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YEU (YAKKUM Emergency Unit), as a younger sister of a solid
CD Bethesda, is a three-year old Indonesian emergency NGO officially
established in 2001. Her birth was based on pressing concerns within
YAKKUM (Yayasan Kristen untuk Kesehatan Umum – Christian Foundation
for Public Health) regarding the effectiveness of CD Bethesda’s
responses to emergencies while still retaining its focus on community
development work.
History of YEU
YAKKUM (Yayasan Kristen untuk Kesehatan Umum –
Christian Foundation for Public Health) Emergency Unit (YEU) was
established in 2001. It took birth in the wake of a wide-ranging
external evaluation by international stakeholders of the workings
of the extensive development programs carried out by CD Bethesda
(Community Development of Bethesda Hospital). It was based on pressing
concerns within YAKKUM Foundation regarding the effectiveness of
CD Bethesda’s responses to emergencies while still retaining
its cutting edge as a development organization in Indonesia. The
primary question was, in the main, how responses to emergencies
could be implemented with equal speed and efficiency- the essence
of emergency responses.
In the wake of the demise of the Soeharto regime,
Indonesia rapidly slid into a phase of multiple crises requiring
massive humanitarian interventions on the part of those already
engaged in human and social development processes. This is not to
suggest that what occurred was new or unknown. Some things simply
surfaced because they had been suppressed so long that when they
did show up, it came out more like an eruption. There was also the
Asian financial crisis of 1997, which took its toll and left entire
communities in a state of deprivation. Moreover, the termination
of dictatorship and its replacement by a regime of democracy gave
rise to instability. The lack of preparedness for the sea changes
in the political, social and economic circumstances of the country
also resulted in uneasiness within the army and the elites who feared
a potential decline in their ability to influence and shape events
to suit their own narrow interests. The manifold conflicts that
exploded caught many people by surprise. This is particularly true
of the various inter-religious riots, and the riots between different
ethnic groups. It surprised observers that people who had for so
long lived in harmony and peaceful co-existence could suddenly train
guns against each other, and use some of the most brutal and horrific
ways to kill and decimate each other.
 Without
any notice, so to speak, a little more than a half of the work of
CD Bethesda had got immersed in responses to emergency needs in
their service areas. This naturally imposed burdens on the ongoing
community development processes particularly since it began to have
an impact on the internal paradigm conflict between the community-based/managed
approach and the newly developed relief-recovery approach. Additionally,
there was also the question of time management with staff being
pulled in both directions and having to cope with pressures hitherto
unfamiliar. These stresses and strains began to show up in the work
and led to the sharply present stresses of knowing how emergencies
must be responded to in line with the overall mission of YAKKUM
as well being able to maintain the key dimension of development
through the CD Bethesda channel.
Commencing January 2001, a new rapid relief response
unit was launched with the expressed purpose of providing an adequate
response to the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian crisis where
situations of emergency were unraveling. CD Bethesda staffs that
were previously active in the emergency work were recruited into
this new unit. Other units within YAKKUM that previously worked
in special emergency program initiatives also joined this new unit.
After being operational for some months an internal workshop was
carried out at which in-depth thinking and planning was done. In
conclusion it was agreed that an emergency unit be formally established
and launched and that this unit be given the nomenclature YEU or
the YAKKUM Emergency Unit.
From 2001 – 2007, YEU worked to articulate
its presence through responses to selected emergencies situations.
These include the victims of tribal conflict between the Dayak and
Madura people; the floods in Kebumen Central Java; the extensive
floods in East and Central Java, the influx of migrant workers in
Nunukan and East Kalimantan; the sectarian conflict in Poso, the
religious-ethnic conflicts in the Maluku Islands, and an intervention
to those indirectly affected by the Bali bombing.
YEU seeks to respond to disasters in Indonesia provided
it falls within its capacities, possibilities, needs, and priorities.
YEU has now worked in the field of emergencies for over two years
as a distinct entity of YAKKUM. It was clear that YEU had acquired
a status in the emergency arena in Indonesia. This is coupled with
the fact that YEU has affected a fairly substantial number of interventions
within a relatively short span of time.Insofar as emergency is concerned,
in the wake of the demise of the Soeharto regime, Indonesia rapidly
underwent into a phase of multiple crises requiring massive humanitarian
interventions. To that could be added, the Asian financial crisis
of 1997, which took its toll and left entire communities in a state
of deprivation and rising poverty. Moreover, instability has been
in the raise due to the termination of dictatorship and its replacement
by successive regimes of fledgling democracy. The once time powerful
army and Soeharto’s New Order bureaucracy who feared a potential
decline in controlling political and economic empire have tried
to put the break on the process of what being called reformation.
Manifold conflicts have exploded throughout Indonesia: inter-religious
riots and riots between different ethnic groups. It surprised many
people that people who had for so long lived in harmony and peaceful
co-existence could suddenly run amuck, bloody hurting and killing
each other mercilessly.
In overall, YEU and her local partners, despite
being a slim organization, they have achieved much. A dedicated
staff, very mobile, well networked in the field, disciplined, possessing
financial transparency, and clearly tied to principles has been
the mainstay of the YEU success story. There are deficits all of
which can be redressed and their emergence is a sign of progress.
The willingness to strive for better things and higher standards
is clear. The challenges in term of deficits would not be too difficult
to be overcome and worked out by YEU, given sufficient financial
and moral supports from friends, partners and people YEU are serving.
Any effort being put into the endeavor would surely be paid off,
considering the continuing areas of hard work YEU will remain face
in many years to come. Three of these main areas of work are:
- Responding to environmental disasters with relief-recovery plans
along with a long-term development strategy;
- Responding to victims of conflict along with peace building across
communities;
- Protecting the rights and dignity of the victims.
In these main areas of work, YEU’s intervention
will likely be concentrated on the following six issues:
- Medical and health work;
- Disaster preparedness and Environmental protection;
- Sanitary and hygiene (environmental health);
- Economic empowerment;
- Psycho-social counseling;
- Information services-media relations-fund rising.
Those following six issues are to move YEU
forward as a highly professional and reliable domestic emergency
agency in an Indonesia pregnant with uncertainty and potential violence.
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