Mr. Albertus Suryo Sarman is a social worker and a researcher in the area of human rights, poverty, and pluralism especially in rural areas. The interview was conducted on 2004.
I: Eden Steven and Yenny Chandra; AS: Albertus Suryo Sarman
I: Can you tell us about what you and your NGO’s doing?
ASW: I have been working with grassroots community since 1989. I served at my church since 1989 and then started to work with grassroots and learned a lot of things. I joined NGO when I was teaching at Ursula high school in Serpong 1987.
I: What is the urgency facing Indonesia?
ASW: There are numerous complaints in the grassroots level. Some complained about education, while others about the company politics or justice. From all of that, I think the most urgent thing is social justice. I mentioned about economic justice for the lower class people. Sometimes, the government, investors, and entrepreneurs often overlook social justice that reflects human rights. For example, a woman who was going to give birth, but had to pay few million rupiahs beforehand. Most of social injustice at the grass root level is experienced by the farmer.
I: What is the role of the church and Christians on this issue?
ASW: Christians and church should proactively try to influence the government. Christians in government should be the salt and light. We should not take any bribe. The church should speak prophetically and helps the poor.
I: What is your hope for us that are given chance to think and eat peacefully here in US?
ASW: This conference (OMC) is very good because it gives us biblical foundation, makes us think, and does real work in the society. My hope is simple that the bible is really implemented in the society; to the people outside (Church). What has been discussed in the OMC has to be contextualized, reflected, and then implemented in the real world. So, it does not stop with debates in the mailing list. The work of the church has to be real.
I: Do you have any messages for people wanting to join NGO?
ASW: It is necessary to for the person to be physically fit and willing to obey God’s calling to work in NGO in Indonesia. Knowledge in social science and applied technical skills will be useful for understanding the social problem and applying the correct solutions. In terms of technical skills, I bring a lot of computer parts to the villages and work with them to assemble the computer. We teach them how to edit pictures in computers.
I: What is your hope for Indonesia?
ASW: I hope that the five principles of Indonesia or Pancasila will be manifested in Indonesia. Although it seems idealistic, but I hope that we can see the progress.