Barat Ali Batoor: My desperate journey with a human smuggler

Translator: Laksmi Wijayanti Reviewer: Gita Arimanda

I am a Hazara,

Saya adalah seorang Hazara,

and the homeland of my people is Afghanistan.

dan kampung halaman bangsa kami adalah Afghanistan.

Like hundreds of thousands of other Hazara kids,

Seperti ratusan ribu anak-anak suku Hazara,

I was born in exile.

saya lahir di pengasingan.

The ongoing persecution and operation against the Hazaras

Penganiayaan dan penindasan yang berkepanjangan terhadap suku Hazara

forced my parents to leave Afghanistan.

memaksa orang tua saya untuk meninggalkan Afghanistan.

This persecution has had a long history going back to the late 1800s,

Penindasan ini mempunyai sejarah panjang, yang terjadi sejak akhir tahun 1800-an,

and the rule of King Abdur Rahman.

di masa pemerintahan Raja Abdur Rahman.

He killed 63 percent of the Hazara population.

Ia membunuh 63% populasi suku Hazara.

He built minarets with their heads.

Ia membangun menara dengan kepala mereka.

Many Hazaras were sold into slavery,

Banyak orang Hazara yang dijual sebagai budak,

and many others fled the country for neighboring Iran and Pakistan.

dan banyak yang melarikan diri ke negara tetangga seperti Iran dan Pakistan.

Orang tua saya juga melarikan diri ke Pakistan,

My parents also fled to Pakistan,

and settled in Quetta, where I was born.

dan menetap di Quetta, tempat kelahiran saya.

After the September 11 attack on the Twin Towers,

Setelah serangan 11 September terhadap Menara Kembar WTC di AS,

I got a chance to go to Afghanistan

saya mendapat kesempatan pergi ke Afghanistan

for the first time, with foreign journalists.

untuk pertama kalinya, bersama para wartawan asing.

I was only 18, and I got a job working as an interpreter.

Saya baru 18 tahun, dan saya bekerja sebagai penerjemah.

Setelah empat tahun,

After four years,

I felt it was safe enough to move to Afghanistan permanently,

saya merasa cukup aman untuk menetap permanen di Afghanistan,

and I was working there as a documentary photographer,

dan saya bekerja sebagai seorang fotografer dokumenter

and I worked on many stories.

dan saya mengerjakan banyak kisah.

One of the most important stories that I did

Salah satu kisah terpenting yang pernah saya liput

was the dancing boys of Afghanistan.

adalah anak-anak laki-laki penari dari Afghanistan.

Ini adalah kisah tragis tentang tradisi yang menjijikkan.

It is a tragic story about an appalling tradition.

It involves young kids dancing for warlords

Tradisi dimana anak-anak kecil menari untuk panglima perang

dan orang-orang yang berpengaruh di masyarakat.

and powerful men in the society.

These boys are often abducted or bought from their poor parents,

Anak-anak ini seringkali diculik atau dibeli dari orang tua mereka yang miskin,

and they are put to work as sex slaves.

dan mereka dipekerjakan sebagai budak seks.

This is Shukur.

Ini adalah Shukur.

He was kidnapped from Kabul by a warlord.

Ia diculik dari Kabul oleh seorang panglima perang.

He was taken to another province,

Ia dibawa ke provinsi lain,

where he was forced to work as a sex slave for the warlord and his friends.

dimana ia dipaksa menjadi budak seks untuk panglima perang dan teman-temannya.

Ketika kisah ini diterbitkan di Washington Post,

When this story was published in the Washington Post,

I started receiving death threats,

Saya mulai menerima ancaman kematian,

and I was forced to leave Afghanistan,

dan saya terpaksa meninggalkan Afghanistan,

seperti orang tua saya dahulu.

as my parents were.

Along with my family, I returned back to Quetta.

Bersama keluarga saya, saya kembali ke Quetta.

Situasi di Quetta telah berubah dramatis sejak saya pergi pada tahun 2005.

The situation in Quetta had changed dramatically since I left in 2005.

Once a peaceful haven for the Hazaras,

Tempat yang pernah menjadi surga damai bagi suku Hazara,

it had now turned into the most dangerous city in Pakistan.

sekarang telah berubah menjadi kota yang paling berbahaya di Pakistan.

Hazaras are confined into two small areas,

Bangsa Hazara dibatasi dalam dua area kecil,

and they are marginalized socially, educationally, and financially.

dan mereka disisihkan secara sosial, dalam pendidikan, dan finansial.

This is Nadir.

Ini Nadir.

I had known him since my childhood.

Saya sudah mengenalnya sejak saya kecil.

He was injured when his van was ambushed by terrorists in Quetta.

Ia terluka saat mobil van miliknya disergap oleh teroris di Quetta.

He later died of his injuries.

Ia kemudian meninggal karena luka-lukanya.

Around 1,600 Hazara members

Sekitar 1.600 orang Hazara

had been killed in various attacks,

telah terbunuh dalam berbagai serangan,

and around 3,000 of them were injured,

dan sekitar 3,000 orang terluka,

and many of them permanently disabled.

dan banyak dari mereka yang menderita cacat permanen.

The attacks on the Hazara community would only get worse,

Serangan terhadap suku Hazara semakin memburuk,

sehingga tidak heran bila banyak yang ingin melarikan diri.

so it was not surprising that many wanted to flee.

After Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan,

Setelah Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan,

Australia is home to the fourth largest population of Hazaras in the world.

Australia adalah rumah terbesar keempat bagi populasi Hazara di dunia.

When it came time to leave Pakistan,

Ketika saatnya tiba untuk meninggalkan Pakistan,

Australia menjadi pilihan yang jelas.

Australia seemed the obvious choice.

Secara finansial, hanya satu orang yang bisa pergi,

Financially, only one of us could leave,

and it was decided that I would go,

and kami putuskan saya yang pergi,

in the hope that if I arrived at my destination safely,

dengan harapan apabila saya sampai dengan selamat,

I could work to get the rest of my family to join me later.

saya bisa bekerja untuk membawa seluruh keluarga saya nantinya.

We all knew about the risks,

Kami semua tahu resikonya,

and how terrifying the journey is,

dan bagaimana menakutkan perjalanan itu,

and I met many people who lost loved ones at sea.

dan saya bertemu banyak orang yang kehilangan orang yang dicintai di laut.

It was a desperate decision to take, to leave everything behind,

Sebuah keputusan nekat untuk meninggalkan semuanya,

and no one makes this decision easily.

dan ini bukan keputusan yang mudah bagi siapa pun.

If I had been able to simply fly to Australia,

Seandainya saya bisa terbang begitu saja ke Australia,

it would have taken me less than 24 hours.

saya akan sampai disini dalam 24 jam.

But getting a visa was impossible.

Tetapi untuk mendapatkan visa adalah mustahil.

My journey was much longer,

Perjalanan saya jadi jauh lebih panjang,

much more complicated,

jauh lebih rumit,

and certainly more dangerous,

dan pastinya lebih berbahaya,

traveling to Thailand by air,

naik pesawat ke Thailand,

and then by road and boat to Malaysia and into Indonesia,

dan kemudian lewat darat dan dengan kapal ke Malaysia dan Indonesia,

paying people and smugglers all the way

membayar orang dan penyelundup sepanjang perjalanan

and spending a lot of time hiding

dan menghabiskan banyak waktu bersembunyi

and a lot of time in fear of being caught.

dan setiap saat ketakutan akan tertangkap.

In Indonesia, I joined a group of seven asylum seekers.

Di Indonesia, saya bergabung dengan sekelompok 7 orang pencari suaka.

We all shared a bedroom

Kami semua tidur di satu kamar

in a town outside of Jakarta called Bogor.

di sebuah kota di luar Jakarta, disebut Bogor.

After spending a week in Bogor,

Setelah satu minggu di Bogor,

three of my roommates left for the perilous journey,

tiga teman sekamar saya berangkat menuju perjalanan berbahaya,

and we got the news two days later

dan kami mendengar beritanya dua hari kemudian

that a distressed boat sank in the sea en route to Christmas Island.

bahwa sebuah perahu tenggelam di laut menuju Christmas Island.

We found out that our three roommates -- Nawroz, Jaffar and Shabbir --

Ternyata tiga teman sekamar kami -- Nawroz, Jaffar dan Shabbir --

were also among those.

ada di salah satu perahu itu.

Only Jaffar was rescued.

Hanya Jaffar yang selamat.

Shabbir and Nawroz were never seen again.

Shabbir dan Nawroz tak pernah terlihat lagi.

It made me think,

Hal ini membuat saya berpikir,

am I doing the right thing?

apakah saya melakukan hal yang benar?

I concluded I really had no other choice but to go on.

Saya simpulkan bahwa saya benar-benar tidak punya pilihan selain melanjutkan.

A few weeks later, we got the call from the people smuggler

Beberapa minggu kemudian, kami menerima panggilan dari penyelundup

to alert us that the boat is ready for us to commence our sea journey.

yang memberitahukan bahwa perahu telah siap untuk memulai perjalanan laut kami.

Taken in the night towards the main vessel

Kami dibawa di malam hari menuju kapal utama

on a motorboat,

dengan perahu bermotor,

we boarded an old fishing boat that was already overloaded.

lalu kami naik perahu nelayan tua yang sudah kelebihan beban.

There were 93 of us,

Ada 93 orang di perahu itu,

and we were all below deck.

dan kami semua ada di ruang bawah dek.

No one was allowed up on the top.

Tak seorang pun diizinkan naik ke atas.

We all paid 6,000 dollars each

Masing-masing kami membayar 6,000 dolar

for this part of the trip.

untuk perjalanan ini.

The first night and day went smoothly,

Hari pertama berjalan dengan lancar,

but by the second night, the weather turned.

tetapi malam berikutnya, cuaca berubah.

Waves tossed the boat around, and the timbers groaned.

Ombak mengombang-ambingkan perahu, dan kayu berderak-derik.

People below deck were crying, praying, recalling their loved ones.

Orang-orang di bawah dek menangis, berdoa, mengenang orang-orang yang mereka cintai.

They were screaming.

Mereka menjerit.

It was a terrible moment.

Saat yang mengerikan.

It was like a scene from doomsday,

Seperti sebuah adegan kiamat,

or maybe like one of those scenes from those Hollywood movies

atau mungkin seperti adegan di film-film Hollywood

that shows that everything is breaking apart

di mana segalanya menjadi kacau

and the world is just ending.

dan dunia akan berakhir.

It was happening to us for real.

Hal itu benar-benar terjadi pada kami.

We didn't have any hope.

Kami tidak punya harapan apa pun.

Our boat was floating like a matchbox on the water

Kapal kami terapung seperti kotak korek api di atas air

without any control.

tanpa kendali.

The waves were much higher than our boat,

Tinggi ombak melebihi kapal kami,

and the water poured in faster than the motor pumps could take it out.

dan air masuk lebih cepat daripada yang dikeluarkan oleh pompa motor.

We all lost hope.

Kami semua putus harapan.

We thought, this is the end.

Kami pikir, inilah akhirnya.

We were watching our deaths,

Kami menyaksikan kematian kami,

and I was documenting it.

dan saya mendokumentasikannya.

Kapten kapal memberitahu kami

The captain told us

bahwa kami tidak akan selamat,

that we are not going to make it,

we have to turn back the boat.

kami harus berputar haluan.

We went on the deck

Kami kembali ke dek

and turned our torches on and off

dan menghidup-matikan obor

to attract the attention of any passing boat.

untuk menarik perhatian kapal yang lewat.

We kept trying to attract their attention by waving our life jackets and whistling.

Kami terus mencoba menarik perhatian dengan melambaikan pelampung dan bersiul.

Eventually, we made it to a small island.

Akhirnya, kami berhasil mendarat di sebuah pulau kecil.

Our boat crashing onto the rocks,

Perahu kami menerjang bebatuan,

I slipped into the water

saya terjatuh ke dalam air

and destroyed my camera, whatever I had documented.

kamera saya hancur, dan semua yang saya dokumentasikan.

But luckily, the memory card survived.

Tapi untungnya, kartu memorinya selamat.

It was a thick forest.

Pulau itu memiliki hutan lebat.

We all split up into many groups as we argued over what to do next.

Kami berdebat tentang langkah berikutnya dan berpisah menjadi banyak kelompok.

We were all scared and confused.

Kami semua ketakutan dan kebingungan.

Then, after spending the night on the beach,

Kemudian, setelah bermalam di pantai,

we found a jetty and coconuts.

kami menemukan dermaga dan kelapa.

Kami memanggil kapal dari sebuah resort di dekat sana,

We hailed a boat from a nearby resort,

and then were quickly handed over to Indonesian water police.

dan kemudian segera diserahkan pada polisi perairan Indonesia.

At Serang Detention Center,

Di Pusat Penahanan Serang,

an immigration officer came and furtively strip-searched us.

seorang petugas imigrasi datang dan kami dilucuti dan digeledah.

Ia mengambil ponsel kami, 300 dolar uang saya,

He took our mobile, my $300 cash,

our shoes that we should not be able to escape,

sepatu kami agar kami tidak bisa melarikan diri,

but we kept watching the guards, checking their movements,

tapi kami terus mengamati para petugas, mengawasi gerakan mereka,

and around 4 a.m. when they sat around a fire,

dan sekitar jam 4 pagi, ketika mereka duduk di sekitar api unggun,

we removed two glass layers from an outside facing window

kami melepaskan 2 lapis kaca dari jendela yang menghadap ke luar

and slipped through.

dan menyelinap keluar.

We climbed a tree next to an outer wall that was topped with the shards of glass.

Kami memanjat pohon di samping dinding yang bagian atasnya ditaburi pecahan kaca.

We put the pillow on that

Kami meletakkan bantal di atasnya

and wrapped our forearms with bedsheets

dan membungkus lengan kami dengan sprei

and climbed the wall,

dan memanjat dinding tersebut,

and we ran away with bare feet.

dan kami lari tanpa alas kaki.

Saya bebas,

I was free,

with an uncertain future,

dengan masa depan yang tak pasti,

no money.

tak punya uang.

The only thing I had was the memory card with the pictures and footage.

Satu-satunya yang saya miliki adalah kartu memori dengan dengan foto dan video.

When my documentary was aired on SBS Dateline,

Ketika dokumentasi saya disiarkan di SBS Dateline,

many of my friends came to know about my situation,

banyak teman jadi tahu tentang situasi saya,

and they tried to help me.

dan mencoba membantu saya.

They did not allow me to take any other boat to risk my life.

Mereka tidak mengizinkan saya untuk naik kapal lagi dan mempertaruhkan nyawa.

I also decided to stay in Indonesia and process my case through UNHCR,

Saya memutuskan untuk tinggal di Indonesia dan memproses kasus saya melalui UNHCR,

but I was really afraid that I would end up in Indonesia

tetapi saya sangat takut saya akan menetap di Indonesia

for many years doing nothing and unable to work,

selama bertahun-tahun, tak melakukan apa pun dan tak bisa bekerja,

like every other asylum seeker.

seperti para pencari suaka lainnya.

But it had happened to be a little bit different with me.

Tapi kasus saya sedikit berbeda.

I was lucky.

Saya beruntung.

My contacts worked to expedite my case through UNHCR,

Kenalan saya membantu mempercepat kasus saya di UNHCR,

and I got resettled in Australia in May 2013.

dan saya ditempatkan di Australia pada bulan Mei 2013.

Tidak semua pencari suaka seberuntung saya.

Not every asylum seeker is lucky like me.

It is really difficult to live a life with an uncertain fate, in limbo.

Sangat susah menjalani hidup dengan nasib tidak pasti, penuh ketidakpastian.

The issue of asylum seekers in Australia

Isu tentang pencari suaka di Australia

has been so extremely politicized

telah begitu dipolitisasi

that it has lost its human face.

sehingga tidak ada lagi wajah kemanusiaan di sana.

Para pencari suaka dipandang buruk dan dipersepsikan buruk pada masyarakat.

The asylum seekers have been demonized and then presented to the people.

I hope my story and the story of other Hazaras

Saya berharap kisah saya dan kisah orang Hazara lainnya

could shed some light to show the people

dapat memberikan titik terang untuk menunjukkan ke orang-orang

how these people are suffering in their countries of origin,

penderitaan mereka di negara asal mereka,

and how they suffer,

dan bagaimana mereka menderita,

why they risk their lives to seek asylum.

mengapa mereka mempertaruhkan nyawa mereka untuk mencari suaka.

Thank you.

Terima kasih.

(Applause)

(Tepuk tangan)