—Gen. Rusdi Ali Halid


"I first heard the name 'Tzu Chi' about two years ago" said Gen. Rusdi Ali Halid. "In Indonesian, it means 'sacred.' A charity called 'Sacred.' How impressive!"

Of all the groups of attendees at this year's TIMA conference, the group from Indonesia was the largest: forty-one participants in all. Rusdi was one of them. Tall and dark, he was very noticeable amongst the attendees. His official title of brigadier general made him even more of an eye-catcher.

Sister Liu Su-mei, head of the Tzu Chi Indonesia branch, told us, "General Rusdi is a medical doctor, and he is also the head of the Indonesian Air Force Medical Services, which is in charge of more than seventy air force hospitals."

In August 1999, Rusdi came to Tzu Chi with members of the Indonesia branch office. He told Master Cheng Yen, "In the past I came to military meetings in Taiwan to learn how to kill people efficiently, but now I come to Taiwan to learn from Tzu Chi how to love and save people."

In January 2000, members of the Tzu Chi medical associations in Indonesia and Singapore held free clinics on Batam Island. Rusdi said, "When I reported this to my superior, he told me that we should not just assist them--we should also join in." The Indonesian air force dispatched some fifty medical personnel and sent airplanes to transport all the personnel and the medical equipment. At the clinic, over two hundred medical people and volunteers provided services such as internal medicine, ophthalmology, gynecology, surgery, and more to around 1,500 people. The free clinic greatly moved Rusdi. He thought it would be good if there were a Tzu Chi office in every province to promote charity and medical care.

In June 2000, an earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale struck Sumatra. In Pengkulu, the hardest hit area, the quake killed at least one hundred people and injured over one thousand more. Tzu Chi members from Taiwan and Indonesia who were carrying out a two-day free clinic elsewhere immediately rushed to the devastated area.

Sister Liu said, "Rusdi again dispatched a Hercules transport plane to deliver all the relief goods, so we were able to reach even the farthest villages and distribute white rice, cooking oil, milk powder, instant noodles and medicine. We also handed out comforters to eighty families living near the coast."

"Tzu Chi is also helping to build four schools for the town," Rusdi said, tears glistening in his eyes. "As an air force officer, I want to thank Tzu Chi and Master Cheng Yen for helping my country and my people."

As a general in the Indonesian air force, Rusdi lives a comfortable life. He has a luxurious car, a chauffeur and attendants at his beck and call. He stays in five-star hotels when he travels and he always sits in the VIP seat. But when he was in Hualien for the TIMA conference, he received no special treatment. For example, he slept in a large dormitory room with other participants, ate vegetarian meals like everyone else did, traveled together with everyone else on a tour bus and had to carry his own luggage. Yet he said he felt the joy of equality--he enjoyed being treated like everyone else.

He even had to take orders twenty-four hours a day from a "Commander-in-Chief"--team leader Dr. Ko Tzu-she from Long Island, New York. When he gave the order, every team member had to line up, walk or sit down quickly and quietly. The team leader was like a twenty-four-hour nanny, supervising the team members' grooming, eating, sleeping, waking, etc. In other words, he looked after everything.

During the Mid-Autumn Festival, Rusdi and other Indonesian participants performed a traditional dance at the evening party and said in broken Mandarin, "Master, I love you." That won an ovation from the audience.

After five days of TIMA meetings, Rusdi said, "I love Tzu Chi more and more! Here there is no distinction between race, nationality, or religion. We're all family. I would like to participate in Tzu Chi activities forever. My strength may be insignificant, but I still want to follow the Master."