Acehnese cry for education after schools burned<\/p>\n
Achmad Sukarsono
\nReuters
\nBanda Aceh<\/p>\n
Nine-year-old Acehnese schoolgirl Chaerani fears she could end up
\nwithout an education after her school was set ablaze late on
\nMonday, the first day of martial law in Indonesia's restive Aceh
\nprovince.<\/p>\n
The only thing left at the one-storey Banda Aceh Public
\nElementary School number 71 hinting it had been a place of
\nlearning was a huge, colorful painting of Indonesia's territory
\nand a painted slogan that can loosely be translated as \"seize the
\nday\" on its white and grey wall.<\/p>\n
Few tables, benches and blackboards in the now roofless,
\ncharred primary school, located in Mibo district on the outskirts
\nof Aceh's capital, were spared from the inferno that started when
\nresidents in the area were about to go to bed.<\/p>\n
Dozens of other schools across the province on the northern
\ntip of Sumatra island faced the same fate Monday night.<\/p>\n
\"I am sad that I can't go to school anymore. Not going to
\nschool can make me stupid,\" said Chaerani, who strolled around
\nthe scorched wood and blackened rubble with a group of friends.<\/p>\n
Indonesia imposed martial law on the rebellious province after
\ntalks with the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM), aimed at
\nsalvaging a crumbling peace pact, failed on Sunday night, ending
\na five-month respite from almost three decades of violence that
\nhas taken more than 10,000 lives, most of them civilians.<\/p>\n
The Indonesian military accused GAM rebels of carrying out the
\nschool burning spree to provoke ordinary Acehnese to think
\nmartial law would only bring disaster.<\/p>\n
A new addition to the razed Banda Aceh school seemed to back
\nthat accusation. Just below the map on the wall, there was fresh
\nchalk writing saying: \"This school has been destroyed. Freedom.
\nFreedom\".<\/p>\n
GAM has denied being behind the school fires.<\/p>\n
Residents near Chaerani's school did not want to point fingers
\nat anyone and simply said \"unknown people\" when asked, an answer
\nlocals seeking to avoid recriminations from either side tend to
\ngive whenever there is an incident in this war-torn area.<\/p>\n
\"First, we heard gunshots so we thought a crossfire was taking
\nplace,\" a young mother who declined to be named told Reuters.<\/p>\n
\"We all cried when we realized the school has been reduced to
\nashes. The kids should have faced their final exams next week.
\nWhat should they do now? Why should anyone attack a school?\" said
\nthe 30-year old woman, whose niece went to the school and whose
\nson expected to be enrolled there next semester.<\/p>\n
She could not believe such a thing could happen to a school so
\nnear the center of Banda Aceh, 1,700 km northwest of Jakarta.<\/p>\n
The principal of one burned high school said: \"We are now
\ntrying to set up emergency tents so that we can proceed with our
\nexams. The problem is all of the exam forms have been burned
\nwith the school\".<\/p>\n
Although Chaerani's school is partly surrounded by paddy
\nfields and coconut groves and several cows graze in its front
\nyard, it is just behind the modern curved-roof Harapan Bangsa
\nstadium, Aceh's largest and only a 10 minute drive from the
\nresidence of the province's military commander.<\/p>\n
For Chaerani, she just wants a decent education.<\/p>\n
\"Everything now scares me. GAM. Soldiers. Police. I just want
\nto go back to school,\" she said.<\/p>",
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