kapal perang nu ngulampreng nulungan aceh, ngan hiji, tapi kapal induk,
USS Abraham Lincoln. kapal induk tea, pinuh ku kapal sejen, kaasup
helikopter jeung kapal transport/sabangsaning hercules tea.
oge aya tangtara jeung kapal australia, selandia baru, spore oge malaysia.
nya nuhun narulungan, keun bae tangtara ge, da tangtara mah euweuh gawe
ari teu perang mah. hehe
ieu dihandap kanggo konfirmasi wungkul. sapalih teu disundakeun. da pasti
barisa inggris.
-----------------
US military aid role a first in Indonesia
By Paul Dillon in Banda Aceh
Saturday 01 January 2005, 12:30 Makka Time, 9:30 GMT
American navy helicopters and transport planes have begun ferrying
aid supplies to Aceh province six days after a tsunami slammed into
the coast killing tens of thousands of people.
In a groundbreaking piece of diplomacy, US soldiers will for the
first time touch down on Indonesian soil in an operational capacity.
Australian military aircraft have been involved in relief work in
Aceh since mid-week, joining small Malaysian, Singaporean and New
Zealand contingents.
The aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln is off the north shore of
Sumatra where upwards of 80,000 people are believed to have died.
"I can confirm that 10 US navy Seahawk helicopters will begin
humanitarian operations in Aceh province today," said USAid's
Michael Bok.
"The helicopters were in Medan on Friday. A joint coordinating
meeting between American, Australian and Indonesian military
organisations was held at that time to coordinate our efforts."
Aid convoy
US helicopters will ferry desperately needed aid supplies to the
west coast of the province which was the worst hit, Bok said. Four
Australian defence force helicopters will do the same along the east
coast.
"It is chaotic at the moment. In most areas the civil
administration no longer exists; the health providers are
dead"
Gordon Weiss,
Unicef
Dozens of communities are believed to have been wiped out when a
magnitude 9.0 earthquake 25km offshore spawned a 10m-high tsunami
that crashed on to the coast.
"The situation on the west coast is extremely serious," says
Unicef's Gordon Weiss.
"We need to get aid in there as soon as possible but it is chaotic
at the moment. In most areas the civil administration no longer
exists; the health providers are dead."
Sensitive diplomacy
Eyewitnesses returning from the west coast city of Muelaboh say
upwards of 80% of the city of 50,000 is now buried under mud and
debris. No accurate tally of the dead there has been made but there
are fears more than half the population may have perished.
Meulaboh was all but destroyed
by the force of water
The presence of foreign troops on Indonesian soil is a sensitive
issue. The nation with the largest Muslim population on earth,
Indonesia was a staunch Cold War ally of the US. The collapse of the
Suharto regime in 1999 introduced a new era of openness within
Indonesia and public criticism of both the new government and the US
has grown.
Post-9/11 American foreign policy in the Middle East has been a
lightning rod for criticism around the Muslim world and Indonesia is
no exception.
While many of the country's estimated 200 million Muslims practice a
brand of Islam infused with pre-Islamic Buddhist and Hindu beliefs,
the population is overwhelmingly opposed to the American
intervention in Iraq.
Frequently rocky relations with Australia reached a new low when
Indonesia's southern neighbour lead a UN peacekeeping mission in the
former Indonesian province of East Timor after the 800,000 residents
of the former Portuguese colony voted for independence in a
UN-sponsored referendum. Many Indonesians believe their southern
neighbour betrayed them.
A hardcore group launched a series of anti-Western attacks in
Indonesia, beginning with the bombing of a nightclub on the resort
island of Bali in 2002 that claimed more than 200 lives, many of
them foreign tourists. Since that time, truck bombs have exploded
outside an American-owned hotel and the Australian embassy in the
capital Jakarta.
Welcome assistance
Reaction was generally positive to the news of an American presence.
A wounded man gets medical
treatment from Red Crescent
"Praise God, they are coming to help us," said Munajar, a Banda Aceh
clerk who like many Indonesians uses only one name. "We have been
waiting for the international community to assist us and now they
have come."
Twenty-one-year old student Marrisa, who registers newly displaced
people arriving at a local mosque was hopeful the foreign assistance
will stave off a humanitarian disaster.
"So far the Indonesian government has not been able to deliver the
aid quickly," she said. "Hopefully now we will receive the food and
medicine we need to save these people."
Legal requirements
Not everyone was so enthusiastic.
"The Americans have to understand our culture here," said Hilmy
Bakar Almascaty, vice-chairman of the Jakarta-based Islamic
Defenders Front, which is mobilising relief efforts of its own.
"If they are not sensitive to local issues then there will be
problems. If American women come to Aceh, they must wear dilbab for
example. There is Sharia law in Aceh and that is what is dictated."
USAid's Bok said it was unlikely US service personnel would adhere
to a Muslim dresscode.
"I don't think the practice of Islam in Aceh is such that it forces
all people to wear dilbab," said Weiss. "This is not Saudi Arabia."
In addition to the helicopters, American forces have committed six
C-130 transport planes to the relief effort. Four Australian
aircraft have been flying supplies between Banda Aceh since Tuesday.
Both nations are flying C-130 transport planes on a regular run
between Medan and Band Aceh.
--- End forwarded message ---
mj
http://geocities.com/mangjamal
Komunitas Urang Sunda --> http://www.Urang-Sunda.or.id
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/urangsunda/
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
