News in English     | 10.06.2020. 11:25 |

Ambassador Yani: I have become very close with people in BiH

FENA Bisera Džidić

SARAJEVO, June 10 (FENA) - Sometimes I could not tell where I was, in Bosnia or Indonesia. I became very close with people of Bosnia and Herzegovina, they accepted me and my son Dimas as part of their families. I became close with people of three major ethnic groups, whether they are Bosniaks, Croats or Serbs, for me they are all my dear friends just like in Indonesia, I have never made a difference whether they are Javanese, Balinese, Acehnese, even Papua, we may have different skin color, but we are all Indonesia, said Ambassador of the Republic of Indonesia in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Amelia Achmad Yani, who is leaving BiH in July after a four-year diplomatic engagement.

Ambassador Yani has worked in various fields of economy, culture, education, tourism in order to establish cooperation between the two countries.

At the time she was appointed as Ambassador to BiH, she said, many Indonesians did not know about Bosnia and Herzegovina, except for the war in BiH and the break-up of Yugoslavia.

“Many friends told me not to accept this job, it's so quiet there, there's nothing there, but I was even more determined that I could do it. In February 2016, accompanied by my son Dimas and three staff members, we arrived in Sarajevo, it was cold and quiet, but I have been through quitness in my village Bawuk, it was the same here in Sarajevo,” Ambassador Yani recalled her arrival in Sarajevo.

In this context, she explained that the village of Bawuk has been her address for more than 20 years, after she left the overcrowded and noisy Jakarta and retreated into the silence of rural life on a farm she had set up herself.

Describing the journey from Bawuk to Sarajevo, she said that she has gone through a long and extraordinary journey in her life.

“Sometime pain, sadness and happiness were part of my life, and I am so grateful that during a difficult period in my country I was still able to get a good education which my parents supported. I worked for three years at the United Nations in New York and then for 14 years at the UN Development Programs in Jakarta. I travelled all over Indonesia and saw my country from an international point of view. The program for women in development was also under my responsibility,” said Ambassador Yani.

In 1988, she decided to leave Jakarta and move to the small village of Bawuk, in the remote area ten kilometers away from the city of Yogyakarta in Central Java.

“I became a true farmer, I worked in rice fields, I also owned a chicken farm and sold eggs, I also worked with farmers at Bukit Menoreh (Menoreh Hill) for goat breeding, Robusta coffee plantation and I was engaged in silk farming in Java and South Sumatra. For over 21 years my life has been far from the city noise, I grew up with farmers, just talking about agriculture and I lived the real life of a farmer. It was an amazing and fruitful experience,” she describes her life journey from Jakarta where she was born, through life on a farm, to international engagement in New York and Sarajevo.

During her life in Java, her political engagement first led her to the PPRN (National People’s Concern Party), and shortly thereafter she became the chair of the PPRN at the national level and returned to Jakarta.

“Again, I travelled all over Indonesia and met people from different ethnic groups and religions. I met a retired general from the army, General Wiranto, who then appointed me as chairwoman of Political Party Hanura (The People's Consciousness), because there had been too many internal conflicts in my previous political party. Again, I traveled all over Indonesia, to collect people’s votes. I became part of Jokowi – JK success team, and they both won the election and became President and Vice President of the Republic of Indonesia from 2014 to 2019. As a result, I was appointed as Ambassador to BiH," Ambassador Yani describes her life and political path.

After arriving in Sarajevo, she went on a tour of BiH and met her compatriots who are married to citizens of BiH, and that is a total of 32 marriages.

In an effort to strengthen and develop bilateral relations between the two countries, Ambassador Yani visited factories in BiH, met mayors, municipal mayors, cantonal prime ministers, members of parliament, rectors of universities in Sarajevo, Tuzla, Zenica, Mostar, Travnik and NGO representatives.

She also initiated a gathering of ambassadors, including the NATO commander and representatives of UN agencies, and to this day, ambassadors meet regularly at their residences on a monthly basis.

In the continuation of the conversation, she referred to the departure of young people from BiH to Western European countries, especially to Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the USA and Australia, emphasizing that she noticed a special value among young people in BiH, and that is the need for education.

Its concrete contribution and engagement to the development of educational institutions in BiH is the establishment of cooperation between higher education institutions from BiH and Indonesia.

Rector of the University of Tuzla, Dean of the Medical Faculty of the University of Zenica, Vice-Rector of the University of Mostar, Professor from the University of Tuzla visited Indonesia in 2018 and signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the University of Indonesia and the Andead Achmad Yani University in Cimahi, Bandung, named after the Ambassador’s father.

She also emphasized that the representatives of the Indonesian state news agency ANTARA and Federal News Agency FENA signed a Cooperation Agreement in Jakarta in 2018.  

In a farewell interview, summarizing the impressions she brings from BiH, Ambassador Yani says that our country is absolutely beautiful in the combination of cultural and historical heritage of the Ottoman Empire, Austro-Hungary and Jewish characteristics.

She said she visited villages in Bosnia and Herzegovina, talked to farmers who welcomed her as a friend of Bosnia and Herzegovina. She also met with the imams of mosques, visited mosques, prayed with people, and all of them, as well as government representatives from the local to the state level, people from the economy, businessmen, welcomed her warmly.

She mediated in the twinning of Brčko District and the city of Magelang and led a delegation from Brčko District in July 2019 during their stay in Indonesia.

The next twinning of cities will be between Zenica and the city of Cimahi, in West Java, due to their similarity presented in education, culture and industry.

At the end of the conversation, the Ambassador referred to the similar historical past of Indonesia and BiH, through human sacrifices.

“During my tenure in Sarajevo, I visited Srebrenica and the Potočari Memorial Center many times. What happened in Srebrenica in 1995 is identical to what happened in Jakarta and Indonesia in 1965, when six military generals were killed. My father as commander-in-chief of the army with five other deputies were killed on October 1, 1965, which caused unrest in the country and resulted in the killing of nearly 500.000 people. In July 1995, 8.372 Bosniaks were killed in Srebrenica. We were left in Indonesia with hatred, revenge and anger ... For the last 54 years I have been working with my friends to achieve reconciliation. Forgive, but do not forget. It is not easy, but we have to try and try again and I would like what we do in Indonesia to be achieved in Bosnia and Herzegovina,” says the Ambassador.

She ends the conversation by saying that half of her heart will remain in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the most beautiful country in the world, expressing hope that in the Ambassadors’ Alley in Sarajevo, her lime tree planted in 2018 will remain permanently under number 182, that the tree will grow, become greener with white flowers that have a very nice scent like a tree in Java called a Kantil.

She says that upon her return to Indonesia, she intends to write a book about BiH, which will be her sixth work. She published a book entitled ‘Profile of a Soldier’, about her father who was killed in 1965, and which was also published in English. The second book tells the story of a village in Central Java, Dusun Bawuk, where she lived for 21 years as a farmer isolated from the noise of big cities. The third book is ‘The Revolutionary Vision of a Daughter of a Hero of the Revolution’, the fourth is entitled 'Seven Soldiers Killed on October 1, 1965' and co-authored, the fifth book ‘Strong Women of Indonesia’.

(FENA) A. B.

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