UN IN INDONESIA

May-June, 2010

BRINGING
COUNTRIES AND
PEOPLES
TOGETHER:
Marcos Diaz gets a
warm welcome in
Indonesia after
braving
treacherous waters
in a long-distance
swim from Papua
New Guinea.

Going the Distance for the MDGs

Jakarta - World-famous long-
distance swimmer Marcos
Diaz arrived in Jakarta on 20
May after beginning his quest
become the first man ever to
swim across the five
continents of the planet, in an
effort to promote the United
Nations Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs).
He was accompanied by
accompanied by Ambassador
Hans Dannenberg Castellano
of the Dominican Republic and
by a core group of supporting
team members.
I feel committed to
contributing to the
development of the countries
and promoting initiatives that
help to turn the world into a
better place for all, Diaz said.
Diaz had recently finished the
first leg of his swims to
connect the five continents
with a 19.4 km crossing from
Papua New Guinea to
Indonesia (Oceania to Asia).
He has since moved on to
Jordan to swim across the Red
Sea and reach the shores of
Egypt (Asia to Africa).
While in Jakarta, Diaz
was welcomed by the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs with a press
conference chaired by Mr.
Ghafur Akbar Dharmaputra,
the Director for Economic
Development and
Environmental Affairs. Also
present were Foreign Ministry
spokesman Teuku Faizasyah
and Amb. Dannenberg
Castellanos, among others.
Mr. Dharmaputra told the press
that Diazs swim is not only a
demonstration of how strong
will and determination can
actually make someone go the
distance but also a conduit to

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 voice the critical urgency of
UN IN INDONESIA May-June 2010
addressing the most pressing
challenge in human
development agenda:
achieving the global
Millennium Development
Goals.
Swim Across the Continents
is the name of this ambitious
project that has the official
endorsement of the United
Nations and was created by
the Marcos Diaz Foundation,
a charity founded by the
talented Dominican swimmer.
Through Swim Across the
Continents, Marcos wants to
build support and demand
action from world leaders at
the United Nations Summit on
the Millennium Development
Goals (20-22 September in
New York) where he hopes to
present signatures from
around the world in support of
the MDGs.
With only five years left until
the 2015 target date to
achieve the Goals, the
Summit will bring together
world leaders to review
progress and lessons learnt
and adopt a global action plan
for accelerating progress on
the MDGs.

Juliwati
Japi:
I want to
be a
champion!

Jakarta The sun is just rising on the
Velodroom Stadium in Rawamangun, east
Jakarta, when 16 year old Juliwati Japi arrives
for a regular training session held by Special
Olympics Indonesia (SOIna). Juli, as she is
known, joined SOIna in 2004, two years after
she moved to Jakarta from her home city of
Sampit, Central Kalimantan.
Like all of the SOIna athletes, Juli is a child
with intellectual disabilities. She was born with
Downs Syndrome - a condition in which extra
genetic material causes delays in the way a
child develops, both mentally and physically.
Despite the challenges of her disability, she
has participated in many international sports
events her biggest achievement being when
she ran in fourth place in athletics at the 2007
Special Olympics World Summer Games in
Shanghai, China.
Juli, who has barely skipped her Saturday
routine with SOIna, was most excited that day
according to Mrs. Iih, Julis auntie who has also
been her chaperone.
She is wearing specially the official jersey of
Special Olympics Indonesia that she wore at
the Shanghai Olympic Games, because she
was told that today she would meet with a real
champion, Mrs. Iih explains. She is referring to
Marcos Diaz - a world ultra distance swimmer
from the Dominican Republic, who is
scheduled to visit the training session today to
meet and talk with the young athletes of
SOIna.
When Diaz, who holds the World Record for
swimming back and forth across the Gibraltar
Straits, arrives at the training ground, Juli is
sitting on a tribune in one corner of the stadium
with all of her fellow young athletes and their
parents and chaperones. A big smile crosses
her face when Marcos starts talking clearly
she is a huge admirer.

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UN IN INDONESIA April, 2010 Marcos shares with the children how he used
to suffer from a chronic asthma in his early
years, but that he has overcome it since he
became a swimmer.
I encourage you to keep on training, because
sports help you to make you strong and
confident, he tells the youngsters.
Marcos, who is also a trainer for Special
Olympics children in his country, adds, There
are many children out there dont have the
opportunity to develop their potential. You are
lucky being with the Special Olympics, who can
help provide that opportunity.
Special Olympics Indonesia is a nonprofit and
nongovernment organisation, accredited by the
global Special Olympics organization that
targets almost 200 million people with
intellectual disabilities around the world through
sport activities. Indonesia became the 79th
member of the Special Olympics in 1989, and
now organizes a National Special Olympics
Games for Indonesian children every four
years, normally one year ahead of the World
Special Olympics Games.
This year, UNICEF Indonesia has partnered
with SoIna to help promote the importance of
inclusion for children, regardless of their
circumstances. Social and economic exclusion
are major barriers to development for millions
of Indonesian children, in areas such as
education, health and protection.
Disparities in Indonesia are a critical
challenge that we need to address, if
Indonesia is to move closer to achieving
the Millennium Development Goals
- Angela Kearney, UNICEF Representative
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Disparities in Indonesia are a critical challenge
that we need to address, if Indonesia is to
move closer to achieving the Millennium
Development Goals, and if we are to ensure
that every child benefits from the incredible
economic progress that the country has
enjoyed in recent years, explains UNICEF
Representative Angela Kearney.
SOIna is demonstrating in a very tangible way
just how much Indonesian children can achieve
when provided with equality of opportunity, free
of stigma or exclusion and these young
athletes themselves are role models to us all.
Juli has also been inspired by her own role
model, Marcos. After talking and taking pictures
with her champion, Juli tells her auntie that she
wants to be like the swimmer.
Juli has been preparing herself to compete in
the National Special Olympics Games, says
Mrs. Iih, as she goes onto explain how the
young woman will compete in running and
swimming in the National Games, to be staged
in Jakarta from 26 30 June 2010.
Given her determination to excel, Marcos Diaz
might be forgiven for worrying at the potential
competition.
For more info, please visit www.soina.or.id.
UN IN INDONESIA May-June, 2010
Indonesia: A Partner in Peacekeeping

PUTIH-MERAH
AND UN BLUE:

UN USG Kiyo
Akasaka and
UNIC Director
Michele
Zaccheo mark
the International
Day of UN
Peacekeepers
with a visit to the
Peacekeeping
Training Centre
in Cilangkap.

Cilankap, West Java - Few
people realise that Indonesia,
with some 1,650 personnel
deployed in six UN missions,
is among the top 20 troop
contributors to United Nations
peacekeeping operations
around the world.
In fact, Indonesia may well be
the only country in the world
whose current Head of State
has served as a UN
peacekeeper: President Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono served
as a senior military officer in
UNPROFOR, the UN mission
in Bosnia Herzegovina.
Small surprise then that
Kiyotaka Akasaka, the UN
Under-Secretary-General for
Communications and Public
Information paid tribute to
Indonesias peacekeepers
during his visit to Jakarta on
27 May, just in advance of the
International Day of United
Nations Peacekeepers.
I am very fortunate to be here
on the eve of this tribute to UN
peacekeepers and UN
peacekeeping, Mr. Akasaka
told a group of former blue
berets from the military and
police at the peacekeeping
training centre (PMPP) in
Cilangkap. Indonesia has
been a long-standing partner
in this noble enterprise, he
said.
Under-Secretary-General
Akasaka also met with the
Chief of Staff of the Indonesian
Armed Forces, Air Marshal
Edy Harjoko.
United Nations Secretary-
General Ban Ki-moon is
committed to continuing to
adapt UN peacekeeping to
todays realities -- to making
sure that the United Nations
can meet the changing
demands and requests for UN
peacekeeping, Mr. Akasaka
told his hosts. But in order to
be effective, he said, the
United Nations needs active
political strategies and political
support to implement the
peacekeeping mandates that
we are given. UN
peacekeeping also needs
more military, more police
and especially women police
and more civilian personnel.
UN PEACEKEEPERS
ARE ONE OF THE
GREATEST ASSETS
AND SOURCES OF
PRIDE OF THE UNITED
NATIONS
- Kiyotaka Akasaka, UN
Under-Secretary-General
for Communications and
Public Information

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UN IN INDONESIA May-June, 2010
Census Time: Everyone Counts
Jakarta - The month of May saw Indonesia
undertaking its largest census ever: a huge
challenge, in a diverse nation of 17,000
islands. Current estimates project the total
population between 230 and 240 million
people, but the difficulties of running a census
here are about more than sheer numbers.
You could say the that the biggest population
census is in the Peoples Republic of China, in
terms of people, but in terms of access,
Indonesia may be even more difficult said
according to Indonesias chief statistician
Rusman Heriawan of BPS, noting the
archipelagos unique geography and cultural
diversity. The challenges are not limited to
reaching remote areas, however. In Jakarta,
hard to count populations include wealthy
citizens living in gated compounds (or high-
rise buildings that can be difficult to access),
sailors, and other transient populations.
An army of 700,000 census workers was
mobilized to make sure everyone in Indonesia
is accounted for. Along with details of births,
deaths, and religious affiliation, the teams
collected for the first time in this years
census -- information on internet connections
and cellphone access, as well as important
data on maternal mortality and disability.
There are very specific questions on
eyesight, on hearing, on body impairment,
said Zahidul Huque, who heads the United
Nations Population Fund or UNFPA in
5
Indonesia. There are questions on the census
forms relating to many of the Millennium
Development Goals, so this will be a good tool
for policy makers. Theres a wide array of data
and information that could be made available
to the public, he said. UNFPA provides
technical support to the census in Indonesia
as well as in some 40 other countries.
Indonesias rapid population growth and
urbanization since the last time the census
was taken 10 years ago makes it especially
important to have an accurate statistical
picture of the countrys population in 2010.
Fortunately, says Zahidul Huque, they are
very organized for the census here in
Indonesia.
Everyone has to be counted, said Rusman
Heraiwan, so we must also be mindful of the
people without a fixed address, such as the
homeless.
Counting the homeless is a challenge in its
own right: for one thing, its best done at
night, when homeless people tend to stop
UN IN INDONESIA May-June, 2010 and take a break from the daily struggle for
survival. When you wake them up, you have
to be polite, and respectful, says Rocky
Gunung Hasudungan, who was leading a
census team along the abandoned railroad
tracks in Central Jakarta. And you have to be
careful, because they are suspicious of us, he
said. But as difficult as it is to count those who
live in extreme poverty, its a job that must be
done. Reducing by half the number of people
who live in extreme poverty one of the
promises of the Millennium Development
Goals means first knowing how many
people are actually living in those conditions.

International Year of Youth: Dialogue and Mutual Understanding starts on 12 August 2010.
The UN Framework Approach aims to
- Create awareness (by increasing commitment and investment in youth);
- Mobilize and engage (increase youth participation and partnerships);
- Connect and build bridges (increase intercultural understanding among youth).

UN agencies in Indonesia are encouraged to promote their upcoming youth-related activities in

connection with the International Year.

International Day of Biological Diversity (22 May) was marked by the UN in Indonesia with a
tree-planting event in Bogor, in partnership with KEHATI, local schools and Sharp electronics.
Airbus is a UNEP private sector partner for the International Year of Biodiversity.

The UN Country Team met with BAPPEDA and NTT province

representatives 14-15 June in Kupang, NTT, to discuss the UNs partnership
IN BRIEF role in line with the UN-Indonesia Partnership for Development Framework
(UNPDF), 2011-2015.

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UN IN INDONESIA May-June, 2010
17 June: World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought
17 June: Launch of UNDPs MDG Report What will it Take UN
to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals? (12 noon in CALENDAR
New York)
17 June: UNHCR Refugee Film Screening at Atma Jaya
University, Jakarta (World Refugee Day, 20 June).
23 June: Launch of the UN Secretary-Generals Millennium
Development Report (11 am in New York)
26-30 June: UNICEF supports Indonesia Special Olympics,
focusing on inclusion. Kelapa Gading, East Jakarta.
24 June: UN CARES orientation.
30 June: Young Writers Award announcement (UNICEF).

11 July: World Population Day. UNFPA to support BKKBN

messaging on reproductive health through training of
wayang puppeteers.

3-4 August: Asia-Pacific Ministerial Meeting on MDGs,

Jakarta (UNDP,EU/EC, WB, OECD, IDB, ILO, FAO, UN
DESA, UN ESCAP, ASEAN), Hotel Indonesia Kempinski,
Jakarta.
9 August: UNODC one-day seminar on sterile needle and
syringe service programmes.
12 August: International Day of Youth and kick-off of
International Year of Youth (UNFPA and others)
14-18 August: Global Model UN Towards an Alliance of
Civilizations, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
23-27 August: Asia-Africa Youth Forum 2010, Bandung,
West Java (UN MC, UNIC)

- A global attitudes poll by the Pew Research Centre in 2009 showed that
79% of Indonesians surveyed held a favourable view of the United
DID YOU Nations. Together with the Republic of Korea, that is the highest approval
rating of any country in the survey.
KNOW?

The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the official views or
policies of the United Nations. The information herein may be freely reproduced. UN IN
INDONESIA is published electronically by the United Nations Information Centre,
Jakarta.
e-mail: unic-jakarta@unic-jakarta.org