Monday, October 05, 2009

Discrimination amongs earthquake victims.. bleh..

-Updated on October 6th, 2009-
The SMS turned out to be a hoax..
I don't understand why some people love to use this kind of condition for their benefit, what do they get from it anyway?
I hope that this kind of thing, the disaster that happened recently.. will bring us closer to God and as a country, we can build a stronger bond, a great unity.(^^,)*
Did you get any SMS regarding the donation to Sumatera?
It is said that there's a discrimination on the food aid distribution. The Chinese and minority aren't allowed to get food and were forced to buy them. And their store were also robbed, gasoline were also sold for 30 thousand rupiahs per liter, only for Chinese.
It is said that the SMS was sent by someone whose family also a victim of the disaster that happened in Sumatera.

I don't know whether the message is true or not. It is always a sensitive issue when it comes to race, religions & things like that. I hope we all won't get provoked because we still don't know what really happen there.

Today's Jawa Pos also have an article regarding this SMS. Director of Padang Express, Sutan Zaili Asril, said, on his 4 days observation, the evacuation for the victim in Pondok China is a bit slow. This probably what has cause the issue on the discrimination, about unfair help distribution in some places, including the China Town (Pecinan).
He said that this is because of bad management and incompetent staff on the field.
And again, we don't know which one that is true.

And of course, people (the local government maybe) are really concerned about this.. they're also afraid if the foreign volunteers will stop whatever help they're giving (fund, food, aid or people) and went away because of this issue.
Well, we are all victims, no matter what color our skin are, what we believe, etc.. we all are suffering. Help should be given fairly. You are afraid if the foreigners might stop their donation, it can be said that you're afraid other countries will stop caring and help you.. but if this SMS is really true, how could you expect other people be nice to you while you're not nice too?
Oh well..

By the way, in response on this issue, according to the SMS I just received from friends, you can see the Breaking News on Metro TV this afternoon (October 5th, 2009) WIB 3 PM.
It is said that the AGP team together with the local government and the earthquake's victim who are Chinese will be on the news.. to talk and counter this issue (about the help and robbery on Chinese & minority ethnic in Padang).

For those who are at home or having TV at your office (lucky you!).. please watch and tell me about it..
I'm at the office right now, and yea.. no TV.. haha..

GBU..

This is the Jawa Pos article by the way..
[ Senin, 5 Oktober 2009]
SMS Berisi Isu Diskriminasi dari Kampung Pecinan
HARI keempat pascagempa di Pa­dang mulai diwarnai munculnya isu-isu sensitif dan kabar pen­jarahan yang potensial memper­getir nasib para korban.

Warga Tionghoa yang bermukim di sebuah kampung pecinan di pu­­sat Kota Padang, misalnya, di­ka­­barkan telah menjadi korban dis­­kriminasi dalam hal penangan­an evakuasi dan pembagian bantu­an. Sebuah pesan singkat yang ber­edar dari HP ke HP kemarin, mi­salnya, berbunyi: Tell the world, Stop the donation to West Sumatra!!! Primordialism and racism is happening in there, Chinese people didn't allowed to have food and was forced to buy the food aid. Family of mine was at there!!! Please sent out this massage to the world so they know the true!!! (kata­kan pada dunia, stop bantuan ke Sumatra Barat!!! Primordialis­me dan rasisme terjadi di sana, war­ga Tionghoa tak diperbolehkan mendapatkan makanan dan dipaksa membeli bantuan makanan. Keluargaku di sana!!! Tolong sebarkan pesan ini ke seluruh dunia biar mereka tahu kenyataan ini!!!)

Benar tidaknya kenyataan yang terjadi di kampung Tionghoa dengan isi SMS itu, Sutan Zaili Asril, direktur Padang Ekspres, anak per­usahaan Jawa Pos di Padang semalam memberi penuturan. Dari penga­matannya selama empat hari setelah terjadi gempa, proses evakuasi terhadap korban bencana di Pondok China memang dinilai lambat. Hal itulah yang memicu merebaknya isu pendistribusian bantuan yang tak adil di beberapa tempat, termasuk di kawasan Pecinan.

Padahal, buruknya manajemen dan ketidakberdayaan petugaslah yang sebenarnya terjadi. Di sisi lain, para korban sangat membutuhkan bantuan. Zaili menilai, distribusi bantuan yang diberikan pemkot juga tidak mengarah. "Entah kenapa, kesannya pemerintah cenderung memprioritaskan evakuasi di Hotel Ambacang, LBB Gama, Prayoga, Sigma, maupun LBB Lia. Padahal, evakuasi di Pondok China maupun Pasaraya seharusnya juga menjadi prioritas karena jumlah korbannya sangat banyak," terang Zaili lebih lanjut.

Perlu juga diketahui, situasi lebih memiriskan dulu juga terjadi beberapa hari pascagempa tsunami Aceh pada 2004. Buruknya manajemen penyaluran bantuan dan minimnya pengawasan membuat situasi menjadi bar-bar dan tak terkontrol. Di berbagai tempat di Aceh, waktu itu, para penjarah bahkan sampai tega memotong jari mayat korban tsunami untuk mengambil cincin, anting di ku­ping, dan perhiasan lain.

"Sejak hari pertama gempa, kami belum mendapat bantuan sama sekali," kata Ny Esther, salah seorang warga yang bermukim di Jalan Klenteng. Padahal, lokasi kampung tempat tinggal Esther berada di pusat Kota Padang. Apalagi, rumah wanita 43 tahun itu luluh lantak. Bangunannya tinggal separo, seperti dibelah menjadi dua.

Menanggapi isu sensitif itu, Pe­ng­urus Wilayah Muhammadiyah Jatim Sulton Amin benar-benar sangat prihatin. Menurut dia, hal itu sangat memalukan. Terlebih, per­hatian dunia saat ini juga me­ngarah pada kondisi para korban gempa. ''Jangan sampai relawan asing yang membantu di Padang hengkang sebelum waktunya gara-gara masalah ini,'' ujarnya.

Dia menambahkan, sudah waktunya membuang ego pribadi yang muncul akibat perbedaan suku, agama, ras ,dan warna kulit. Perasaan senasib sebagai warga Indonesia dan sesama korban gempa yang membutuhkan bantuan seharusnya mampu melebur perbedaan itu.

Selain itu, dia mengharapkan seluruh masyarakat tetap tenang dan tidak terprovokasi. Bahkan, dia siap membantu kalau langkah prosedural seperti melaporkan kepada pihak terkait tetap tidak membawa perubahan. ''Langkah terkahir adalah menyerahkan bantuan langsung ke etnis Tionghoa maupun kelompok lain yang didiskriminasikan,'' tegasnya. (kit/dim/lea)

6 comments:

Anung said...

Hi jeanne, it's just a hoax. People tend to blow the race issue again here.

Jeanne M. Wigoena said...

Yep.. that's why I also said that we shouldn't easily be provoked. It's a sensitive thing and people just love to make things worse sometime.. Wonder what advantage they got from it? bleh..

Rashai said...

I's a relief to find out that's a hoax after all :)Let's pray for our Indonesia!

Jeanne M. Wigoena said...

@ Rashai: yep. I hope the disaster wont continuous too..

Angels said...

aku jga dapet dari bbm. awalnya terpancing2. soalnya didukung oleh berita di salah satu koran online.bahkan ada yg sampe nulis di forum.

untung cuma hoax.

Jeanne M. Wigoena said...

@ Angel: hehe.. iya..
d media online2 itu ternyata input an org jg Ngel, bukan asli dari media nya. Kalo g salah sih..

Baru2 ini masuk d koran lg kan, ada penjarahan, bus yg bawa bantuan jg d stop dah diambilin barang nya..
Duh, kok g mau sabar ya.. padahal sama2 lagi kena susah, mestinya saling berbagi.. sigh..