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Refugees find modest and quiet life in Puncak area
Far from his war-torn home country, Afghanistan, far from his beloved family and friends and far from the hustle-bustle of Jakarta, 23-year-old Abdul (not his real name) lives a secluded life as a refugee in a village in Bogor regency
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ar from his war-torn home country, Afghanistan, far from his beloved family and friends and far from the hustle-bustle of Jakarta, 23-year-old Abdul (not his real name) lives a secluded life as a refugee in a village in Bogor regency.
Staying in Ciburial, around 33 kilometers from the center of Bogor, Abdul shares a small red house with another three Afghans — Rizal, Ali and Ahmad.
Abdul came to Indonesia by boat around one month ago and had planned to reach Australia — a country that grants asylum to refugees.
A representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Jakarta placed Abdul at a temporary shelter in the mountainous area of Puncak in Bogor, around 80 km from Jakarta.
After securing a UNHCR letter confirming his status as an asylum seeker, Abdul headed to Bogor with no knowledge of the city or its people.
“I don’t know many people in this neighborhood. Just the person who owns this place and some guys at the shop over there,” Abdul said during the interview with The Jakarta Post.
Based on observations, refugees mostly reside in rental houses belonging to locals. These houses are scattered in isolated areas in Puncak, far from the main streets.
It is not easy to locate them, as not many locals know their whereabouts.
Before finding Abdul, the Post found a group of Iranians living in another house not far from Abdul’s place. However, when asked, they declined an interview, claiming they were not refugees even though the owner of the house, Hendra, who was also the head of community unit, was sure they were.
“They have closed themselves from society and don’t talk much either,” Hendra said.
However, not all refugees live a secret life. Alif, 25, a resident who once rented his house to refugees, said his lodgers were quite friendly and mingled with the community.
“He helped and joined us when we built a mosque in this area,” he said.
The increasing number of refugees coming to the region has formed a quite large community, whose interaction with the surrounding community has been inevitable. In some cases locals have married these refugees and some can speak Indonesian, including Abdul who spoke fluently during the interview.
The latest data from UNHCR shows that as of January 2010, 798 refugees reside in Indonesia, with 1,769 people whose status is pending clarification.
Observing the trend, University of Indonesia sociologist Ganda Upaya is concerned at the possibility of these refugees forming a large enclave of a certain ethnicity in one area.
“The government should be strict in preventing this from happening,” he says.
