Tulip Foundation, a Dutch treat for Surabaya

Duncan Graham, Surabaya

Hundreds of children in East Java can now face the world with confidence through the goodwill and determination of the Dutch- speaking community of Surabaya.

Though consisting of only around 20 families, the generous Hollanders and their friends have been running a program to give Indonesian babies born with cleft lips and palates the chance for surgery to correct the deformation.

"This has nothing to do with the Dutch feeling they owe a debt to Indonesia because of past actions by the colonialists," said Lizzy Pelssers, chair of the Tulip Foundation.

"That time has passed. We do this because we have the knowledge and contacts and because we are able to help."

The Indonesian government doesn't allow expat wives who follow their husbands to Indonesia to work in this country. In Europe most of these women were employed, and not just because they wanted the extra money. Many are professionals in their own right and have had to sacrifice their careers. The only outlet for their creative energy in Indonesia is volunteer work.

"But only temporarily," said Pelssers who used to be a nurse in her native Belgium and whose Dutch husband works in the East Java tobacco industry. "I've retained my medical registration and will go back to nursing.

"I've done a deal with my husband: After six years abroad he has to stay at home with the kids and let me follow my calling. But somehow that period gets extended!"

As a health professional who has lived in Indonesia for four years and speaks Bahasa Indonesia, Pelssers knows the importance of total care for child and parents, and the need for preventative medicine. Which is why the Tulip Foundation (which is embedded in the Expat Women's Association of Surabaya, a registered charity) is now planning an information drive through East Java villages starting next year.

Distributing brochures and running discussion groups with local health careers, Tulip members will alert parents to the need for good nutrition during pregnancy, and the opportunities for plastic surgery should their children be born with cleft palates. (See sidebar)

Helping handicapped kids isn't the only task the Tulips have set themselves. Members are also involved in funding schooling for poor children, repairing classrooms and helping orphanages.

Apart from understanding health issues through her background, the cheerfully efficient Pelssers has another essential skill: The ability to front senior executives of multinationals and convince them that the Tulips will make every donated dollar work till it sweats. Through a newspaper story in Belgium she raised more than 5,000 euros (about Rp 60 million) for welfare work in East Java.

If all this gives the impression that the Dutch in Indonesia's second biggest city are stoic and serious with no sense of fun, then that's an incorrect view, according to Jan Sturm who has been in Indonesia for 11 years.

After working for a foreign firm he decided to set up his own company in Surabaya supplying complex computer software systems to major businesses. He has married an Indonesian and now employs 15 local staff.

He is also president of the Netherlands Club of Surabaya, a position he's held since 1998 -- the year the club set up the Tulip Foundation.

"We use the term "Dutch speakers" because some of our members have come from Belgium and South Africa," he said. "Most are here on business or work as technical advisors to some of the bigger companies. There are also one or two retirees.

"The Dutch tend to be joiners and we seek to welcome every new family which comes to Surabaya. We meet formally every month but informally more frequently to enjoy bowling or sharing meals."

Since Indonesia achieved Independence the number of Indonesian people who speak Dutch fluently has declined dramatically. Sturm said that talking to this small and aging group was a stimulating experience because their language quality was high and many used an old fashioned vocabulary.

Members of the Netherlands Club came from a wide variety of backgrounds and spoke a number of dialects, so discussions were always interesting. Being Dutch was not a relevant issue.

"We try to maintain some traditions like the Carnival which is celebrated in the southern part of the Netherlands," he said. "It has its origins in the old European spring festivals and Shrove Tuesday.

"In the Carnival people reverse their social roles, ridicule the authorities and parade with decorated floats.

"This time the theme is Surabaya Rio, which consists of 11 letters which in Dutch lore if the fool's number."

So if you're in East Java next February and see a group of Westerners in jesters' hats and weird costumes doing bizarre things for a day, don't be alarmed. It's just the local Dutch (and their friends) letting off a bit of steam before they get back to the serious business of doing good works.