The Dilemma of Coverage of Illegal Immigrants

“They said they said we would not allow them to go to the mosque, even though they had never been to the mosque. You see, their flow is different. They are Shiites,” said the officer. Those words made me gasp.

The following article was translated using both Microsoft Azure Open AI and Google Translation AI.

KOMPAS/KRISTIAN OKA PRASETYADI

A bird with a broken wing is being kept by Sajjad in a cage, on December 17, 2022. Sajjad is an immigrant from Afghanistan-Syria who is stranded in Indonesia.

In a narrative journalism training in Tomohon, North Sulawesi, in November 2022, Andreas Harsono, a Human Rights Watch researcher who is also a senior journalist, said, "Journalists may not be neutral." The statement sparked debate. Shouldn't journalists only side with the facts?

Apparently, Andreas has not finished speaking yet. There is one requirement for impartiality. "Journalists may not be neutral," he continued, "but they must be independent from their sources."

Personally, I agree, especially from a human rights perspective. For example, everyone has the right to live free from all forms of discrimination, whether it be based on religion, race and ethnicity, disabilities, gender, or sexual orientation. This perspective is very important to use in coverage of marginalized and oppressed minority groups.

However, in practice it is much more difficult. Moreover, journalists are humans who also have biases and tendencies to take sides. I experienced this in covering the story of illegal immigrant families from Afghanistan-Syria who have lived in Indonesia for 23 years, including 12 years in Manado.

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M Yaqub M Karim (61, left), Aqila Douraiyah (51, front right), Prisoner PBB II or Sakinah (12, in uniform), and Amira Mustafa (51, in pink shirt) walked out of Sam Ratulangi University, Manado, North Sulawesi, after attending Amar's graduation ceremony on February 9th, 2023. Amar is the eldest child of Yaqub and Amira.

For information, this family is divided into two. The first is the family of the late M Rahim M Karim from Afghanistan and Amira Mustafa (51) from Syria. They have three children, namely Amar (30), Ali (27), and Fatimah (25).

The second family is M Yaqub M Karim's family from Afghanistan (61) and Aqila Douraiyah (51) from Syria. They have five children, namely the late Sajjad, Zahra (26), Yahya (23), UN Detainee alias Nur (19), and UN Detainee II alias Sakinah (13).

Rahim and Yaqub are half-brothers with different mothers. Meanwhile, Amira and Aqila are distant relatives. Their children are also cousins.

They were stranded in Sumbawa, West Nusa Tenggara, in February 2000, during an attempt to sail to Australia. Their asylum application was rejected by the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) so their legal status is that of illegal immigrants. However, they have yet to be deported for reasons that are unclear.

AFP/ EMMANUEL DUNAND

A woman wearing a burqa as mandated by the Taliban, walked past a sign labeled UNHCR on November 11, 1996. She intended to take blankets and warm clothing provided by the winter aid distribution program.

Under these conditions, they automatically become a minority because to my knowledge they are the only group of former asylum seekers in Manado whose status has not been clarified until now. Actually there is another problem of statelessness in North Sulawesi which involves people of Filipino descent, but the problem is much different.

Their minority status is also related to their ethnicity. Yaqub said he is a Hazara, an ethnic group that is classified as a minority in Afghanistan. Historically, they have faced persecution in the country, including by the Taliban, which is dominated by the Pashtun ethnicity. It is no wonder that in 2022 there are 1 million Hazara refugees in Pakistan.

This case also concerns religious issues. The persecution they experienced was also caused by their religious affiliation, namely Shia Islam. Meanwhile, the Taliban, who were in power from 1996-2001 and returned to power since 2021 until today, adhere to Sunni Islam with an extreme interpretation of Sharia law.

In Indonesia, persecution against Shia followers is not a new phenomenon. However, Yaqub stated that his family adheres to Sunni Islam, which spares them from being targeted for violence.

Also read: The Eternal Waiting for UN Prisoners

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Ali (27), an illegal immigrant from Afghanistan who has been living in Indonesia for 23 years, has spent the last 12 years of his life in Manado, North Sulawesi.

In the campus environment, Rahim and Yaqub's children are accepted well socially. However, without ID cards and passports, it is still not easy for them to fulfill their needs.

That is the problem that underlies my coverage: how they navigate and overcome life without citizenship documents and residency permits. On the other hand, how can they go to school and even up to the S-2 level?

How could the self-immolation incident by Sajjad that resulted in his and Rahim's death happen in the Manado Immigration Detention Center (Rudenim) in 2019? Furthermore, why were they allowed to be outside of Rudenim despite being illegal immigrants?

I began this coverage in August 2022 by meeting Ali, the second child of Rahim. Since the incident in Rudenim Manado, he has acted as the head of the family and spokesperson when dealing with external parties.

Actually, he was reluctant to talk to reporters. Hundreds have come to cover the story but it has not produced any change in his life. They are only used for sensationalism.

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Ali (27) displayed his educational certificates, ranging from elementary school to Bachelor's degree, in the living room of his rented house in Wonasa Kapleng, Manado, North Sulawesi, on November 22, 2022. Ali is a graduate of Sam Ratulangi University with a degree in Architecture.

In that meeting, I declared my support for his family as human beings who deserve to have their status certified to live with dignity. This fulfilled Ali's hope.

"I hope this coverage can drive solutions. If naturalization is not possible, I want the country to play a role in bringing UNHCR to the negotiating table. It's been 23 years that we've been uncertain like this. If possible, this coverage will lead to that," he said.

"I also agree and this becomes our "political commitment" in this coverage. I think, what is the use of coverage if it doesn't have an impact in the end?"

Coverage after coverage has led me to get to know Ali and his family members one by one. My empathy has grown stronger after hearing their story of abandonment by the UNHCR and immigration authorities, including the "persecution" that led to the death of Sajjad and Rahim. However, they are human beings who have human rights regardless of their nationality.

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The Ali family, from left to right: Amira Mustafa (51, mother), Audina Givethee (25, sister-in-law), Amar (30, older brother), Adella (2, niece), M Yaqub M Karim (61, uncle), Tahanan PBB II alias Sakinah (12, cousin), and Aqila Douraiyah (51, aunt). They posed together after Amar and Audina's graduation at Sam Ratulangi University on February 9, 2023.

My support for them has grown stronger. However, in February 2023, concerns arose. It began with a question from an official in the Regional Office of the Ministry of Law and Human Rights (Kanwil Kemenkumham) in North Sulawesi when I visited to inquire about their response and policies regarding the presence of the Ali family.

"If I may ask, why does Mas have to cover this story about the people of Afghanistan? Why not the people in Manado who are also struggling? After all, we have many of our own citizens who are facing difficulties," he said.

In March 2023, I visited Rudenim Manado. Some officers claimed to be familiar with the Ali family. However, apparently the family left a bad impression on them. "They are stubborn, arrogant. Often defying officers. If the woman is sick, they don't want to see a male doctor, they have to see a female doctor," said one of the officers.

As a citizen of Indonesia, honestly, I too felt offended at first. An illegal immigrant should only comply with the local government through immigration. From a legal perspective, they are violators of immigration regulations. Not to mention that this country has provided them with all their basic needs, but they refuse it.

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Ali (27) harvested lettuce from his hydroponic garden on the terrace of his home in Wonasa Kapleng, Manado, North Sulawesi, on September 12, 2022.

Officers later said they were spreading hoaxes via social media on the eve of Sajjad's self-immolation incident. “They said they said we would not allow them to go to the mosque, even though they had never been to the mosque. You see, their flow is different. They are Shiites,” said the officer.

"The statement made me uncomfortable. Is Ali's family not being honest with me?"

I once asked permission from Ali to take a video while he was praying, but it was never implemented. I also rarely get the opportunity to record daily activities inside their house. I was only met in the front yard to maintain the comfort of female family members who wore headscarves.

On the one hand, I do have to respect the culture and beliefs of the Ali family. However, on the other hand, I feel that there are things that they don't all tell me.

AFP/WAKIL KOHSAR

A Hazara woman carried her child while attending the International Women's Day event in Bamiyan Province, Afghanistan on March 8th, 2021.

There are indeed many irregularities in the process, such as Sayyidah Zaynab Mosque being used as the wedding venue for Yaqub and Aqila. The place is a main destination for pilgrimage among Shia followers. Traditionally speaking, very few Hazara people practice Sunni Islam.

This then reminded me of an article in The Guardian which was written in 2016. The title was ”Verifying refugees' stories: why is it so difficult?”. This article tells about how UNHCR officers verified the statements of asylum seekers who arrived in European countries in the post-Arab Spring migrant crisis and the rise of ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria/ISIS).

They even asked about places around the asylum seeker's house, such as the location of the mosque, shops, whether there are any buildings at the end of the road, and so on. They also pay attention to ethnicity and dialect to ensure the nationality of the asylum seeker because there are rumors that many asylum seekers claim to be Syrian.

For journalists, verifying cases like this has become much more difficult, considering we do not always have the same connections or devices as UNHCR, to ensure the validity of their statements. Including myself, a relatively new journalist. Moreover, I work in an area where there are not many issues of displacement. This problem feels unfamiliar.

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Illustration. Hazara tribe residents from Afghanistan are waiting for confirmation to enter a temporary shelter in Batam, Riau Islands. They are seeking asylum after leaving Afghanistan in mid-2015.

Therefore, all I can do is research the stories they told. For example, all the places in Afghanistan mentioned by Yaqub, such as Bamiyan which was his parents' hometown, the condition of Kabul when Soviet troops entered, the mujahideen group he chose to join, and so on.

Verification was conducted when Yaqub stated that he had submitted an appeal after his family's asylum application was rejected in July 2000. The appeal letter was entrusted to the Sumbawa Police Station. However, according to UNHCR, the appeal was never submitted.

I then hypothesized that the letter may have never been delivered by the police to UNHCR. Yaqub also could not deliver it directly because UNHCR had no representatives in Sumbawa. The Immigration Office was only established in 2003. However, again, that is only a hypothesis that is difficult to verify.

One more thing that makes me even more worried is the certificates kept by the Immigration Division of the Ministry of Law and Human Rights. There, it was told that in 2016-2017, Yaqub and Rahim had refused the arrival of UNHCR who was willing to reopen their asylum process.

Also read: Secret Invitation from the Five Mountains

ARSIP KELUARGA ALI

From left to right: Amira Mustafa, PBB Detainee II alias Sakinah, Fatimah, Rahim, PBB Detainee I alias Nur, and Aqila Douraiyah, during a protest held at the Manado Immigration Detention House, North Sulawesi, after their refugee status application was rejected by UNHCR on January 14, 2019.

"They are stubborn. When it's like that, what else do they want if not to become Indonesian citizens? That's why they insist," said one official.

The official later added, "Mr. Oka, as an Indonesian citizen, should already know which interests should be prioritized for the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI)."

From a national security perspective, Ali's family cannot be abruptly naturalized. Many factors are considered, especially the principle of usefulness and enforcement of immigration law.

Read also: Jokowi Pauses Bocekli, Minister Budi Waits

ARSIP AMAR

From left to right: UN detainee I alias Nur Fatimah, Rahim, UN detainee II alias Sakinah, Aqila Douraiyah, and Amira Mustafa staged a protest at the Manado Immigration Detention House, North Sulawesi, after their refugee status application was denied by UNHCR, on January 14, 2019.

"I myself believe that naturalizing Ali's family could set a bad precedent for Indonesia. There are 12,706 refugees and asylum seekers registered by UNHCR in this country as of the end of 2022. Ali's family, on the other hand, is already an illegal immigrant because their asylum status has been rejected by UNHCR. Is it fair if their family then receives "special" treatment?"

However, in the end, I realized that a family will not win against a country as large as Indonesia. I finally went back to the words of Andreas Harsono. I still support the Ali family by voicing their hope for a solution.

Regarding the form of the solution, whether to be naturalized, deported or transferred to a third country, that is a matter for the state. In essence, no human should be abandoned, let alone for 23 years. As Ali said, "The state must be able to become a point of solution."