Wednesday, July 23, 2014

INDONESIA CALLS FOR SOLIDARITY WITH MALAYSIA OVER MH17 TRAGEDY by Fardah

     Jakarta, July 23, 2014 (Antara) - Yuli Hastini, 44, was traveling home to Solo, with her Dutch husband, Johny Poulissen (47), and two children, Arjuna Marten Poulisse (5) and Srikandi Poulissen (3).
        They were going on the trip to enjoy Idul Fitri Holiday and, most importantly, to visit the grave of her mother who had died late last year while Yuli was away.
        Before her departure to Indonesia, Yuli had told her sister, Woro Pamiluti, via phone that she hoped to visit her mother's grave because she had not attended her funeral last year.

        When her mother was very sick in November 2013, Yuli had visited Solo and assisted her mother for a week. But, several days after she had gone back to the Netherlands, her mother had passed away, and she could not return to attend her funeral.
        "Yuli lived with her husband and two children in the Netherlands. She was working in a pharmaceutical company for the last seven years," Yuli's brother-in-law, Awang Nuryanto, said in Solo recently.
        Unfortunately, Yuli, her husband, and children never reached Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta because they were among the 12 Indonesian nationals who were on board the ill-fated Malaysian Airways' Boeing 777 Flight MH17, which had crashed in Ukraine after apparently being shot down.
        The plane that had taken off from the Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, on July 17, 2014, and carried 283 passengers and 15 crew members, lost contact while flying over the eastern Ukrainian airspace, in a region controlled by pro-Russian rebels. Later, it was discovered that the plane had been hit by a ground-to-air missile over the war zone.
        Among those who had perished in the crash were 12 Indonesians, 15 airplane crew, three babies, 192 Dutch nationals, 44 Malaysians, 27 Australians, ten British, four Germans, four Belgians, three Filipinos, one Canadian, and one New Zealander.
        Upon news of the tragedy, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on July 18, 2014, had expressed deep condolences to the Malaysian government and families of the victims, condemned the shooting down, and called for an international investigation.
        "Indonesia has called for solidarity among the fellow ASEAN member nations to help Malaysia deal with the situation and take international steps to seek justice," President Yudhoyono stated in a press conference.
        He noted that Indonesia had also supported an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss the tragedy and find ways to handle it. "If it is true that the plane was shot down by a military weapon, it is a violation of international and war laws," the president remarked.
        The head of state held a meeting with several ministers to discuss the tragedy involving the Malaysian Airlines flight. "Of course, our hearts and prayers go out to the families of the victims," Foreign Affairs Minister Marty Natalegawa said following the meeting.
        The foreign affairs ministry and the Malaysian Airlines have been working in tandem to contact the families of the victims in Indonesia, according to him.
        During the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) meeting on July 21, 2014, shortly after the adoption of Resolution No. S/RES/2166 (2014) on the Malaysian Airlines MH17 crash, Indonesia's Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York, Ambassador Desra Percaya, stated in a press release that Indonesia had demanded judicial trial of the faction responsible for downing the Malaysian plane.
        The UN resolution had been adopted by consensus and co-sponsored by 13 members of the UNSC and the countries of the victims, including Indonesia.
        The UNSC's resolution had condemned the attack and had called for a full, thorough, and independent international investigation to be carried out immediately.
        On July 21, 2014, President Yudhoyono had urged all concerned parties to fully cooperate with countries of the victims to carry out the investigation for humanitarian sake.
        "It is really sad that the families of the victims are still not able to retrieve the bodies of their members or things to remember them," he said.
        The Indonesian police have worked in tandem with the Indonesian Foreign Ministry to assist Malaysia in identifying the crash victims. "Seven members of the National Police's DVI team have joined the mission to help identify the victims of the crash," National Police Chief General Sutarman remarked in Jakarta recently.
        The police's DVI team and several provincial police personnel had conducted an ante-mortem examination by collecting data and DNA samples from the victims' family members.
        The Indonesian police's DVI team members had garnered global recognition when they had successfully identified the victims of Russian Sukhoi Superjet 100 aircraft, which had crashed on Mount Salak in West Java several years ago, Sutarman emphasized.
        Spokesman of the Indonesian Police Brigadier General Boy Rafli Amar stated in Jakarta on July 23, 2014, that a team of seven personnel led by DVI's Director Senior Commissioner Anton Pastilani had left for Ukraine on July 22, to gather and identify the Indonesian victims.
        "According to the information, they have arrived in Ukraine. They are responsible for delivering the ante-mortem data of the victims' families, which is expected to speed up the identification process of the victims," Boy noted.
        He explained that the ante-mortem data of the families' DNA samples will be used to assist in the postmortem identification of the bodies.
        During the next two days, the Indonesian DVI team will collaborate with the Malaysian and Dutch teams, as well as the local authorities, in order to transfer the remains to the Netherlands.
        "The major task of the team is to bring the bodies to the Netherlands to match the ante-mortem data of the families with the postmortem reports," remarked Boy.
        Boy explained that of the 12 Indonesian victims, one family of the victim named Mr Hadiono had not yet provided the DNA sample as they were living in the Netherlands.
        Learning a lesson from the MH17 tragedy, President Yudhoyono has ordered all Indonesian airline companies, which operate on international routes, to avoid flying through war zones.
        "I instruct Indonesian airlines to avoid conflict zones, such as Ukraine, Russia-Ukraine border, and Gaza Strip. The Transportation Ministry and Garuda Airlines have also taken necessary precautions," President Yudhoyono stated during a press conference at the presidential office on July 18, 2014.
        Earlier, Malaysian Prime Minister Nadjib Razak said that no distress call was received before the plane went down, and that the flight route was declared safe by the International Civil Aviation Organization. ***1***
(f001/INE)

No comments:

Post a Comment