Orphaned Sarah and Haries: A tale of Bali

Marian Carroll, Contributor, Denpasar, Bali

Haries was five when his father hopped on a boat to Australia in a bid to start a new life for his family, only to end up in a detention center. Two years on, Haries is now having to come to terms with the death of his mother, who was among those killed in last October's bombings in Bali.

Effectively orphaned, Haries and his four-year-old sister Sarah face an uncertain future. They do not know when or even if they will see their father again, and the carefree life that should be the basic right of every child has been denied them.

"They are older than other kids their age and are streetwise," said Asriana Kebon, the Balinese representative for the Zero-to- One foundation which has taken custody of the children at the request of their father.

"Haries in particular has developed survival tactics. They have had to, because they have spent their lives in poverty," Asriana said.

When Zero-to-One took over custody of the children in March, Asriana went out to Sanur in southern Bali to pick them up. They had been living with friends of their mother's in what Asriana said could only be politely described as Sanur's red-light district, in a house frequently disrupted by strange people coming and going.

"They were in a horrible situation and Zero-to-One helped them get out of that, but there's not much else we can do until a decision is made on their father," said Asriana.

Haries and Sarah's father, Mohamad Ebrahim Samaki, 36, fled his home country of Iran 11 years ago fearing persecution and found his way to Indonesia, where he met his wife Endang.

However, his attempt to enter Australia from Indonesia was not so successful and he was found stranded on Ashmore Reef in April 2001 with 119 other asylum seekers.

He is currently being held in the Baxter detention center in South Australia and has applied for residency status on humanitarian grounds, but is still awaiting a decision.

With the Indonesian government refusing to allow him back into the country due to his lack of status, he now faces the prospect of being sent back to Iran where he fears he will be jailed.

While his attempted entry into Australia was illegal and therefore risky, nobody could have foreseen the tragedy that threw his children's lives into even further turmoil.

Their mother Endang was from Banyuwangi village in East Java. A few months after her husband's failed attempt to enter Australia, she left Haries and Sarah in Banyuwangi and traveled to Bali to seek legal advice about getting her husband released, and to find work to help support her children.

She was in Paddy's Bar when the bombs went off and died from her injuries. The children, who had been dividing their time between Banyuwangi and Bali, were in Banyuwangi at the time.

Amid all of this moving around, Haries managed to obtain some schooling, but an absence of proper documentation made it very difficult for Zero-to-One to place him in a school in Bali.

Finally, after rejections from 15 schools, Zero-to-One found one prepared to take into account Haries' history and relax the admission rules.

Through the foundation's efforts, some stability is beginning to return to the children's lives, but they still face the prospect of never seeing their father again.

Their plight has sparked a political debate in Australia, with human rights activists and a prominent newspaper group calling on the government to grant Samaki residency status.

They argue this would allow him the chance to start changing the course of his children's lives, to provide Haries and Sarah with opportunities they would not dream of having in Indonesia, even if their mother were still alive.

At the very least, human rights activists argue the government should issue temporary visas to Haries and Sarah so they can visit their father.

So far these calls have fallen on deaf ears. Australia is offering Samaki and 84 other Iranian nationals A$2,000 to voluntarily return to their home country or face forced expulsion, and has rejected an application for tourist visas for Haries and Sarah.

"The whole thing is a national disgrace," said Brian Deegan, a magistrate from Adelaide, South Australia, who lost his 22-year- old son Josh in the bombing.

"The inhumanity that's been exhibited. I hope these people in high places never fall short of the law or their children never fall short of the law and be subjected to this sort of uncompassionate attitude, because they won't like it."

Deegan has taken a personal interest in Haries and Sarah's case, visiting them during a recent visit to Bali to attend the trials of the bombing suspects and providing written support for Samaki's residency application.

However, he maintains his interest in the case does not mean he agrees with Samaki's actions.

"I am not doing this for Mr. Samaki, I am doing this because I would like to help these kids who should not be punished for the crimes of their parents," Deegan said.

The worst case scenario would be for Samaki to be forced to return to Iran, said Zero-to-One's Asriana.

That would prompt Indonesian social welfare services to take over custody of Haries and Sarah until they could be placed with adoptive parents.

"The best possible outcome for Haries and Sarah would be if they can avoid being adopted out, if they can be reunited with their father," said Asriana.

"But it's hard to see that happening at this stage."