A Solution to Achieve Competitiveness

The very basic scheme to utilize and develop the Indonesian-Arabs economy sustainability in long term is only through education that means scholarship. As what it says, KNOWLEDGE IS A POWER.

Scholarship is given only to students of High Schools by reasoning that in Indonesia, high school is the gate to have access to a better living condition, either as social intellectual knowledge or to have further education, academy and university.


SCHOLARSHIP

As it is long explained earlier, it may be concluded that the Indonesian-Arab generation at the moment is in a very critical situation that needs immediate help so they can normatively keep their existence as a minority of Arab ethnic in Indonesia.
The Indonesian-Arab students are generally enthusiastic of having high education for their future carrier either as self-employed society or involved in employment. And it is a very important foundation justifying that they deserve donation for their noble purposes.

To day there are 28.468 High School students who can not complete their education and it is because of their parents are unable to pay tuition fees drawn by the school. There is nothing they can do. Their children are forced to leave schools, a place where they can hope for a better life.

Education in Indonesia is expensive to most Indonesians. Averagely, Public High Schools in Indonesia draw $150 - $700 from each student as registration fee. And later, they will collect $7 - $13 as monthly payment. Besides all of those costs, parents still have to provide transportation and pocket money for their children. And it range in $30 - $40 a month. This practice is implemented despite Government campaign of ‘Free Tuition’.

The amount of scholarship that will be given depends on the student living region. In Indonesia, cost of living in every region is always different.
The scholarship is estimated range $10 - $15 a month for each student and it will be transferred to student’s or family’s bank account every quarterly or given cash or directly paid to the schools where the students study. Student or family who will receive the scholarship will be carefully selected. Priority is highly put to High School student base on the reasons above.

The Amount of Scholarship Needed (Table D)


SELECTION OF SCHOLARSHIP RECEIVERS

A few steps has been arranged to avoid mistakes due to the distribution of the scholarship. It is understandable that any careful observation is necessary to find the receiver who really deserves the aid.
The steps are:

1. Special form will be distributed begin with the city where the highest number of Indonesian Arab population lives. The form is filled out with family detail information that includes monthly income/income resources. Every family can get the form from their community leader (quite often the Indonesian Arab community has an informal leader who is fully respected) or from Akhmad Al-Hassny Foundation office or hot line. The ready form sends by mail to Akhmad Al-Hassny Foundation office.

2. The form then selected to find family who meets the criteria as low income family. Later, the family will be interviewed (or even visited) to prove as what has been stated on the form. That family must also give three references from others who can support the fidelity of the information they have filled out on the form.

3. All forms and the results of interview will be processed to get more accurate
selection for the scholarship receivers. As the process completed, the family
selected will be informed and the school where the students study will also
be contacted.



4. All forms sent will be kept as Akhmad Al-Hassny Foundation data base and
they will be regularly checked to know that they are proved to be correct. Should there be any improper information or the information given contradict the real condition, it may cause the scholarship be annulled.
Scholarship is indeed the only major contribution to help the Indonesian-Arabs in Indonesia to help themselves for better living condition in future so they are able to stand equally as one of the foreign ethnic groups in the development of Indonesia as their country.

The Future Fate as Minority

Life is not getting easier in future. As number of population grows rapidly, competition to get better living standard is of course more difficult then before.
In 2010, Indonesia is predicted to have population around 255 millions. For undeveloped country like Indonesia, it is a very hard work for its government to provide social economy welfare and security to all of its citizens amidst the Indonesian slow economy growth and the era of globalization. Although Indonesia is rich with undeveloped natural resources yet it is only for those who have proper intellectual education knowledge who would take benefit from it.
Seeing the fact of the economy condition and the low intellectual mind-setting of almost all Indonesian-Arabs, it is obvious that these people would not stand a chance to compete for better living. So, their existence as minority group in Indonesia will have been lost tragically. And what pathetic is, they may mislead themselves to behaving to something that their forefathers once strongly held as an invaluable hereditary, the Islamic Morality.

Indonesian-Arab Education

About 45% of the total Indonesian-Arabs population, 2.16 millions, is in school-ages between 5 – 20 years old. They study at many kinds of schools, General Schools or Islamic Schools. However, it is sadly to say that for low income family the number of students who continue their education until university is very small, 1 out of 20 students. While, for the mid class is 1 out of 6 students.
This potential generation for the promising future of their ethnic existence, mostly live with their parents. And about 80% of them or equal to 1.728 millions are from mid to high economy class while the low economy students are about 20% or 345.000. The last number is the number that will likely, averagely 10% - 95% of the total number, drop out in every level of education.

Table A presents number of students who are studying in Primary School until University. The number is measured from the number of children ages 5 – 20 years old.
In Indonesia, Primary School is completed in 6 years and it is divided into 6 levels of 12 semesters. It is a basic school that every student must take before they go to the next higher level, the High School.

Statistic of Education (Table B)



High School is comprises of 2 levels, Junior High School, grade 7 – 9, and Senior High School, grade 10 - 12. Junior High School is taken for 3 consecutive years and so is the Senior High School. Junior High School is only excepted students who have completed


Primary School and Senior High School only takes students graduated from Junior High School. Senior High School graduates may either continue their education to Academy or University. The Academy is highly chosen for it is shorter and cheaper. So a student of an academy will become independent faster, which later is expected to help support his/her family financial burden by sharing his/her salary with the family.

Statistic of Students Drop Out Education (Table B)


Table B shows the number of students drop out or fail to continue their schools every year. Generally in Indonesia about 20 – 30 percent of students, in every level of education, Primary, Junior or High School, is in the highest grades and these are the students who will graduate and continue their education to higher level.


Students Drop out because Financial Problems (Table C)



Table C shows students who fail to continue their education to higher level. The reasons of their failure are:

- First because of parents’ inability to bear the school fee, transportation cost and book purchasing.

- Second, the parents do not see the necessity of high education for their children although they can afford it and it is commonly because the parents are low educated.

- Third reason is that the students are needed to ease family economy burden by helping their parents businesses or just staying at home in order parents will not
have to spend any money for school fee or transportation cost.

It is very important to understand that the most effective way to help the generation of the Indonesian-Arabs for a brighter future is by giving scholarship for students of High School as priority as it is the highest number of students’ drop out. The percentage number shown is different from region to region that because of every economy condition is not the same.

General Economy Condition

It is about 20% or equal to 0.66 million Indonesian-Arabs are in lower to low class, 50% or 1.65 million are in the level of low-mid class, 25% or 0.825 million are of the mid-class and the rest 5% or 0.165 million are the mid to high class.
For the lower Indonesian-Arabs, they have to live merely day-by-day because the low income earned makes them unable to afford access to any proper living such as education, medication or housing. Their poor economy condition, negligence toward modern education and other ample reasons have been the main barriers for them to compete and to develop their economy sustainability.

It is really beyond any understanding that lower income families (2 - 3 families or 10-15 persons) live crowdedly in a small house (+ 50 m2). It is a usual sight that one house is occupied by grandparents, parents and grandchildren, as extended family.
They are forced to do so because poverty has halted them to have good housing condition. They have to share all their private need of rooms and others to all family members. They barely have enough space for their activities at home.
A situation, which is intolerable by any living standard existed elsewhere.

For a family who lives in big cities, the condition is even worse because a small house there normally does not have open space as garden. The house is crowded with family members, bad air ventilation, unhealthy sanitation, depression and many other problems may always make the house atmosphere is in high tension. Most of the time, a simple disease such as cold, cough or small pox will spread quickly among them. The worse is there are families who have to live together with their family member who
suffers mental disorder. And again poverty has engulfed their daily life so every family will submissively accept it as part of life.

The low income families commonly earn living by running various small scale retailing businesses (of capital less than $1000), home industry (footwear, clothes, bakery etc.), selling second-hand books, perfumes and others. While in services, they become employee, Car or motorcycle broker, take scramble jobs and others.

This poor condition of the Indonesian-Arabs is certainly connected with the unfavorable economy situation in Indonesia in the last decade. As the world’s oil price increase, the situation is deteriorating in every business sector. Averagely, every family from the low income earns $200 monthly (GNP $600/2008). The National Census

Bureau Indonesia states that in 2008, about 43 millions Indonesians are living in poverty and it means that include the Indonesian-Arabs.

The Indonesian Born Arabs

As years pass, to day, there are about 3.23 million Indonesian-Arabs (Indonesian-born-Arabians) in Indonesia or 1.5% (Indonesian Population 220 million/National Census Bureau 2007) while Chinese 6% or 13.2 million and Indian 0.3% or 0.66 million.
Indonesian-Arabs generally settle in Java and in certain regions where the majority of the population are Moslems, like Aceh, Lampung, South Kalimantan, Gorontalo and South Sulawesi. They usually live in a community in certain part of area where they can maintain their strong hold of custom and tradition.
They hold Al-Quran reading regularly, assemble religious anniversaries and celebrations, pray together, social visit, exchanging food during Ramadan, arranged married etc.

At the early time after colonialism was gone, the new generation of Indonesian-Arabs had special places in Indonesia, both in social community or businesses. Many of them were active in politics and parliament. They contributed their knowledge to build Indonesia which was still as a new nation. While others preferred to run business in various sectors liked factories, retails, constructions, housing development, garment, pharmacy, cosmetics, school, and many others.
However, as their forefathers, most of this new generation still holds firmly to a conservative and traditional way of life. Their idealism to keep holding onto Islamic moral values both in life and business and also their poor judgment over the importance of high education have gradually made them run over by modern era of living which later cause them lose power to compete.

The Indonesian-Arabs’ existence in business now is far behind the other ethnics, the Chinese or Indian, who at the moment, control almost 70 percent of Indonesian economy in all business sectors like banking, heavy industries and manufactures, automotive and motorcycle manufactures, chemical industries, information and technology, mining, forestry, fishery, plantation, transportation, cigarette, electronics, insurance, constructions, housing development, education, tourisms, film and music industry, hospital and pharmacy, garment, food and beverages, cosmetics, building materials, retails and other strategic businesses.

Statistic of Indonesian - Arab Population

It is absolutely dismaying to know that the next generation of the Indonesian-Arabs would probably live in even worse condition if nothing is done to empower and support them comply their children future to the fact, the proper education.

A Chronicle of Forefather

In the 1900’s, many young Arabians left their homeland, the Middle East, to find new lands for a few noble reasons, Islam and Political Asylum as fugitives of the colonialists. They sailed far to Southeast Asia, to the land that they could freely live and teach the Islamic teachings to help wide spread Islam as the only way of life for all human beings. Through hardship and help of the Arabians who had come before them, they managed to settle in some new lands like Malaysia and Indonesia.
In Indonesia, there were also two other ethnic groups, the Chinese and the Indian. Soon they made modern Islamic schools in almost every major town and city. They taught thousand students for free as they strongly believed what they did was only for Allah, the Almighty God.
Meanwhile, the Arabians who had political backgrounds, consolidated their strength and knowledge to help the natives to revolt against colonialism, the Dutch and later the Japanese. Together with their new native fellows, they opposed colonialism, secretly and openly.
In 1945, as the World War II ended, the world changed globally. Colonialism has become a memory of a dark side of human history. Many nations have liberated their lands. Some Arabians who had been away for years decided to return home together with their family they had in the foreign lands. While, many of them decided to continue living in the foreign lands and even adopted them as their new homelands. They kept working on things they had started earlier, in education, business and politics. Just liked many other countries, Indonesia proclaimed its independence shortly before the World War II ended. However, Indonesia as a new nation still had to fight for more years to have its complete liberation against the Dutch and the Allied Forces.
Once again the Arabians showed no compromise to colonialism. They, who apparently were the only foreign ethnic in Indonesia side by side with the natives to fight all forms of colonialism, helped Indonesians anyway they could, financially and spiritually. In politics, they had some important roles to bring about Indonesia’s Revolution to international forum. They were unofficially sent as moderators between Indonesia and Pan Arabic Movement. In military, they stood as suppliers for military hardware, from bullets to airplanes.
Hundreds of young Indonesian-born-Arabians bravely risking their life by getting involved in physical confrontation until Indonesia practically liberated in 1960’s.