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Husin Abdullah: Aussie convert cleans Lombok
For more than two decades, a foreigner originally from Australia has been campaigning against trash in Lombok
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For more than two decades, a foreigner originally from Australia has been campaigning against trash in Lombok.
Although his struggle hasn't had an impact on everyone, he has remained consistent in his fight right into his later years.
In West Lombok, particular the Senggigi tourism area, almost everyone knows Husin Abdullah, 69. Not just because this Australian man, whose original name was Gavin Birch, has been living in Lombok for more than 20 years, but through his endless struggle against garbage and his campaign to promote cleanliness.
Husin hasn't just been mouthing slogans, but has backed his words by example. His actions have included personally picking up rubbish on the beaches, providing his own hand-made trash bins and initiating community self-help to clean up garbage in a number of kampungs in West Lombok.
"Many people have said I'm a crazy foreigner. It's not my job to manage rubbish. But people can say what they like; for me the problem of cleanliness is the problem of rubbish disposal, and this is a problem for us all. Everyone should be concerned," he told The Jakarta Post. For the past two decades since the 1980s, Husin has lived in Pondok Siti Hawa, Batulayar village, Batulayar district in West Lombok. This simple homestay, managed by Husin together with his wife, Siti Hawa, 40, an Indonesian citizen from Lombok, it is located just one kilometer from the center of the Senggigi tourist area.
When the Post visited their cottage on Thursday last week, Husin was busy tidying empty cement sacks at the back of his house, which borders the Batulayar beach.
The 50-kilogram cement sacks will later be distributed to a number of stalls and tents employed by roadside vendors who trade along the highway at Senggigi to be used as rubbish bins.
"Stall owners and street vendors can put their rubbish into these old cement sacks so the trash doesn't get scattered around. These sacks are good for collecting garbage, as they are not easily damaged and the odor from smelly rubbish can be contained," he said.
Assisted by two of his workers, Ling and Mahir, Husin goes to the street vendors' stalls. They collect sacks that are already full of rubbish and, every two days, replace them with empty sacks.
Ling and Mahir then transport the full sacks to a temporary garbage dump (tempat pembuangan sementara or TPS) of which there are dozens along the highway at Senggigi. These garbage dumps include iron containers, some made from building materials and others built out of bamboo and wood by Husin.
The job of distributing the rubbish bags, through carting the full sacks to the TPS, has been carried out by Husin for the past four years. Ling and Mahir have the responsibility of sweeping up the garbage scattered on the side of the road.
Their objective is to make it easier for the community to throw its rubbish in one place and not scatter it around on the sides of the roads.
"
Many people have said I'm a crazy foreigner. It's not my job to manage rubbish. But people can say what they
like.
"
Job finished? Not really. Handling these garbage and cleanliness problems isn't just a matter of convenience and availability of disposal facilities. People's behavior and public awareness of the problems are of concern.
According to Husin, even though people have been given a sack for their garbage many are too lazy to put their rubbish into the bag. Their trash is left scattered in the corners of their yard and then there's more mess when the feral dogs come and scatter the rubbish everywhere.
Husin's concern with rubbish and maintaining cleanliness in West Lombok started when he first came to live in Lombok in 1984.
His ideas came from the "Keep Australia Beautiful" program, which has been successfully run in Perth since 1968. His principle is that all parties should help the government manage the rubbish and keep the environment clean.
In Lombok, Husin called his program "Indonesia, Clean and Green".
The project began in 1985 in the district of Kediri, West Lombok, the hometown of his wife, Siti Hawa. When he married Siti Hawa, Husin converted to Islam and changed his name from Gavin Birch to Husin Abdullah.
At the time Husin was 45 years old and had worked for two years as a teacher at the Nurul Hakim Islamic Boarding School in the Kediri district. In addition to teaching English, Husin taught his students about the importance of cleanliness.
His approach was to invite people to work on community self-help projects, cleaning up the rubbish in the Kediri public market. He provided three rubbish carts for the market himself.
When he moved to Pondok Siti Hawa in Batulayar district around 1986, Husin continued with his efforts to maintain cleanliness.
"I was distressed when I saw that the beach here was very dirty. In 1986, it was very difficult to walk on the beach from Ampenan to Senggigi as there was a lot of rubbish and a lot of human waste," he said.
As well as on the beaches stretching from Ampenan to Senggigi, Husin started to push the issues of cleanliness in the center of Cakranegara mall and at the public market at Cakranegara in Mataram city.
"In 2000, the Mataram city administration started to support the project. They facilitated the garbage trucks and employed a number of workers. We cleaned the Cakranegara market and retail shops; at the time the drains were full of garbage too. The project ran for three years and, now, it's clean there," he said.
The problems were even felt in the Senggigi area, the famous center of Lombok tourism. For almost the past six years, Husin has been focusing his program on the Batulayar district, particularly Senggigi. But getting support and sponsorship has been difficult, especially from the management of hotels in the area.
"The hotels look clean and comfortable, but that's only around the hotel environment. Meanwhile, only a few meters behind the hotels the area is dirty and full of garbage. In fact, tourism can't live with such dirt," complained Husin.
Husin's idea was actually very simple. The community should clean up the surrounding area and the private business sector should help them.
After several years, Husin and his "crazy work" program around Senggigi have boosted community awareness and public participation. In Senggigi Art Market, for example, the people work together and clean up the garbage every six months.
Several parties have supported Husin and the "Indonesia, Clean and Green" program. These include the Arafura company, the Narmada Water Supply company, the Joy Shop, Mataram Mall, the Office restaurant, the Senggigi Art Market, Redline Fast Boats, and the Vlok Foundation from Holland.
It's no surprise that a number of parties have called Husin Abdullah the rubbish expert in Lombok. In addition to providing examples to highlight the importance of cleanliness, at the moment Husin is developing a community education program to encourage the separation of organic and non-organic household rubbish.
According to Husin, this has apparently been quite difficult. Most communities choose the easy way, putting all the garbage together. Yet non-organic waste is very harmful to the environment if not managed well.
At Pondok Siti Hawa, which covers 3,600 square meters, Husin continues to work to manage waste. There are piles of non-organic garbage that he's been sorting and drums of organic waste that he is using to make compost.
In the front yard were several rubbish bins that had been made from drums, and others made from used car tires. These were the results of Husin's research. A rubbish bin made by the West Lombok local government was installed at Senggigi, but it was damaged after only two years. However, those made by Husin using used car tires and installed at Senggigi have lasted for 18 years before deteriorating.
"Bins made from drums get broken after two years, while those using tires have lasted for 18 year before becoming useless. In fact, bins made from used tires are cheaper; they cost only Rp 100,000 *US$11* per unit," he said.
When he was young, Husin was a businessman in Australia and owned three restaurants, including in Perth and Broome.
In the 1980s, he opened a restaurant business in Bali and often visited Lombok and 1986 saw him settled in Lombok and campaigning against rubbish.
"I have travelled a lot around cities in Java and Bali, but the problem of garbage and dirtiness at the time in Lombok was critical. I felt concerned because the majority of people here are Muslims and, although it's a tourist area, it's dirty. In fact, Islam teaches cleanliness; cleanliness is part of the faith," he said.
