We see numerous people are raising funds, gathering donations to help Palestinians in Palestine, but not many do fundraising for Palestinian who seeks asylum in Jakarta. A lot of people are not even aware that there are refugees around us, they are invisible to us. As a matter of fact, there are more than 10,000 refugees seeking asylum in the busiest city in Indonesia. Trying to survive and fit in. We all are more familiar with seeing refugees seeking shelter in a refugee camp, like the one in Cox’s Bazaar. But then again, urban refugee does exist, and being a refugee in an urban setting comes with different challenges, starting from rejection from the local community to exploitation.
Having had first-hand experience in handling refugees in an urban setting, I had my humanity turned upside down so many times. Back in 2019, a group of Indonesian held a protest against refugees who are staying in a government-owned building in their housing area in West Jakarta. Quoting one of the posters they put around the building, “refugees are not welcomed here, they are not our responsibility”.
Indonesia is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention, thus Indonesia has no obligations to locally integrate refugees who are seeking asylum in Indonesia. However, Indonesia respects the non-refoulment principle, hence refugees and asylum seekers are allowed to stay here. Even so, refugees are not allowed to work, attend formal education, and have difficulties to access health care. This condition makes “self-reliance” an impossible option for them, as they are relying on donations to survive. Even worse, it is not the only challenge they are facing. As they set foot in the city, they not only need to survive but also need to adapt. It’s easier said than done as in most cases they are being rejected by the local community. The story back in 2019 I told above is one of the many examples. Other than that, being an urban refugee increase their vulnerability to detention, exploitation, and abuse.
Refugee issues go a long way back to the war and conflict that caused it, hence the refugee crisis can only stop when the war ends. Unfortunately, until this day the conflict around the world is far from the end. But again, the million-dollar question is always “who should help them? Whose responsibility are they?” I believe its only fair to say that we all have our roles in helping them. It’s not only the state or UNHCR job to help them, as the refugee crisis is a global issue and it requires cooperation and collaboration from many levels to solve it.
The simplest form of help that we can do is welcome them. There is a one time, a refugee told me “why would I leave my home Ma’am? I don’t want to flee my country if its not because of the war. I am here because I am not safe in my country, not because I want to steal something from people’s life or home”.
There is Indonesian saying “tak kenal maka tak sayang”, maybe we reject them as we don’t know them yet. Maybe our reaction when we met a refugee walking down the neighborhood influenced by fear and anxiety as they are rather a stranger that we don’t know. Maybe simply because they are not our kin. But the truth is they are human just like us. A daughter, a son, a father, a mother, who lost their home due to war. And in this time of uncertainty, they need our help more than before. Hence, the least we can do is to be kind to them and to welcome them, despite their religion, nationality, ethnicity, or gender, as we are lucky enough to still have a place to call home.
ABOUT THE WRITER
Salsa is a former Protection Assistant at UNHCR Indonesia. The opinion above is the writer’s personal view and not representing UNHCR’s opinion or other parties.
