Tamara Tasya and her husband Markus Subroto own Waroeng, a Somersworth restaurant that serves up authentic Indonesian cuisine. The restaurant’s menu includes items like soto batawi, a spicy beef dish filled with broth, tripe, vegetables and a hardboiled egg; and a dessert called “Indonesian ice,” a mix of sweetened condensed milk, mango, coconut and other fruits served with ice.

Waroeng is the first and only Indonesian restaurant in the area—possibly all of New Hampshire—and has been open for three months. It’s one of the first signs of an ever-expanding population of Indonesian immigrants on the Seacoast, a community that is becoming increasingly noticeable and active in the region.

Tasya and her family came to America about five years ago and settled in Somersworth three years ago “because we have so many friends (here),” she said. It’s easier to find work in America, and the country affords the chance for a good life, she said.

Jim Verschueren is the executive director of the Dover Learning Center, a community adult education program, which offers classes in English as a second language.

“This year, we had about 220 international students in our ESL classes, from 59 different countries, but the biggest group are the Indonesians,” Verschueren said. He estimates that between 30 and 40 people taking the ESL classes are Indonesians.

“Once a group gets here and established, others tend to follow,” he said.

Most of the state’s immigrant services are centered in Manchester, which is a federally designated refugee community. The state’s Refugee Program, housed in the Office of Energy and Planning, helps refugees resettle there by providing them with job assistance and ESL classes. Other organizations, like the International Institute of New Hampshire, also assist new immigrants; however, these services do not extend to the Seacoast.

A network of churches, already built to serve the spiritual needs of the Indonesian community, have begun helping recent immigrants navigate the difficult process of applying for asylum. The Rev. Harold Lapian of the Indonesian Christian Reformed Fellowship in Dover said the number of Indonesians in the area has grown during the last five years. He estimates that there are 10 Christian Indonesian churches on the Seacoast.

“This is the first generation,” Lapian said. “(People) come here to get a better life.”

There aren’t any official numbers on how big the Indonesian community on the Seacoast is, but estimates place it between 1,000 and 2,000 people.

The reasons for journeying to America vary, but Lapian said religious persecution is a driving force. Indonesia has the largest Muslim population in the world, and a radical minority pushes for converting the country into an Islamic state. Christians there have faced “so much persecution, so much turmoil,” he said.

“The majority religion there, especially the radicals, have a systematic (plan) to destroy the minority (Christians),” he said.

While many are settling comfortably into life in the Granite State, there are some problems. Because of more stringent immigration laws, those seeking asylum are having a difficult time making it into the United States. At Lapian’s church, three or four members of the congregation are currently seeking asylum and have applications in various stages of the process. However, at the Marturia Presbyterian Church in Rochester, more than 100 of the church’s 200 congregants are in the asylum process and could face deportation if their application is denied.

“People are really afraid of that, being denied (asylum) and sent back to Indonesia,” said the Rev. Herby Moningka, pastor the Marturia church.

Applying for asylum on the grounds of religious persecution is difficult, according to Moningka. Applicants must tell their story, providing background information on why they left the country and proof that persecution has happened to them either “physically or psychologically.”

However, providing proof is difficult. The police or government “will not say bad things about the country,” Moningka said, which means there’s no official documentation to back up claims of persecution.

From there, immigration officials can either approve or deny the application for asylum. Applicants have two choices if they’re denied: voluntary departure or taking a chance and appealing the decision. However, appeals can take a long time to make it through the court system, and there’s no guarantee an appeal will be granted.

Though no one from the church has been deported, Moningka said many of the church’s members are still in the appeal process. About 30 members have been granted asylum since 2001, he said.

“We support the members spiritually … (and) materially,” he said. The church usually provides a letter to members to show immigration officials confirming they are Christian.

“The thing the government has to see is not all Indonesians are Muslims,” he said.

At Lapian’s church in Dover, only a handful of people are in the appeals process for asylum. He keeps a binder full of press clippings and other evidence of persecution of Christians in Indonesia, material that those seeking asylum can use to defend their case.

A lot of problems that immigrants face in the appeals process are due to a “gap of language,” according to Lapian.

“It’s difficult when we go to the courts, if there is not someone there to help translate,” he said. “So many details get lost.”

Tasya said the asylum process isn’t difficult, but involves a lot of waiting for the courts and immigration officials to process cases. Tasya got help from the Lapian’s church, as well as from friends and a lawyer; however, she said a friend was deported two months ago because his application was denied.
Some of the difficulties immigrants in the area face were brought to the forefront last month when an Indonesian family living in Dover was deported.

William Pangaribuan was arrested at his Dover apartment on June 10 as part of Operation Flash, an effort by federal, state and local law enforcement agencies throughout New England that resulted in the arrest of 187 alien fugitives. Pangaribuan was arrested in the late 1990s for giving a tattoo to a 12-year-old boy; however, he paid a fine and did not have an outstanding criminal record, according to Karen Amos, a friend of the family.

Pangaribuan and his wife, Hartaty Sri Haveline, had their initial application for asylum denied and were in the midst of the appeals process when Pangaribuan was arrested. Following that, INS officials ordered Haveline and the couple’s two daughters, Arlene and Isyanne, be deported back to Indonesia. Pangaribuan is still being held at a jail in Plymouth, Mass., and Amos said she is unsure when he’ll be released and sent back to Indonesia.

“The family is having a difficult time there,” Amos said. “The biggest thing was for (Haveline) to know he was coming home.”

In July, Amos and members of the Portsmouth Seventh Day Adventist Church, to which Haveline and Pangaribuan belonged, held a series of fundraisers to raise money to retain an immigration lawyer to help the family. Pangaribuan insisted the family return to Indonesia, however. Now, Amos maintains e-mail contact with Haveline and sees Pangaribuan when he’s allowed visitors.

In cases like Pangaribuan’s, Lapian said, “the congregation … tries to help, but the law is the law.” He added that he doesn’t know of any Indonesian immigrants living in the area illegally, and people “will do the right things” if they understand what they have to do.

To Lapian, the community seems to be thriving. He cited the opening of Waroeng and A.B. Golden Dragon, an Indonesian market in Dover, as examples of the growth and assimilation of the Seacoast’s Indonesians. There’s also talk of forming an Indonesian-American association, though Lapian said it’s still very much in the planning stages. Between 15 and 20 families in his church are buying houses in the area as well, he said, because “they love this place, love this country.”