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Salim Osman
Indonesia Correspondent
A bad time for tie-ups with Israelis
February 05, 2009 Thursday, 06:41 PM
Salim Osman on the trouble one group got from its supposed ties with Israel.
AT THE height of the Israeli military offensive in Gaza, Indonesia's second largest Muslim organisation, Muhammadiyah, was put in a spot when the internet was abuzz for several weeks about its supposed ties with Israel. Websites like hidayatullah.com, arrahmah.com, and Eramuslim.com, said that Muhammadiyah signed an agreement with Israel's state-run emergency medical service Magen David Adom (MDA) in Tel Aviv in October last year. It involved cooperation in emergency medical service signed by a senior member of Muhammadiyah's management board, Dr Sudibyo Markus, who was on an official visit to Israel. But Muhammadiyah chairman Din Syamsuddin flatly denies it. "That's not true," said Mr Din Syamsuddin in a statement posted at the organisation's website. In a statement to The Straits Times, the Muhammadiyah said that the agreement was between an Indonesian ambulance service foundation (Yayasan Ambulance Gawat Darurat 118) and the MDA. "There was no memorandum of understanding signed between Muhammadiyah and the MDA," it said. As to the presence of the Muhammadiyah official at the ceremony, it said: "Dr Sudibyo Markus was only a witness." But the denial came too late for the websites as they had already been swarmed with postings, lambasting Muhammadiyah. Indonesian newspapers did not even carry it. Indonesian legislator Sutan Batugana told Hidayatullah-online: "Neither the government nor any local organisations should open any kind of cooperation with Israel, until they return the Palestinian land back to its people." Ironically the organisation which signed the agreement with Israel was spared the venomous attack. Nevertheless, Yayasan's head of operations, Dr Suhartono defended the cooperation. He told The Straits Times: "We forge ties with the Israeli organisation because we can learn a lot from its experience and expertise in emergency and rescue service." The foundation was set up in 1971 to run an ambulance service for government clinics and hospitals mainly in Jakarta. It now focuses mainly on the training of emergency medical personnel across the country while farming out its ambulance service to various government hospitals. Nevertheless, this is really bad timing for a Muslim group to be seen as collaborating with an Israeli organisation at a time when there's so much world wide anger over the offensive in Gaza. Tags: gaza, indonesia 
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Looking at it from a more positive aspect, I think the agreement is a good thing - that there can be co-operation despite dividing opinions. That there can be hope of peace.
Nobody benefits with this criticism. Nobody.
The israelis are the most humane beings in this world. Which country in the world will give medical support to the residents of the enemy. So many Israeli bombing missions were aborted because high civilian concentrations. Which country will do that ? These are never reported. All that news channels show are crying arab children. Ofcourse that sells ! Hamas & Fatah are using their civilians in the name of religion, jihad and hiding behind them to shoot at israelis. Unfortunately they have a lot of religious support from OIC countries. But G-d is watchin!
i agree with Aaron.
if MDA can agree to sign an MOU with Yayasan , to share its "expertise in dealing with trauma patients requiring emergency treatment" , ie sharing with an Indonesian organisation that may even deny its existance ("Indonesian legislator Sutan Batugana told Hidayatullah-online: "Neither the government nor any local organisations should open any kind of cooperation with Israel, until they return the Palestinian land back to its people.") , surely that is commendable.
Singaporeans of all should empathise with that, as its still in near memory, our expulsion from the federation which led to our independence.
It is understandable that the much of the Muslim world denounces Israel for it's attacks on Hamas and its proxies in Gaza City in an effort to stop rockets falling randomly on its civilian population. Yet it is in the interest of Indonesia to learn from the Israelis their expertise in dealing with trauma patients requiring emergency treatment, an expertise gained in no thanks to the countless successful terror attacks on the Jewish state.
But i would like to point out the fact that if Gaza's Red Crescent ambulance service coordinates its rescue efforts with the MDA (severe trauma patients in Gaza are sent to Israel for treatment) why can't the rescue services of any other Muslim nation?
We must take care not to politicize the saving of human lives.