Indonesia Appreciates Koreas Aid
By Kim Se-jeong
Staff Reporter
Indonesian Ambassador to Korea Nicolas Dammen expressed his gratitude to Koreans for their quick response in helping victims of an earthquake and tsunami that hit Indonesia's Sumatra Island.
"We have received sympathy from Koreans. I thank them for all the aid," Dammen told the audience gathered to listen to him at the Korea Foundation Cultural Center in Seoul, last Tuesday.
It was the last lecture organized by the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Center of Education for International Understanding (APCEIU) on the sidelines of the exhibition, "The Treasure Within."
From monetary donations and medicine to the dispatch of volunteers, the types of aid were wide in range, the ambassador said, thanking the Ministry for Health Welfare and Family Affairs in particular, which donated medicine.
Emergency rescue teams from Korea are said to be on the spot, unearthing collapsed buildings in the search for survivors and buried bodies.
The earthquake occurred on Oct. 5, following a tsunami that killing hundreds of people with still many missing.
This was the second tsunami in five years. A tsunami in December 2004 killed thousands of people in Ache, the northern tip of Sumatra.
The ambassador expressed concern over the frequent occurrence of tsunamis, although the country has been equipped with new technologies since 2004.
"It is just impossible to predict when it will come," he said. "We just have to pray" that it won't causes damages on the scale seen in 2004.
Beneath the Indonesian islands is an oceanic plate that slides under the continental plate, resulting in a trench.
Indonesia has more than 17,000 islands with about 150 active volcanoes. It has a population of 240 million. There are some 300 ethnic groups with 600 different languages ― nobody knows exactly how many different languages exist in the entire Indonesian islands.
Java, where the capital Jakarta is located, presents modernity, while many other islands stick to their own traditions.
The influence of Indonesia's "former bosses" has also added to the diversity, Dammen added. The archipelago had long lived under colonial rule by Portugal and the Netherlands.
Portuguese traders, led by Francisco Serrao, arrived in Indonesia in 1512 as the first Europeans to colonize Maluku Island, also known as Spice Island.
Then came the Dutch and British. The Dutch opened the Dutch East India Company in 1602. More than 300 years of Dutch colonial rule came to an end after the Second World War. In 1949, the Dutch formally recognized Indonesian independence.
To prospective Korean visitors, Dammen advised against traveling to Bali Island in order to get a taste of real Indonesia.
"It is too crowded," he said, noting that Bali is one of the most popular tourist spots for Korean tourists.
The ambassador also commented on the adoption of hangeul, the Korean alphabet, by one Indonesian minority tribe, questioning for the second time the value of the news which was highly publicized in Korea.
A 6,000-member tribe in the city of Baur on Sulawesi Island decided in August to adopt the Korean alphabet to write their language in.
However, the ambassador thought "knowing Korean alphabet doesn't mean they know the Korean language or culture."
He himself has his favorite Korean songs. Despite being able to sing them, he doesn't know what the lyrics mean.
Nevertheless, the news has received high acclamation in Korea as an accomplishment of hangeul.
The same story was heard over and over again on Friday when Korea celebrated the day of the Korean alphabet. An additional piece of news came out that another tribe in vicinity might adopt the Korean alphabet as well.
Dammen showed his admiration for Koreans through the lecture.
'You're hard-working and disciplined people," he said. Yet, he said the laid-back and relaxing lifestyle in Indonesia has its own merits.
He looked proud when he was talking about how people who had studied abroad always wanted to come back.
"When they study abroad, they want to go back home. That is our culture. We study abroad, then want to go back to help the country develop."
Talking about religion, the ambassador convinced the audience that Indonesia grants its people the freedom to practice their own beliefs, and there aren't any home-grown Muslim terrorists.
He acknowledged that ongoing business activities between the two countries were active, to which the organizer APCEIU has contributed.
The Korean APCEIU, in coordination with an Indonesian organization, has put out a new interactive educational computer program that teaches people about Asia.