Shout-Out to Local Heroes Across Indonesia, from Aceh to Papua

NEWS — September 2021

In Indonesia, August has been dubbed as the month of the struggle for independence. This year, 2021, the country has been free from colonialism, mainly of the Dutch, for 76 years.

It is often understood that national heroes are those who fought against colonialism for the nation’s independence. Now, such a definition of heroes has indeed transformed alongside the changing nature of our world. With the internet and globalization, this world has been a super-different one from that experienced by the above heroes.

There are, now, many heroes whose fights are not against colonialism anymore. Instead, they are fighting for a society that is free from ignorance, health problems, damage to nature, and freedom from poverty. As reported by detikcom (20/8/2021), these heroes are ordinary people, but their actions toward the betterment of society are extraordinary.

These heroes spread across diverging regions in Indonesia. They are heroes for their local people.In Aceh, for example, there is Nurjanah Husien, a woman who founded the Yayasan Darah for Aceh (Blood Foundation for Aceh). Nurjanah founded the organization to help many thalassemia sufferers in Aceh. Through her organization, Nurjanah and her team help them get blood and medical expenses.

Moving to Indonesia’s central area, Muhammad Rasid helped turn a ‘dark’, unelectrified settlement in Andung Village, Tiris District, Probolinggo, East Java, into a ‘bright’ one. With a capital of Rp 3.5 million from his personal savings, Rasid has experimented with creating an electrical energy source powered by a watershed. He happens to call it the “Lang Baling” waterwheel.

In Central Kalimantan, there is Siti Maimunah, an academic who initiated and now runs the Mungku Baru educational forest program. She also teaches and assists the local community there in opening and running businesses without destroying the forest. In addition, Siti conducts reforestation on 100 hectares of land in collaboration with international researchers.

Furthermore, Southeast Sulawesi has a Jemima Tanjung Niasari. She is indeed a hero in education for children with special needs and street children. Jemima established a playgroup school, kindergarten, elementary, and junior high schools for children with special needs and underprivileged in Kendari. Since, she has been dubbed as the mother of street children.

Then, in West Nusa Tenggara, Ellena Rahmawati is endeavoring to distribute clean water to all villages in East Lombok. When she saw that the people of East Lombok had to queue and even walked for days to get clean water, Ellena initiated Yayasan Masyarakat Peduli (Caring for Community Foundation) to install water pipes throughout the village there. Now people in the area could enjoy clean water without taking much time to queue or walk.

In Maluku, there is Elsye Syauta Latuheru who is working hard to help heal the physical and psychological wounds of the Ambonese community as a result of violence during the riots related to religious conflict in 1999.

Then, in the easternmost part of the country, Papua, Maximus Tipagau founded the Somatua Foundation. Through the foundation, Maximus created the program of dokter terbang or ‘flying doctor’ by bringing doctors to Intan Jaya, a relatively remote area in Papua, who has had many cases of malnutrition. In addition, the Somatua Foundation has initiated and run various local Papuan community development programs.

Papua also has Yulita Yeimo, who strives for women’s economy in Wosi Village, West Manokwari District, West Papua. She employed local women there through the production of Papuan handicrafts. They knit noken (a typical Papuan multifunctional bag), especially the noken made of ganemo yarn. Yulita’s endeavor has proven to help increase the income of women in the village.

Apart from them, there are still many heroes who have done extraordinary things across 34 provinces in Indonesia. Written by detikcom (16/8/2021), stories of these heroes’ outstanding services can be found at Rumah Digital Indonesia (RDI). To read their full stories, you can access www.rumahdigitalindonesia.id, then click on the map and select “Petualangan Nusantara dan Wajah Indonesia” (Adventures of the Archipelago and the Faces of Indonesia).