Dewi Connolly
‘I’m a housewife, but I do a lot of voluntary work for the Indonesian embassy. I help with traditional Indonesian dancing and performance to promote our tourism – I dance the Balinese and Malayu dances. I’ve been doing this in Abu Dhabi for about a year now, though I’ve been here for about a year and five months.
‘I love the city! The first three months were difficult, but then I started meeting friends. Being active in the embassy has helped me get to know people and allow me to settle down happily here.
‘The majority of the Indonesian community here is Muslim, so when we get together it is often at a religious meeting, but we also have a women’s gathering, and sometimes a bazaar. Occasionally, we just get together to practise dancing.
‘The other thing that we’re doing at the moment in the embassy is trying to help with the education of Indonesian maids who work here. Some of them are runaways. We try to help them feel secure by teaching sewing, knitting and nursery training.
‘Our national holiday, Independence Day, is on the August 17. A lot of things go on, and that’s what I really miss about Indonesia. Here in Abu Dhabi we gather at the embassy and we have a ceremony. The ambassador gives a speech and after that we dig into some Indonesian traditional food. Our food is based on yellow rice along with some condiments, some chicken, soya beans, crackers, beef meatballs, potato fritters and more.
‘In Abu Dhabi there are about 3,000 Indonesian people officially registered, but there may be more working as domestic helpers that we don’t know about. Most of the ones we do know about come and join us for Independence Day – those that can travel. But some of them, those who are working as domestic helpers, won’t get a day off from their masters. So, if they have a day off, and they can join us, that is when we can all get together.
‘The embassy also holds a Traditional People Night, where we keep up performance, including dancing and singing; so that happens once a year, giving food and entertainment to the Indonesian community of Abu Dhabi.’
Joseph Sihombing
‘I am a 33-year-old geologist. I come from a city called Pekanbaru, located on Sumatra Island in Indonesia. I came to Abu Dhabi around the early part of 2006. I like it here, I have a lot of friends in the Indonesian community and my family is here with me now.
‘I go out with my colleagues sometimes – they are Indians and Kazakhstanis – but mostly, I hang out with my Indonesian friends. We play football every Monday evening and in summertime we go barbecuing in the park. In winter, we simply go for dinner together. Abu Dhabi just feels like home now.
‘I was working in Jakarta before, then I came to Abu Dhabi because I was hired by another company. After three years, I’ve only been back home twice. Last December I couldn’t, since my wife was expecting a baby. But it was alright.
‘For the Indonesian Independence Day, I go to the embassy. They tend to put on a ceremony, raising the flag and so on. Over here it is the main place to celebrate. We don’t take a day off, since it lasts only two hours. We do this in the morning, from 8am to 10am. In Indonesia, everybody gets a holiday on August 17. I miss the festival we used to have and I miss the neighbourhood gatherings, the sports events and the many games organised, sometimes until midnight.
‘In the future, I plan on staying here. I am settled, but if I see that there’s no way to expand my career, I may think of leaving to go to another country. I would be sad to go.’
Know your history
The world’s biggest archipelago was a Dutch colony from the 17th century until the Japanese invasion during WWII. On August 17 1945, following Japan’s surrender, Indonesia cast away its shackles. independence was proclaimed by Sukarno, who became the first president of the new republic. However, the Netherlands refuted this, and so began the Indonesian National Revolution: four years of sporadic but bloody conflict. In December 1949 the Netherlands finally agreed to recognise Indonesia’s sovereignty. Six decades later, perhaps owning up to guilt on behalf of his forefathers, Dutch foreign minister Ben Bot announced that the Netherlands recognised de facto Indonesian independence, dating back to August 17 1945
