Central and East Java, and Yogyakarta, which
have also been designated as therapy centers to heal the
children's post-tsunami trauma.
Government figures show that more than 35,000 children have
been left orphaned or separated from their families by the
disaster that killed nearly 115,000 people in Aceh and North
Sumatra, and forced more than 300,000 survivors into refugee
camps.
Hasyim's remarks came amid widespread rumors that United
States-based World Health orphanages planned to provide shelter
to about 300 Acehnese orphans, spreading fears that the move
could cause religious tension in the predominantly Muslim
province.
The organizations representing Indonesia's Catholic and
Protestant communities, the Indonesian Council of Bishops (KWI)
and the Indonesian Communion of Churches (PGI) respectively,
have, however, denied that they had any proselytizing mission in
Aceh.
"The Acehnese people have suffered greatly due to the
calamity. So, let us support the survivors by refraining from
causing any religious tension there," Hasyim said.