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Three-day reeducation program prepared for Gafatar members

Sad homecoming: Followers of the Fajar Nusantara Movement (Gafatar) who were evicted from West Kalimantan disembark from a Navy ship at Tanjung Emas Port, Semarang, Central Java, on Monday

Slamet Susanto, Suherdjoko and Severianus Endi (The Jakarta Post)
Yogyakarta/Semarang/Pontianak
Tue, January 26, 2016

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Three-day reeducation program prepared for Gafatar members Sad homecoming: Followers of the Fajar Nusantara Movement (Gafatar) who were evicted from West Kalimantan disembark from a Navy ship at Tanjung Emas Port, Semarang, Central Java, on Monday. The 350 returnees, half of them women and children, will be accommodated at a haj dormitory before being sent back to their villages of origin.(JP/Suherdjoko) (Gafatar) who were evicted from West Kalimantan disembark from a Navy ship at Tanjung Emas Port, Semarang, Central Java, on Monday. The 350 returnees, half of them women and children, will be accommodated at a haj dormitory before being sent back to their villages of origin.(JP/Suherdjoko)

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span class="inline inline-center">Sad homecoming: Followers of the Fajar Nusantara Movement (Gafatar) who were evicted from West Kalimantan disembark from a Navy ship at Tanjung Emas Port, Semarang, Central Java, on Monday. The 350 returnees, half of them women and children, will be accommodated at a haj dormitory before being sent back to their villages of origin.(JP/Suherdjoko)

The Yogyakarta provincial administration has planned a program to assist disillusioned members of the Fajar Nusantara Movement (Gafatar) who are beginning to return to the province after having been forcibly evicted by a mob from their farm complex in Mempawah, West Kalimantan, earlier this month.

The administration'€™s assistant secretary overseeing governance, Sulistyo, said that a three-day program had been prepared for Gafatar members to be held at the Youth Center in Tlogoadi, Mlati, Sleman regency.

'€œAfter taking part in the three-day program they will be sent back to their homes by their respective regency/city administrations,'€ Sulistyo said on Monday.

He said that prior to the Gafatar members returning home, the provincial administration would also conduct socialization programs in their respective neighborhoods so that former Gafatar members would not be intimidated following their return.

'€œThis is important to prevent locals from rejecting them,'€ Sulistyo said, adding that those refusing to return to their hometowns would be handed over to their respective regency/city administrations.

Sulistyo said that, of the 351 Gafatar members who had returned through Tanjung Emas Port in Semarang, Central Java, on Monday on board the KRI Teluk Gilimanuk naval vessel, all except one were from Yogyakarta and Central Java.

Yogyakarta Police chief Brig. Gen. Erwin Triwanto said some Gafatar members who were originally from Yogyakarta were still in the evacuation center in West Kalimantan because they refused to go home. Some others had returned home by their own means.

'€œWe are currently collecting data on those who returned home on their own. They refused to stay with the group, they feared being seen by the public and receiving abuse,'€ Erwin said, Monday.

He said the police would also question Gafatar members to learn more about the organization. The police are currently investigating two suspects, married couple Eko and Veni, suspected of having abducted a Lampung physician, Rica Tri Handayani to get her to join Gafatar.

The ship carrying the evacuees arrived at Semarang at 8 p.m. on Sunday evening, but was only permitted to dock at about 7 a.m. the following morning.

After undergoing a series of activities including breakfast provided by the Central Java administration, health check-ups and identification, they were sent to the Donohudan haj dormitory in Boyolali, Central Java, at 1 p.m. on 10 buses.

Commander of the Semarang Navy Base, Col. Eka Setyawan, said the KRI Teluk Gilimanuk was the first ship to transport former Gafatar members from Pontianak, West Kalimantan.

'€œFour ships have been deployed to transport them,'€ said Eka, adding that the other three ships were the KRI Teluk Banten, KRI Teluk Banda and KRI Teluk Bone.

Eka said aircraft had also been prepared for the evacuation but the exact number of Gafatar members to be transported by air would be determined by developments in West Kalimantan.

In Pontianak, Nurul Haji, 34, one of the former Gafatar members who took his wife and two children with him to join Gafatar, said they had arrived in Mempawah on Nov. 7, 2015, after spending two months in Bantul, Yogyakarta, learning how to farm with other members of the organization.

After Gafatar disbanded itself on Aug. 13, 2015, Nurul considered Gafatar as a thing of the past and saw himself as an independent migrant.

'€œI did not want to be an employee of a company, who was restricted by targets and deadlines. So, with Rp 15 million [US$1,088] in hand, I departed for Kalimantan. I lived in Pasir subdistrict, Mempawah Hilir district,'€ said Nurul who hails from Tegal, Central Java.

He said together with some 300 other Gafatar members they jointly bought 13.5 hectares of forest that they later turned into fields for cultivation and a residential compound. They expected to have their first harvest in February this year.

'€œNow I don'€™t know what to do. We will follow the government'€™s policy,'€ said Decky Kurniawan, 29, another former Gafatar member who went with his wife, child and mother to join Gafatar.
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