T

he Batam Tourism and Cultural Office acknowledged that former Vietnamese refugees and their offspring have been exploiting the presence of the Vietnamese refugee camp on Galang Island in Riau Islands to arouse sentiment against the current Vietnamese government.

This is has been disturbing for the Indonesian government, especially regarding its efforts to preserve the camp as a historical site.

Office head Guntur Sakti told The Jakarta Post on Friday that there was a reaction from the Vietnamese government that Indonesia not revamp the site, better known as the Memoriam of Galang, because the former refugees, also known as the Vietnamese boat people, have often raised the sentiment in Vietnam, where they are regarded as a pressure group.

“If the Indonesian government develops or renovates the former Vietnamese refugee camp on Galang, the Vietnamese government is concerned that it will arouse sentiment in Vietnam. But Indonesia intends to revamp the site as a symbol of basic human rights,” said Guntur. He added Indonesia should have preserved the site after refugees left the shelter camp. “Indonesia has accommodated Vietnam’s request not to revitalize the site. But we will not accommodate it completely,” said Guntur.

Guntur said most of the facilities at the nearly 30-year-old shelter camp such as barracks, a church, hospital and prison, have been well maintained and that the camp is one of Batam’s main tourist attractions. The camp, once accommodating 250,000 refugees, is located around 50 kilometers southeast of Batam.

The central government handed over management and maintenance of the 80-hectare former refugee camp to the Batam Industrial Development Authority (BIDA) in January, 1997. Guntur added that each year, groups of former Vietnamese refugees who are now living wealthily in Australia, the US and European countries, visit the camp for reunions and just for the sake of nostalgia. Earlier, Riau Islands Tourism and Cultural Office head
Robert Iwan Loriaux told the Post that five representatives of a former Vietnamese refugee community came to his office.

The community is led by Dong Tran, director of archives of Vietnamese boat people, and is based in Australia. The group expressed its wish to work together with the provincial tourism and cultural office to promote the refugee camp to the children, grandchildren and the community where they are currently residing.

“We warmly welcome their wish to promote this on Galang Island internationally, because it is the only site which is still well maintained. We have also prepared measures to turn the area into a prime tourist attraction,” said Robert.