Senior citizens

Senior citizens

From Merdeka

Though late, it is not wrong, I presume, for me to support the statement made by the Jakarta governor regarding senior citizens as published in Kompas daily (July 5) under the title of I appreciate and respect senior citizens.

The governor must have had a strong reason and a fitting background when making the statement. Many government officials, including President Soeharto who often reminds the young never to forget senior citizens of the 1945 generation, have recently been commenting on senior citizens because senior citizens established a most impressive milestone in Indonesia's struggle for independence against the Dutch colonial rulers and the Japanese occupational forces.

When they were young, these senior citizens consistently gave up their all for the struggle for independence. It stands to reason that independence fighters still alive now always remind the young, their heirs in the life of the state and the nation, never to forget the pioneers of the country's independence struggle. A long time before Indonesia's independence was proclaimed on Aug. 17, 1945, freedom fighters blazed the trail for independent Indonesia. They sustained hardship brought about by the Dutch colonial rulers and the Japanese occupational administration, who treated Indonesians as slaves. Indonesians were then assumed to be able to live on 2.5 cents a day while a member of the colonial rulers spent 250 cents a day, a heaven-and-earth difference.

Being put in jail was also a common thing for our freedom fighters then. In an extreme case, the colonial rulers would not hesitate to kill these freedom fighters.

That was how Indonesians lived under the Dutch colonial rulers.

Right after the independence of Indonesia was proclaimed on Aug. 17, 1945, all adult Indonesians shouldered the task of expelling the Dutch colonial rulers and Japanese occupational administration from their mother land and joined the struggle to defend Indonesia's independence, directly or otherwise.

On senior citizens in general, it is appropriate to say that they receive enough attention from the government and that the government does not practice favoritism in this respect.

However, we wish to draw the government's attention to senior citizens who were previously recruited by the Japanese military administration, which occupied Indonesia in World War II. For five years now these former recruits have been demanding compensation and three quarters of their salaries from when they were assigned as Heihos. Until now the Japanese government does not seem to be in a position to settle this matter. One may suspect that the Japanese side is finding reasons to stall for time and that they may not be willing to settle the matter, let alone make the payment, as demanded, to the people concerned.

We, senior citizens who are former Japanese Heihos and freedom fighters of 1945, earnestly hope that the government will give its assistance by urging the Japanese government to find a satisfactory settlement to our demand.

AR DAENG KULLE

Former Heiho

Jakarta