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Fake documents hamper Dutch-Indonesian adoptees' search for birth parents
Bud Wichers, a journalist from the Netherlands, was among 3,040 Indonesian children who were adopted by Dutch nationals between 1973 and 1983.
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Bud Wichers (left) poses with his parents and brother Rik. The couple adopted Bud in Jakarta and Rik in Surabaya, East Java. (Courtesy /Bud Wichers)
B
ud Wichers, a photo and video journalist from the Netherlands, has traveled the world to capture major conflicts and wars, including in Syria, Gaza, Libya and Ukraine.
“I became a photographer because I believe in social justice, connecting people to make the world a better place,” he said recently. “If I weren’t adopted, those feelings might not have been so strong.”
Bud was among 3,040 Indonesian children who were adopted by Dutch nationals between 1973 and 1983. While he acknowledged that his adoptive Dutch parents had given him the opportunity of a better life, he still longs to know his birth parents.
For years he has attempted to retrace his roots in Jakarta. His adoption documents identify him as Budiman, born in 1977 to a couple named Rusdi and Mustiah who lived in Gang V of Jl. Dukuh Pinggir in Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta.
His Dutch parents adopted him from Kasih Bunda orphanage — now Loka Kasih — on Jakarta’s outskirts in 1978. Bud has visited both places but found no substantial information.
Last year on Nov. 20, he once again visited his birth parents’ supposed home address on Jl. Dukuh Pinggir, a kampung located just behind luxurious shopping malls and office towers along the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle. An elderly woman named Esni said Bud’s mother, Mustiah, had lived there but had moved to Tangerang, Banten, with her daughter several years ago.
This information gave him a surge of hope – but it did not last long.
