The sun trips over fragments of concealed history. 

Desert winds carve wounds into the sand’s back, 

And Gaza—a fistful of ash at the map’s edge

Becomes a footnote in the geography of power. 

Rizal Tanjung, an acclaimed poet and writer from Indonesia, shares his poem

Bionarasih Rizal Tanjung, born in Padang City, West Sumatra Province of Indonesia, is a well – known director, artist, poet, and critic in West Sumatra Province. He embarked on his artistic career in 1975 and founded the Moeka Theatre (later renamed the Old Track Theatre) in 1979. As a director, he has staged more than 60 theatrical works across Indonesia. Moreover, he is also actively engaged in writing scripts, short stories, poems, and cultural articles. Rizal has led several art institutions such as the Moeka Theatre, the Old Track Theatre, and FK – METRA in Padang, and has participated in the work of the art committee. He often serves as an advisor, judge, and art curator for government agencies and cultural organizations. His dedication has made him an important figure in the protection and innovation of Minangkabau culture and art.

BLACK PSALMS FROM GAZA: ELEGY FOR TORN SANDS

-I-

At the edge of Jerusalem’s peeling walls, 

The sun trips over fragments of concealed history. 

Desert winds carve wounds into the sand’s back, 

And Gaza—a fistful of ash at the map’s edge

Becomes a footnote in the geography of power. 

Children born from wombs of darkness 

Learn alphabets from gunpowder residue, 

Drawing stars not in the sky 

But on prison walls—with blood. 

-II-

Some write love poems behind windows, 

While generals chart missile trajectories 

With crocodile-leather pens. 

In air-conditioned rooms, decision-makers 

Sip wine from bullet-shaped glasses, 

Matching strike coordinates 

To national anthem rhythms. 

Diplomacy is now just expensive perfume 

Sprayed on corpses. 

-III-

Orders are incantations 

Written in sand with bayonets. 

Peace is merely a probability 

When the other voice falls silent— 

Or is silenced by landmines. 

Behold the city: 

Rooftops like petals shed by seasons, 

Mosques as godless dark caves, 

Hospitals turned labyrinths of bone and steel— 

Nothing heals from explosions here. 

-IV-

Corpses don’t need passports. 

Crushed children have no ideology. 

The mother digging earth with bare hands 

Isn’t choosing political parties— 

She’s searching for fragments of her child’s body 

Buried with dreams of school. 

Is silence defeat? 

Or did the dead depart too quickly 

To know which side they stood on? 

-V-

Behind five-star hotel curtains, 

“Peace” is recited like a prayer stripped of meaning. 

Meanwhile in Gaza, 

The sky grows weary of being sky— 

It becomes the ceiling of an open morgue. 

They say: “We’re approaching a ceasefire.” 

But victims’ wristwatches have cracked, 

Their seconds ticking only one note: 

A scream too late to record. 

-VI-

Where no signatures exist, 

Bombs become punctuation, 

Bullets turn capital letters. 

Progress reports are printed from city ruins. 

“Targets achieved,” says an officer, 

Pointing to schools now steel skeletons. 

In their offices, victory 

Is a bloodstained PowerPoint slide. 

-VII-

Every faction lifts God like a weapon, 

Stuffing Him into slogans, 

Folding Him into hasty prayers. 

God—if He hasn’t fled— 

May be crouching under the last olive tree, 

Weeping as His name is stamped on mortar shells 

And loaded into drones. 

Does He still hear? 

Or have propaganda blasts deafened His ears? 

-VIII-

Is this war for survival, 

Or just ensuring more will die? 

Is this land so sacred 

It requires blood as holy water? 

Can victory still be celebrated 

When all that remains is silence 

And rubble whispering: 

“No one returns from here human”? 

-IX-

Gaza is now an apocalypse almanac, 

Each day opened with screams, 

Closed with body count reports. 

Rain no longer falls from skies 

But from drones— 

Dripping fire and metal onto pomegranate orchards. 

No poem is long enough 

To suture this land’s wounds. 

No sermon sacred enough 

To lift lives from debris. 

-X-

If peace is a perpetually broken promise, 

Then war is eternal employment 

With monthly KPIs. 

Gaza isn’t a city— 

It’s Death Incorporated: 

Explosives Division, Trauma Department, 

CEO: Fear. 

Here, truth is buried alive 

Between melted cables and tiny bones. 

The dead never get to ask: 

“Did anyone fight for us? 

Or were we just numbers on news infographics?” 

(Written from land still smelling of war’s ashes, West Sumatra, 2025)

________________

Coordinated by: Angela Kosta, journalist, poet, essayist, publisher, literary critic, editor, translator, promoter

The post Poem: Black Psalms from Gaza first appeared on Sindh Courier.

By Eva PETROPOULOU Lianou

At the recent literary gathering, Vo Thi Nhu Mai made her debut appearance, not with loud declarations, but with a quiet presence that left a warm impression. As a first-time participant, she spent much of the time observing and absorbing the atmosphere around her. Though she spoke little, her attentiveness and gentle smile spoke volumes.

During the program, while others were caught in the bustle of performances and interactions, Võ Thị Như Mai moved gracefully between people, offering small yet thoughtful gestures. One such act stood out: she personally handed each participant a small card with their name written on it, a simple but touching effort to acknowledge and welcome everyone. It was a beautiful moment of connection, reminding us that care and presence can sometimes be more powerful than words.

Her demeanour was soft-spoken, but her actions carried sincerity. Many noted her warm energy, quietly friendly, respectful, and keen to understand the nuances of the gathering. In a space often vibrant with creative voices, Vo Thi Nhu Mai’s quiet kindness was like a calm note in a symphony, and her presence undoubtedly enriched the experience for all who were there.

[Vo Thi Nhu Mai, born on March 18, 1976, in Quang Tri, Vietnam, is a poet, literary translator, and dedicated educator currently living in Dianella, Western Australia. Holding a Master’s Degree in Literature, she has been a primary school teacher in WA since 2006, after completing her postgraduate studies at Edith Cowan University. Her teaching career began in Vietnam as an English teacher at Ngo Quyen High School in Ba Ria – Vung Tau (1998–2003), and since moving to Australia, she has worked at Dryandra Primary School and currently at Maylands Peninsula Primary School. Deeply involved in community service, she volunteered from 2015 to 2023 at Hung Vuong Vietnamese Language School, where she also played a crucial role in securing government funding for community education programs. As a literary figure, Vo Thi Nhu Mai has published four poetry collections in Vietnamese, with a fifth forthcoming, and her poems have been set to music and performed widely. Her translations of poetry, prose, and short stories have introduced Vietnamese literature to international readers, including bilingual editions of works by notable Vietnamese poets and writers published in Romania, Canada, and beyond.]

The literary festival itself was a rich and colorful celebration of poetic voices from around the world. Held in a welcoming space filled with music, laughter, and multilingual readings, it brought together poets, translators, musicians, and friends of literature to share work, ideas, and cross-cultural conversations. Each segment of the program was crafted with care, blending each cultural literature with international voices, allowing a beautiful dialogue of language and soul.

Vo Thi Nhu Mai, though initially quiet, contributed meaningfully to this shared space. She took to the microphone and read her original poem “The Song of Life” in both Vietnamese and English, offering the audience a sincere glimpse into her poetic world. Her delivery was gentle yet confident, her words soaring with listeners across language boundaries. It was a moment of quiet power, her voice steady, and her poem luminous.

In another generous act of cultural exchange, Võ Thị Như Mai also read a poem titled “Enjoy” by Greek poet Eva Lianou Petropoulou, further knitting the threads of international friendship. Her choice to present not only her own work but also honor another poet reflected the very spirit of the gathering: connection through words, across cultures, in mutual respect. For a first-time participant, Võ Thị Như Mai left a lasting impression, not just with her poems, but with her grace.

Poem: THE SONG OF LIFE

By Vo Thi Nhu Mai

If we knew spring would never return

To strum its notes along our wandering path

If we knew the journey would drift afar

If eternity called with a sudden breath

If we knew beauty could never be touched

Nor seen through deep brown eyes

If we knew those blue clouds in the heights

Were but a rain falling down with passion

If we knew life would bring grace and blessing

Or a simple lesson in a night of getting lost

If we knew our hearts could be fragile

If we knew sorrow could sing a tender lullaby

If we knew foamy waves carrying silent love

If we knew sunlight shining on brief blooms

If we knew presence is just a passing moment

The moment a rosebud resting upon our lips

If we knew the song of life itself

Could be a pain that healing never finds

If we knew joy in every word we write

An afternoon translates a lifetime into poetry

***

 Poem: “Enjoy!”

By Eva PETROPOULOU Lianou, Greece

As a child

I discover the city lights

Buildings without trees

Water without fishes

The magic city I born

Was a fake town

No masters

No angels

As a child

I sing a lullaby

Every second

My life become a miracle

Hope to get a rainbow

Wait to travel with a unicorn

As Theseus make the world around

For a love

For a word that nobody understand

Filotimo

___________________

Read: The Scent and Color of March – Poetry from Vietnam

The post Vietnam in Indonesia festival first appeared on Sindh Courier.

And always flies in the sky of my dreams,

Can you release your magic

So that all heartbeats no longer occupy silence.

Edy Samudra Kertagama, a poet from Indonesia, shares his poetry

Edy Samudra Kertagama is a renowned poet and theater director of Indonesia. His published poetry books are Dry (1997), Nyanyian Sinyi (2002), Short poems Dew White (2004), Mantra Sang Nabi (2016), Carriage and Poem of the Rajawali Bird (2019), Twilight and Drizzle (2024). Some of his poems were published in ‘Love in summer’ (Bilingual Anthology English and Spanish, The Mist (International Poetry global) Glacier (2024), Atunis Galaxy Poetry Magazine – Albania (2024), KOBIAL 24 Bangladesh magazine (2024). He received a Certificate of Appreciation from the Memorial of V.M Terkov 2023 (Nizhny Novgorod) Russia.  Email: edysamudrakertagama@yahoo

HYMN OF A CITY

Oh, the city that is covered in night,

And always flies in the sky of my dreams,

Can you release your magic

So that all heartbeats no longer occupy silence,

Or at least without sounds that continue to tease

Because of the roar of a dreamer praying at night.

The fragrance of the sky,

Opening the verses of poetry,

Roses grow abundantly throughout the day,

There is no word of collapse there,

Let alone hymns being sung,

Everyone smiles, even though the sky always caresses the fragrance of the clouds

“Here, you say, the city that is always guarded by thousands of loves,” is often quiet,

Because for many years, you have never stopped, let alone stayed the night for a long time.

***

LOVESICK

Pablo is lovesick Poe wrote about: People fell down In the middle of the night.

William is a wanderer.

Always take note of the sky armor “If, a cloud can’t wait to say hello to Paz Who always misses. There will be another sound. At the end of the morning without flowers.”

_____________

Received from Angela Kosta Executive Director of MIRIADE Magazine, Academic, journalist, writer, poet, essayist, literary critic, editor, translator, promoter

The post Hymn of a City – Poetry from Indonesia first appeared on Sindh Courier.

By LEE YEON-SIL (Cherry), Korea

Febi took a 12-hour plane ride to Seoul. She visited Korea for Korea International Exhibition Center (KINTEX) and other events. Her nationality is Indonesian. She was born on the island of Java and grew up in the capital Jakarta. Her real name is ‘Febriana’, but it is a long name, she prefers to be called by the nickname Febi.

In November she came to Korea to promote the ‘Halal Expo 2024’ to be held in Türkiye (Turkey). Her large-scale international event will take place from November 27th to 31st. She works in public relations and this is her second visit to Korea. She visited for the first time in 2016. “There are a lot of beautiful girls in Korea, they dress well, and most of them are good looking,” she praises. “Among Korean cosmetics, skin care products are good and popular,” she says.

Korean language is only known in a few words through K-dramas. She likes kimchi, tteokbokki, and black bean noodles, so she seems like an Indonesian woman. She leaves her home country to live and work in Istanbul. In the past she was an English teacher. She has now changed her career and works as a project manager. She speaks Indonesian Bahasa and English well, and studies Turkish every day.

During her Covid period, she left Jakarta for Istanbul. There are many Indonesian people in Türkiye. They are mainly international students. She works for the Halal Expo organization. Most people are interested in halal food from the Kazan Republic Expo in Russia, as well as Dubai in the UAE, Libya, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan. She also has a love for modest fashion. She is also very interested in Korean cosmetics.

She talked about Malaysia’s Jakim, Indonesia’s Muwi, and UAE’s Asma certification, as well as Istanbul’s halal standards organization. She also plans to introduce a newly created cosmetics platform in Korea. There is a Halal Accreditation Agency in Türkiye. Of course, it is also possible to enter Türkiye with Korea’s KMF certification. The halal certification project is also carried out by an organization affiliated with the mosque in Itaewon, Seoul.

Ms. Feby changed her career from an English teacher and now works in 76 countries thanks to her English skills

Febi is planning to go on a business trip to Tokyo, Japan after her Korea event. The number of Muslims is also increasing in Korea, and it is rapidly increasing in Japan. She is also interested in multinational events such as the ‘Japan international food & beverage expo’, considering Japan’s halal market and future, as well as Japanese tourists. This time she plans to go to Japan to do her market research and tour the local area in person.

In November, Halal Expo, World Halal Summit, Modest Fashion & Art Expo, Natural Organic Vegan Expo, and private label expo will also begin. Additionally, six events, including the Eurasia Tourism Health Expo, will be held during the same period. President Erdogan of Türkiye is also watching with interest and supporting. They consider this expo very important.

Muslim countries around the world are watching the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) closely. This is because the market for food, clothing and shelter is vast. About 70% of people who come to international events are multinationals. In the case of Malaysia, 500m² space was secured. Dozens of countries, including Korea and Malaysia, are participating in large numbers. Currently, Saudi Arabia, Türkiye, and the United Kingdom are leading the halal industry.

Ms. Feby changed her career from an English teacher and now works in 76 countries thanks to her English skills. She taught herself English by watching American movies. Her passion is amazing. She is Miss Feby. If you look at her, she looks Chinese, but when you hear her speak English, you would think she is American, and her English is 100% American, and her pronunciation is also good.

Above all, she was well aware of the potential and global market of the halal industry, which is good for health, including natural and organic products. Indonesia is different, Türkiye is different, and Korea is different. However, everyone around the world wants a healthy and happy life. So I can feel that the halal-related industry is growing tremendously. I and Miss Febi decided to meet again at the International Halal Fairgrounds, a large-scale event to be held in Istanbul in November.

Read: Story of a Pakistani who became Korean

________________

The post ‘Halal lady’ from Istanbul first appeared on Sindh Courier.

Karachi, Sindh

Indonesia, the world’s third-largest democracy, will hold the planet’s biggest one-day election this year. Since the 2004 general election, Indonesia has implemented an open proportional election system – voters directly vote for the presidential candidate and for legislative members listed on their ballot papers.

More than 200 million voters in Indonesia and 1.75 million members of the Indonesian diaspora will go to the polls on February 14, 2024, to elect the country’s next president and vice president, as well as legislators and councilors at both national and regional levels. The total number of voters expected accounts for 74% of the total population of Southeast Asia’s largest economy.

Penitia Pemilihan Luar Negari (Overseas General Election Committee), in Sindh province there are 217 eligible Indonesian Nationals will vote for the Indonesian Election 2024. They vote for the President and Parliament members of Indonesia. For President, there are three candidates:

(i) Anies Baswedan from NasDem (Parti Nasional Demokrat)

(ii) Ganjar Pranowo, from Partai Demokrasi Indonesia Perjuangan, PDI-P

(iii) Prabowo Subianto from Gerindra Party.

For Parliament, there are 24 parties: (Golkar, PDIP, PKB, PPP, NasDem, etc.)

The elections are of significant importance for Indonesia as the nation continues to strengthen its democratic institutions and processes. (PR)

_________________

The post Indonesia to hold elections on Feb 14 first appeared on Sindh Courier.

Monitoring Desk

Islamabad

The Muslim philanthropic organization of Indonesia, Dompet Dhuafa recently completed the construction and handed over 10 climate resilient model houses to the flood victims in District Sujawal, Sindh Province.

The Ambassador of Indonesia Mr. Adam M. Tugio chaired the hybrid session of project completion ceremony and symbolically handed over the keys to Muhammad Hassan Rind, representing the flood affected villagers on December 16, 2022.

“As brotherly nations, Indonesia shares sorrows of Pakistani people caused by recent floods and the reconstruction of these houses are manifestation of our solidarity”, the envoy said.

The housing program for flood victims by Dompet Dhuafa provided 10 brick houses, 4 public toilets and one water well. Each house has a size of 15×20 feet with two bed rooms and one living room. This model housing project worth around USD 35.000 was completed in 27 days. In October, Dompet Dhuafa also built two model houses in the nearby area.

Indonesia and Pakistan have strong bonds of brotherhood and this humanitarian aid reflects the strong partnership and mutual cooperation to support each other in difficult times. “We hope that assistance from the government and people of Indonesia will reduce the sufferings of flood affected communities and support the rehabilitation and reconstruction process”, Ambassador Tugio said.

Earlier, in September 2022, the Indonesian government dispatched the first batch of flood relief aid weighing around 90 tons followed by sending the team of 29 Indonesian health professionals to Sindh Province. The fourth batch of Indonesian additional logistic assistance was expected to arrive by December end.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo has also pledged to provide humanitarian grant of USD 1 million which will be sent directly to NDMA of Pakistan.

__________________

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Smriti Mallapaty

A vaccine to prevent infection from dengue — a mosquito-borne disease that kills 20,000 people a year — is poised to roll out in Indonesia next year. But the jab is stirring debate: some researchers say that important safety concerns have been overlooked.

The vaccine, called Qdenga and developed by the pharmaceutical company Takeda, headquartered in Tokyo, is particularly significant because it is the first for people who have not been exposed to dengue. The virus infects up to 400 million people a year. The Indonesian drug regulator approved use of the vaccine without testing for previous exposure in August. Europe’s drug regulator is also considering approving the vaccine without testing.

The only other approved vaccine, Dengvaxia, developed by Sanofi in Paris, can be given only to people who have already been infected. In individuals with no history of infection, Dengvaxia increases the risk of severe disease, including haemorrhagic fever, which might be caused by a rare but serious condition called antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE), in which vaccination induces antibodies that make a subsequent infection worse.

It is the possibility of ADE that is fuelling concerns about the new vaccine among some scientists, who say that it cannot be ruled out on the basis of clinical-trial data gathered so far. “I was really disappointed and surprised that the Indonesian government approved” the vaccine without restrictions, says Aravinda de Silva, a virologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who has collaborated with Takeda and other dengue-vaccine developers.

A Takeda spokesperson says that clinical-trial data have been collected from more than 28,000 people over 4.5 years, which is in line with World Health Organization recommendations. The data show that Qdenga is safe, regardless of past dengue exposure, the spokesperson says. And the European Medicines Agency says there is no clear evidence of a higher risk of severe disease in people who have not been infected previously.

Other researchers say Qdenga will help to reduce the growing burden of dengue. The virus is endemic in more than 100 countries, predominantly in Asia. With no treatments and limited ways to control the spread of mosquitoes, vaccines are desperately needed. “I support the licensure of the vaccine in Indonesia,” says Tedjo Sasmono, a virologist at the Eijkman Research Center for Molecular Biology in Jakarta. Indonesia has one of the world’s highest numbers of dengue infections each year.

First approval

Dengue has four distinct ‘serotypes’ (DENV-1, DENV-2, DENV-3 and DENV-4) and protection from any two of them is needed to reduce the chance of serious disease. After a second infection, or vaccination followed by a breakthrough infection, people are typically protected against all four.

Qdenga is a two-dose inactivated-virus vaccine that uses DENV-2 as a backbone. Genes for key proteins from the other three serotypes are engineered into this backbone.

In 2019, Takeda published the results1 of a trial across 8 countries, conducted in roughly 19,000 children aged between 4 and 16. One year after immunization, the vaccine had an efficacy of 80% against symptomatic dengue, and 95% against hospitalization. In a press release posted in June this year, Takeda reported that 4.5 years after immunization, the efficacy had dropped to 61% for symptomatic infection and 84% for hospitalization.

Indonesia’s drug regulator has approved the vaccine for people aged between 6 and 45. Dropping testing for past dengue exposure makes the vaccine more practical and easier to roll out, says Eggi Arguni, a pediatrician at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. And approving Qdenga for six-year-olds will make vaccination available to younger children; in Indonesia, Dengvaxia is licensed for use only in people aged nine or older, she says. More than half of children in Indonesia have been exposed to dengue at least once by the age of six, which reduces any potential risk of ADE triggered by the new vaccine, says Arguni.

In mid-October, a committee at the European Medicines Agency recommended that the vaccine be approved for people aged four and older in Europe and dengue-endemic countries outside the European Union. The European Commission has yet to announce its decision.

Lessons from the past

But some researchers are worried about the vaccine being approved for everyone, given what is known so far. Studies suggest that after dengue infection, the immune system is hyped up enough to protect against a second infection with any serotype for one to two years — a phenomenon that is mimicked by vaccines, says de Silva. But after that period, people are protected only from the serotype to which they were first exposed, and are at increased risk of ADE when infected with other serotypes. A vaccine that does not protect against all four serotypes in people who have never been infected could induce a similar phenomenon, says Leah Katzelnick, an epidemiologist at the US National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.

That’s probably what happened with Dengvaxia. Clinical trials suggested the vaccine was safe before it was rolled out across the Philippines in 2016, but scientists raised concerns after they reviewed the data on hospitalizations in young kids2. In further analysis and modelling of clinical-trial data collected up to five years after immunization, Sanofi found that the vaccine almost doubled the risk of previously infection-naive children aged between 2 and 16 being hospitalized, some with severe disease, including dengue hemorrhagic fever3. The increased risk might have been due to ADE, but that has not been confirmed definitively.

The episode caused a huge backlash in the Philippines against vaccines in general, says Katzelnick. “Not being cautious on this has negative ramifications beyond just dengue.”

So far, no cases of ADE have been reported in clinical trials of Qdenga. But some scientists who have reviewed the clinical data say the jab could increase the risk of the condition in people who have not previously been infected, because it does not seem to protect against all four serotypes.

Data described in a paper published online in October last year4 show that vaccinated individuals without previous infection were still protected against DENV-2 in the third year after their jab, but had limited to no protection against DENV-1 or DENV-3. There were not enough cases of infection with DENV-4 to determine whether the vaccine offered protection against that serotype in people who had never previously been infected.

The data only provide evidence for the vaccine having lasting protecting against one serotype, says de Silva, which means it’s possible that a breakthrough infection with serotypes 1, 3 or 4 could cause ADE.

Hospital data

Researchers are also concerned because, according to the trial data, vaccinated individuals who had never had dengue before their jab but were infected with DENV-3 two years afterwards were more likely to end up in hospital than were people who had not been vaccinated. The case numbers are small, and not statistically significant, but they are “very strongly in the wrong direction”, says Katzelnick. It will be important to see whether these numbers rise over time, she says. “These observations are warning signs,” says de Silva — they suggest that the vaccine could be acting like a DENV-2 infection, and therefore increasing the risk of hospitalization in previously naive people infected with DENV-3.

This is a concern because DENV-3 is widespread in many areas, including parts of Indonesia, says Alejandro Marín López, a viral vaccinologist at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.

The vaccine should be tested in more people without previous infections before it is rolled out to large populations, says Scott Halstead, a retired virologist and vaccinologist formerly at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda.

Adequate safety data

The EMA told Nature that its committee had recommended Qdenga on the basis of more than four years of data on safety and efficacy. It says that these accumulated data show efficacy against DENV-1 and DENV-2, even in people without previous infections. Together, DENV-1 and DENV-2 are responsible for most of the dengue burden globally, and efficacy against those serotypes “outweighs any remaining uncertainty on lack of efficacy”, against DENV-3 and DENV-4, says the EMA.

Indonesia’s drug regulator did not respond to requests for comment.

Choo Beng Goh, head of medical affairs at Takeda Asia Pacific, told Nature that the company had identified no important safety risks in long-term analyses of the vaccine. The World Health Organization recommends obtaining three to five years’ worth of follow-up data after dengue vaccination to assess safety and efficacy accurately. This is consistent with Takeda’s phase III trial in children, Goh says.

He agrees that in people who have not previously been exposed to dengue, long-term vaccine data showed no efficacy against DENV-3 and there were not enough data to assess efficacy against DENV-4. But he says there was no evidence of ADE associated with the vaccine, and overall — when looking at data combining all four serotypes — the vaccine demonstrated efficacy in infection-naive individuals. Goh says the company plans to continue collecting data during Qdenga’s roll-out in Indonesia.

________________

Courtesy: Nature (Published on November 9, 2022)

The post Dengue vaccine poised for roll-out but safety concerns linger first appeared on Sindh Courier.

By Athar Parvaiz

NEW DELHI

Following a WHO warning about possible toxic ingredients in four cough syrups of Indian origin, the Indonesian government has ordered a temporary ban on all liquid medicines in the country over reported spike in children’s deaths linked to medical syrups.

The 19 October ban by Indonesia came two weeks after the WHO’s global medical product alert, in response to the deaths of 69 children in Gambia, a country in West Africa, from acute kidney failure.

In a series of tweets, Indonesia’s health ministry said that as of 18 October, 206 children in 20 provinces were reported to have suffered acute kidney failure and that 99 of them had died. That number have risen to 133 this week and is still expected to rise as the health ministry continues with its investigations into unregistered medical syrups sold in the country.

SciDev.Net reached out to the health ministry of Indonesia and the head of the Indonesian Pediatrician Association but none of them responded to queries about the connection with the Indian drugs which are supposedly not sold locally.

A WHO official said the global health organization had “issued an alert about sub-standard/contaminated pediatric medicines – mainly cough syrups – produced by a company in India and sold in Gambia”.

According to the WHO, as of 6 October, 81 cases of acute kidney injury had been reported, including 69 fatal ones. WHO named the products as Promethazine Oral Solution, Kofexmalin Baby Cough Syrup, Makoff Baby Cough Syrup and Magrip N Cold Syrup, manufactured by Maiden Pharmaceuticals Limited, Haryana state, India. The contaminated products contained “unacceptable amounts” of ethylene glycol and diethylene glycol.

SciDev.Net tried to reach the officials of Maiden Pharmaceuticals to comment on the controversy involving their products but all calls made were repeatedly ignored.

“Every batch of medicine that is shipped out from a factory carries a certificate of analysis, a legal document that tells the buyer that the pharmaceutical company had tested the batch being shipped. If the pharma company makes misrepresentations on this document, it must be held liable”

Dinesh S Thakur, public health activist

On Wednesday, the Philippines’ Food and Drug Administration issued its own advisory against the four drug products although it clarified that they are not registered locally.

Asserting that the quality of medical products is non-negotiable, the WHO, in an email to SciDev.Net said, it was collaborating with the Gambian government as well as with Indian regulatory authorities that are pursuing investigation to ensure that unsafe products are removed from circulation. “The deaths of children, potentially linked to contaminated medicines, is a tragedy beyond words,” the WHO statement said.

Dinesh S Thakur, a public health activist and who co-authored a book about the failings of India’s drug regulation, said, that the deaths children in the Gambia is a glaring example of the inadequate functioning of India’s drug regulatory agencies. “This has happened time and time again because India has a dysfunctional drug regulatory system … and there is no accountability of the drug regulators to the people,” Thakur told ScidDev.Net.

Said Thakur: “Every batch of medicine that is shipped out from a factory carries a certificate of analysis, a legal document that tells the buyer that the pharmaceutical company had tested the batch being shipped. If the pharma company makes misrepresentations on this document, it must be held liable.”

Queries sent to the Drug Controller General of India’s office on 20 October were acknowledged but not responded to. An official told SciDev.Net: “An investigation has been initiated and I can’t speak till the investigation gets completed.”

On 29 September India’s health ministry issued a statement saying that preliminary investigations had revealed that the products mentioned by WHO were indeed manufactured by Maiden Pharmaceutical Limited, a company based in Haryana state that had exported these products exclusively to Gambia.

“It is a usual practice that the importing country tests these imported products on quality parameters, and satisfies itself as to the quality of the products before the importing country decides to release such products for usage in the country,” the statement said.

“As per the tentative results received by WHO, out of the 23 samples of the products under reference which were tested, 4 samples have been found to contain Diethylene Glycol/ Ethylene Glycol. It has also been informed by WHO that the certificate of analysis will be made available to WHO in near future and WHO will share it with the Indian Regulator which is yet to be done,” the government statement said. “The exact one-to-one causal relation of death has not yet been provided by WHO to CDSCO (Central Drugs Standard Control Organization).”

According to an article published by the National Library of Medicine of the US government, diethylene glycol is a toxic alcohol used in brake fluid, paint, and household cleaning products, and has been used illegally as a cheap substitute solvent in drug manufacturing.

__________________

Courtesy: Sci. Dev. Net (Published on October 28, 2022) 

The post Indonesia bans cough syrups first appeared on Sindh Courier.

By Ivan Lim

Former AJA President, Contributor to AsiaN 

SINGAPORE

On May 16, an Indonesian preacher Abdul Somad Batubara travelled from neighboring Batam Island by boat and arrived at Tanah Merah Ferry Point in Singapore.

The cleric, who had been known to the authorities for his extremist religious views, was “interviewed” by immigration officials and then put on a boat back, together with his six followers.

The news set off protests from his followers who claimed the city-state’s ban as disrespectful of Muslims and Islamic religious scholars. They staged protests outside the Singapore embassy in Jakarta and consulate-general in Medan and demanded an apology.

His online supporters went so far as to post threats to bomb the island-nation and send Islamic religious defender troops to carry out 9/11-style attacks.

They also spammed the social media pages of President Halimah Yacob, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and several other political office-holders and agencies.

This has prompted Home Affairs and Law Minister, K. Shanmugam to explain that Singapore was not targeting only extremist Islamic preachers like Somad.

“…We take a zero tolerance approach and even-handed approach towards any form of hate speech and divisive ideology,” he said on May 23.

“And it is not directed at any specific individual or any specific religion, or any specific nationality. Our position applies to all.”

Giving the grounds for barring Somad from Singapore, he cited the case of a 17-year-old student, who had been detained after he was radicalized by watching the cleric’s Youtube videos and believed that bombers are martyrs.

The preacher’s teachings would create religious and political disharmony, according to Mr. Shanmugam. For example, he had labelled non-Muslims as kafirs or infidels; asserted that Muslims should not accept non-Muslims as their leaders; and that non-Muslims could conspire to oppress Muslims.

Somad’s other derogatory and denigrating remarks about Christianity included telling Muslims not to travel in Red Cross ambulances because they display a cross symbol. Also, he said Muslims should not wish others Merry Christmas.

“The language, the rhetoric … is very divisive, completely unacceptable in Singapore. Racial, religious harmony, we consider fundamental to our society and most Singaporeans accept that.”

The popular preacher, 44, said he would try to enter Singapore again, arguing in a YouTube video that Singapore was Tanah Melayu (Malay land) and part of Riau (archipelago)

“We will not allow persons like Somad any opportunity to build up a local following or engage in activities that threaten our security and communal harmony,” said Mr. Shanmugam.

The government’s crackdown on extremist Islamic ideology has won backing by the Religious Rehabilitation Group (RRG) of Islamic asatizah (scholars and teachers).

“We stand strong by the Singapore government’s position that divisive and segregationist views have no place in this country,” they said in a Facebook post on May 24.

“The RRG responds with deep embarrassment and utmost regret to a fellow preacher who appears to                                        possess and propagate views that are opposed to accepted Islamic and universal values of humanity, mercy and unconditional love to others.”

The RRG, formed in 2003, has played a key role in correcting misinterpretation of Islamic concepts and counselling young Muslims who had been radicalized by deviant and terrorist ideology.

Thus, the volunteer group has urged Muslims to reject those spreading views opposed to the spirit of the Sharia or Islamic law, even if they are from within their own fold.

To be sure, Islamic preachers are not the only ones the government have declared persona non-grata for their extremist or divisive teachings.

In 2017, the government banned two foreign Christian preachers from speaking in Singapore for having made derogatory remarks toward other religions.

In 2018, American Christian preacher Lou Engle was banned from preaching for derogatory remarks about Islam.

Likewise, the controversial Indian film, The Kashmir Files, was banned by the InfoComm Media Development Authority for its “provocative and one-sided portrayal of Muslims and the depictions of Hindus being persecuted in the on-going conflict in Kashmir.”

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Courtesy: The AsiaN

The post Singapore denies entry to ‘extremist’ Indonesian preacher first appeared on Sindh Courier.

Maria Myutel

Although Sindhi traders established their first contacts with the archipelago in the late nineteenth century, the formative years of the Sindhi community in Indonesia fall in the 1950s when, following Partition, Hindu Sindhis were forced to turn their temporary residence into permanent settlement. Within a short time, the community established several institutions to preserve their distinct ethno-cultural identity. The Bombay Merchant Association, a business association exclusively for Sindhis, and Gandhi Memorial School with English as a medium of education and Hindi/Sindhi as elective subjects, played key roles in maintaining and strengthening Sindhi identity in Indonesia, in Jakarta in particular. Following an uneventful settlement, in the 1960s and 1970s Sindhis renounced their British India passports, obtained Indonesian citizenship, picked up spoken Indonesian and developed a love for Indonesian cuisine.

In the early 2010s there were no more than 10,000 Sindhis permanently residing in Indonesia, which makes them a tiny minority in a population of more than 250 million across the archipelago. Indonesian Sindhis remain Hindu with only a small number converting to Christianity. That means that Sindhis are a “double minority” in a largely Muslim population of Indonesia. The majority of Indonesian Sindhis (6,000–8,000) reside in Jakarta where they outnumber other communities of Indian descent, such as Sikhs and Tamils. Economically, Sindhi families belong to the upper middle class. In the words of one respondent, “there are only rich and not-that-rich Sindhis”.

Raam Punjabi, the most famous Sindhi businessman and media magnate, was mentioned by Forbes magazine as one of the 150 richest Indonesians for several consecutive years. While most Indonesian Sindhis built their fortune in trade business specializing in textiles, several families branched out of the traditional business milieu and carved a niche for themselves in Indonesian media industries, first in cinema (since the 1950s) and later national television (since the 1990s). Sindhi producers are largely credited with the establishment and development of commercial soap opera production, one of the main industries of the Indonesian media landscape since the early 1990s. In other words, Sindhis played and continue to play a very large economic and cultural role in Indonesian media production, in particular popular entertainment. It should be mentioned that Sindhis are the only Indian Indonesians who are involved in media production. Other communities (Sikhs, Tamils, and Punjabis) are present in other sectors of the Indonesian economy.

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The “New Order” regime, established by the army general Suharto, in contrast with the rule of his predecessor Sukarno, was the time when Sindhis grew socially and economically strong not only as individuals but, most importantly, as a community. Sindhi businesses, educational and religious institutions strengthened and prospered. At the same time, the community grew increasingly exclusive. Overall, my respondents from the Sindhi community had very good memories of the 1970s and 1980s.

The increased wealth and well-being of the Sindhi community under the New Order can be attributed to a number of factors, which had a lot to do with the overall improvement of the economic climate in Indonesia due to the privatization and liberalization of the economy and the oil boom. The laws of the late 1960s reversed Sukarno’s hostile policies towards foreign investors and private enterprises and gave incentives for the development of private businesses (Dick et al. 2002:206). For the Sindhi community, which, in Falzon’s words, is “synonymous with business”, the favorable economic conditions were among the main factors of community well-being. The growing economic opportunities encouraged Sindhis to apply for Indonesian citizenship. Most of the community members gave up their Indian passports in the period of unprecedented economic growth of Indonesia—in the 1970s. Those Sindhis who decided to retain their foreign passports were also able to do business in Indonesia: they moved from trade to textile manufacturing which was open to private, particularly foreign, investors to encourage exports.

While most Indonesian Sindhis built their fortune in trade business specializing in textiles, several families branched out of the traditional business milieu and carved a niche for themselves in Indonesian media industries, first in cinema (since the 1950s) and later national television (since the 1990s).

India-Indonesia relationships played a significant role in increasing and securing the well-being of Sindhis in Indonesia during Suharto’s rule. On a practical level, Sindhis became the main facilitators of aid that India offered Indonesia immediately after the change of the regime in 1965. The aid was in the form of a substantial loan (US$100 million) in Indian goods like paper, chemical, steel, bicycle parts. According to H.M. Mahtani, one of the senior community members, the Indonesian officials did not know what to do with all these goods and approached Sindhi community members asking for help in marketing them.30 Indonesian officials turned to Sindhis because the latter were well known in the Jakartan elite circles for their ability to supply goods, which were difficult to obtain. As a result, Sindhis became the key contacts for businessmen from India, who wished to explore investment opportunities in the Southeast Asian region. By the early 1980s Indian companies had invested more than US$200 million to Indonesia. Most of those joint ventures were between Gujarati entrepreneurs from India and Sindhi businessmen in Indonesia.

At the level of international politics, and in the context of the Cold War in particular, the strategic position of India between two major powers, the USA and the USSR, was also favorable to the stable position of Sindhis, as well as other Indian migrants, in Indonesia. Mistreatment of the trading community which maintained close relationships with India would not have worked in favor of Indonesia and its position in the global arena. Although the relations between Indonesia and India during the late 1960s and the 1970s were not as amicable as back in the 1950s, it was in the interest of Indonesia to maintain neutrality with India. India was seen by the US and the USSR as an important player in the Cold War. In the 1970s when India’s political ideology and economic policies started to diverge significantly from that of Indonesia, drawing closer to the Soviet Union than the Western powers, Suharto, who had close connections with the Western bloc, did not escalate frictions with India. In words of Mastny (1996), during the Cold War Indonesia and India “created a model of mutually beneficial realpolitik”.

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In daily life, Sindhis felt there was nothing wrong in retaining their Sindhiness while residing in Indonesia (Mani 1993a:122). Sindhis preserved their religious identity and made continuous efforts to keep Sindhi and Hindi as the main community languages. The business, educational, social and religious institutions established and patronized by the Sindhis grew strong during the New Order period. The Gandhi

Memorial School in Jakarta with English as the medium of education not only remained open during Suharto’s rule but grew significantly: from a small community school offering only primary-level education, it turned into one offering secondary and high school education, with an annual enrolment of more than 1500 students.

The cultural and religious life of Sindhis was vibrant, with festivals, cultural celebrations, and entertainment programs organized throughout the year.31 In Jakarta the celebrations usually took place on the Gandhi School premises, in temples, community hall (Graha Sindhu, acquired by community in 1973) or expensive hotel ballrooms, and were limited to the community members and Jakartan elites. These events were not open to the public at large, and were never taken to the streets. I would argue that the reason for its closed nature had to do more with the wish of the Sindhi community to keep their festivals and celebrations exclusive, than with restrictions on their cultural expressions. The fact that similar exclusiveness is maintained by Sindhis in other parts of the world, and was practiced in Indonesia until the early 2010s, long after the New Order regime collapsed, supports my argument.

As institutions reproducing Sindhi identity strengthened, the interaction of Indonesian Sindhis with non-Sindhis became more limited. If for business matters Sindhis continued to intermingle with non-Sindhi Indonesians, mostly Chinese Indonesians, in non-business spheres the interaction was minimized. From the 1960s most Sindhi children attended Gandhi Memorial School and thus stayed out of touch with the non-Sindhi and more broadly, the non-Indian Indonesian community. Women also generally limited their social circle to the Sindhi community. So since the late 1960s Sindhis grew increasingly exclusive towards all other ethno-cultural communities in Indonesia and focused on re-creating and maintaining the lifestyle of pre-Partition Sindh as they remembered and imagined it. They managed to preserve their lifestyle to such an extent that Sindhis from Hong Kong or Manila often referred to the Jakarta Sindhis as too conservative, inward looking, even “backward”.

Meanwhile, the attitude of non-Sindhi Indonesians towards Sindhis was also increasingly ambivalent. On the one hand, according to my Sindhi community respondents, Indonesians were friendly and accepting:

Quite curiously, during the New Order several Indian cultural festivals did get banned in Sumatra. A ban on the celebration of Thaiputsam, a Hindu festival celebrated mostly by the Tamil community, was imposed in Medan in 1973. According to Mani (1993b), the ban was, however, not the initiative of the state but requested by the Hindu Temple leaders themselves as they did not want to emphasize any cultural and religious differences and stood for total integration of Tamils into Indonesian society.

So when I first came here [from the Philippines] I was thinking—oh my God! They like Indians. I see movies on TV, I hear songs on the radio. Totally different world. There [in Philippines] people ignore you, look down on you… Here [in Indonesia] they respect us as human beings. (Rohini, Indonesian Sindhi, personal communication, 5 Mar. 2013)

This acceptance, however, had limits. Sindhis were accepted and welcome by Indonesians only as foreigners, not as locals. In everyday encounters Sindhis were constantly reminded of their differences with the local population through the “foreignizing gaze”: “Here [in Indonesia] it’s automatic—when people look at you, they look at you as you are a foreigner” (Reena, Indonesian Sindhi, personal communication, 6 Mar. 2013). Such treatment was, however, not much of a concern for Sindhis, who put a lot of effort into reproducing their differences. One of my respondents summarized her experience in the following way:

You know, everywhere I go I feel I am different but different in a good way…I feel I get more respect. People notice me more. I feel special. I don’t need to try hard to get attention. (Aditi, Indonesian Sindhi, personal communication, 30 Jan, 2013)

In other words, distancing was as much the result of Sindhi community efforts to preserve their cultural distinctiveness as it was the outcome of continuing racialization of Indonesian society. The legal and administrative practices of dividing people based on their skin color, language and other social characteristics, introduced by the colonial power to pursue political aims, were gradually incorporated into the everyday lives of common people. In daily interactions viewing and interpreting social reality through the prism of ethnic imagery became the norm.

(Excerpts from ‘Indians and National Television in Indonesia’– A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of The Australian National University- 2016)

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Photo Courtesy: Sindhi Shan Magazine 

The post Sindhi Migration and Settlement in Indonesia first appeared on Sindh Courier.