Indonesia will also build schools and provide trainings in the conflict area.
18 Januari 2017 18:00
Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi is set to leave for Myanmar to visit conflicted Rakhine State on Jan. 20-22.
Retno will officially hand over Indonesias donation to Myanmars Social Affairs Minister and Rakhine State Chief. The donation, mostly consisting of food and clothes, was sent off in ten freight containers by President Joko Widodo on Dec. 29, 2016.
The containers arescheduled to arrive on Wednesday and will be officially handed by Retno on Saturday.
The minister will also open two schools sponsored by the Indonesian government and civil societies. The new schools will be the fifth and sixth schools built by Indonesia in Rakhine.
We want to provide beyond emergency relief. Our focus is on providing development programs and working together with humanitarian organisations and businesses, explained Ambassador Salman Alfarisi, the ministrys institutional affairs special staff, on Wednesday.
Indonesian humanitarian organisations, including PKPU and Dompet Dhuafa, are alsotaking partin this mission to revitalise the area and its people.
The Indonesian Buddhists Association (Walubi) is planning to build a hospital there. Other organisations will help providing medical workers and capacity building trainings, added Salman.
However, Salman stressed that Indonesia's donationwill not be given only to a particular group in Rakhine, but to all residents in need.
The donation is not only for a particular group, its for everyone in Rakhine. Poverty in that state is a big problem that belongs to all (conflicting) parties, Salman said.
Before leaving for Myanmar, Retno is scheduled to meet with ministers from Organisation of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) countries in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Thursday.
In this meeting, Retno and her fellow ministers will discuss on the organisations stance and policy regarding the humanitarian condition in Rakhine State. She will also report on actions already taken by Indonesia and push OIC to do the same.
We will also push OIC to work with ASEAN to support reconciliation in Myanmar, Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Armanatha Nasir said.
Retno is not scheduled to meet Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi during her visit nor Myanmar is invited in the OIC discussion.
