Some Iraqi migrants in in Indonesia want to go home, others don't

Sari P. Setiogi and Abdul Latif Apriaman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Mataram

"No, I do not want to go back to Iraq, no matter what happens; even if Saddam Hussein loses the war," Nada Muhammad, a former psychology teacher in Baghdad, told The Jakarta Post at a hostel in Central Jakarta.

"Whoever replaces Saddam will be just the same," she said bitterly. "My husband was killed in military service under Saddam Hussein's presidency."

It has been a year and half since the 44-year-old Iraqi woman found themselves stranded in Indonesia.

She and her son left Iraq in 2001 with no travel documents, leaving behind "the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein and the uncertainties in the country".

Nada said that she was worried that she would lose Mohammad Ali, her only son, now 16, the same way if they stayed in Iraq. "My son should have a safe and better life, where he has the opportunity to receive a good education," said Nada, "and Iraq could not ensure that."

She refused to ponder further about her country of origin. "There's nothing more there for me. I have lost everything. I have no brother, no sister. My husband was killed, I have nothing there to go back to," she said.

Nada is now living in the hostel, on Jl. Kebon Sirih Dalam, with the assistance of the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

Nada and her son are hoping to receive their refugee status from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), but for the time being, are still "undocumented migrants". Once they have received refugee status, they would be transferred to a third country where they could create a new life for themselves.

The latest IOM data shows that there are about 190 Iraqi migrants in Indonesia.

They are located in Mataram in West Nusa Tenggara, Situbondo in East Java, and Cisarua in West Java and Jakarta; most are in Cisarua, according to Arista Idris, a Public Information Assistance officer for IOM in Jakarta.

"IOM assists them by providing accommodation, food and medical services, but we do not give them money," Arista said on Friday.

She said that if some migrants wanted to go home, it would not be easy to do so now, because IOM had to consider the current situation in Iraq in addition to conducting background checks to verify their Iraqi citizenship.

Several migrants in Mataram, who still have family members in Iraq, earlier said that they would go home if Iraq was headed by a better government. There is a total of 30 Iraqi migrants in Mataram.

Haji Bakar, who speaks Indonesian fluently, was pessimistic that Saddam Hussein would leave Iraq, somehow still expects that Iraq would soon be reborn in the Middle East.

For Bakar, the new Iraq would be a country which would allow its citizens to live and prosper, free of the pressures and fears of war.

Desco Hamad, 30, another migrant living in Mataram, worried about his family in Baghdad.

"I hope the war will end soon. No more bombs should be dropped on Iraqi citizens. Many of our families, relatives and friends are still there," said Hamad, whose wife, four children and parents are still in Baghdad. He last heard from his wife in Baghdad a week before the war.

Muhammad Razed, who married an Indonesian woman last year, also hoped that the war would be over soon.

Razed, who left his parents and siblings in Karbala, hoped his country would recover quickly, so he could return home with his new wife.

Besides Razed, two other Iraqi migrants have married Indonesians, but their futures, along with that of all migrants here, remain unknown.