Jakarta, May 3 - A session intended to help participants of the APF/ACSC to understand Idnoesia, drove home the common experience of people in ASEAN. At Plenary 3 titled “ASEAN Today: What Role for Indonesia?”, the stories and insights shared by speakers resonated with all nationalities in the hall, because they highlighted the common problem of people being exploited as commodities and denied protection by their governments.
 
Writer, poet and translator, Hersri Setiawan, painted the background picture for the session, looking at the history of Indonesia in the last 50 years. He argued that the country still suffers from historical wounds because of military rule and capitalism, which have led to the people being considered as “others” and commodities.
 
The emotional personal story of Ms. Hayani, who worked as a migrant worker in Saudi Arabia and Malaysia, illustrated precisely how migrant workers can be treated as commodities without efforts made by the government to promote and protect their rights.
 
Fisherman Mr. Atoni’s testimonial of being arrested after unknowingly crossing into Malaysian waters served as another example. The panel identified that a good government – whether Indonesia or ASEAN as a whole – is one that puts its people before profits and its own wellbeing.