Yuliawati, Jakarta – The People’s Representative Assembly’s Natural Disaster Relief Monitoring Team in Aceh and North Sumatra is asking the government to reconsider the presence of foreign volunteers so that they can remain in Indonesia longer. This is because there is still a great need for foreign volunteers  to assist in efforts to rehabilitate and reconstruct Aceh and North Sumatra following the tsunami disaster.

“We are asking the government not to be too strict in repatriating foreign volunteers. Particularly volunteers who are interested in remaining for the long- and medium-term. Particularly [volunteers] providing medial services, [building] infrastructure, and who have special skills”, said team chairperson Muhaimin Iskandar at the national parliament in Jakarta on March 10.

According to Iskandar, if necessary the government should persuade foreign volunteers to remain in Indonesia. “However they need to be registered, especially volunteers who have actually agreed to provide services in the long- and medium-term”, he said.

In order to register volunteers, the government can request assistance from the Indonesian Red Cross or from social organisations with good information. According to team member Ahmad Farhan, there have been report from the public saying that that by repatriating foreign volunteers, services will decline drastically. With the repatriation of foreign volunteers, assistance efforts will suffer a reeducation in terms of staff and skills.

The Red Cross, which was present at the meeting with the team, also said that the government must be realistic in viewing its capability to overcome inadequacies in post-disaster public services. According to Marie Muhammad, the chairperson of the Indonesian Red Cross, without the presence of foreign volunteers assistance for social services will be severely limited. “The policy [decision] remains with the government, but the capability that it has is severely limited, we are just being realistic”, said Muhammad.

According to Muhammad, there needs to be a selection process for foreign non-government organisations present in Aceh. “They must be chosen [carefully], which ones have a good track record and have a long-term commitment”, he said.

Muhammad said that at present there are still 557 Indonesian Red Cross volunteers working in Aceh. Previously, during the humanitarian operation, the Red Cross was able to mobilise 1,763 volunteers from provinces throughout Indonesia. [This included] 88 volunteers from private agencies and 200 foreign volunteers from the Red Cross Associations of neighboring countries.

[Translated by James Balowski.]