Orphaned Sarah and Haries: A tale of Bali

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."