Aceh's disasters: 'Man-made' and natural<\/p>\n
Aguswandi, London<\/p>\n
It is almost impossible to imagine what the lives of tsunami
\nsurvivors is like. Not only have they lost many members of their
\nfamilies and all their worldly goods, but they will have to try
\nand rebuild a life in an ongoing conflict area that is little
\nmore than a man-made disaster. It is not only time to try and
\nrebuild Aceh's infrastructure, but also time to solve the ongoing
\nconflict in the province.<\/p>\n
Imagine Fatimah's life. She is the wife of a local journalist.
\nWhen she woke up on the morning of Dec. 26 she had a family, two
\nchildren and a loving husband, a home, and dreams for all their
\nfutures. By mid-afternoon she was alone, searching for her two
\nchildren and her husband. On Dec. 27, she woke up in a temporary
\ncamp for the displaced, along with thousands of others. Her only
\nremaining hope was to find the bodies of her family. Fatimah is
\n40 years old. A simple Acehnese woman with simple dreams has lost
\neverything and more.<\/p>\n
Fatimah has survived, sort of. In a refugee camp in Banda
\nAceh, she blames herself for being alive, \"Why have I survived?
\nWhy was I spared?\" But this is her fate. She has to build a new
\nlife. Over 250,000 people did not have this opportunity. They are
\ngone, killed by the biggest natural disaster in the history of
\nIndonesia, let alone Aceh. The tsunami has left 400,000 displaced
\npeople. It has destroyed half the Acehnese capital, swathes of
\nGreat Aceh and Calang and Meulaboh. For the surviving Acehnese,
\nit is a different world.<\/p>\n
But even before the tsunami hit Aceh was a disaster zone, this
\none caused by man. When the tsunami hit in December the province
\nwas under a second period of civil emergency. Civil emergency,an
\nextension of the preceding martial law, imposed restrictions on
\nthe locals and destroyed the life of the population.<\/p>\n
The conflict has claimed over 3,000 lives in the last two
\nyears. More people were killed in Aceh in the two years before
\nthe tsunami than over the same period in the Palestine and Israel
\nconflict. It has destroyed huge chunks of the infrastructure.
\nLocal government says that at least 40 percent of the local
\npopulation are living in poverty as a result of the conflict. If
\nyou travel on the road from Medan to Banda Aceh, the number of
\npolice and military security posts outnumber medical centers and
\nschools.<\/p>\n
Pre-tsunami Aceh continued to resemble Indonesia under
\nSoeharto. The military and police continue to control not only
\nsecurity but politics too. Aceh is the only place where the
\nmilitary's dual function integrating security and political
\nresponsibilities continue both in theory as well as practice.
\nSeveral districts and sub districts are under military control.<\/p>\n
Indeed the current \"civilian\" authority is in the hands of the
\npolice. Numerous restrictions are imposed on the local
\npopulation. The tsunami is just the icing on the cake. In a
\nrefugee settlement in Banda Aceh somebody joked that from Sukarno
\nto Soeharto, and from Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to Tsunami, all
\nare the same: Creating chaos for the Acehnese.<\/p>\n
But there is still optimism. Locals are talking about how the
\nhorror of the tsunami can provide an opportunity to build a
\ntotally new Aceh. This new Aceh should be -- and can be --
\ndifferent to the pre- or post-tsunami Aceh. According to
\nRufriadi, head of the Legal Aid Foundation in Aceh, who has
\nhimself lost everything, building this new Aceh is not simply
\nabout infrastructure or development, but also building peace.<\/p>\n
However, this new Aceh is definitely not the one outlined in
\nsome blue prints included BAPENAS' blue print. There are no
\nprovisions for dealing with the conflict. The blueprint simply
\naims to return Aceh to \"normal\", the conflict-shattered Aceh that
\nstill existed on Dec. 25. Aceh's pre-tsunami \"normality\" was
\nabnormal. And yet few of the reconstruction plans on the table
\neven mention peace-building.<\/p>\n
Numerous foreign aid agencies are overlooking the fact that
\nAceh is a conflict zone. It is not just the ground zero of a
\nmonumental natural disaster, but also a thirty year conflict.<\/p>\n
The inadequacy of the planning and the blueprint are not
\nsurprising given that -- once again- the Acehnese people have not
\nbeen involved in the discussions about their future. Not how,
\nwho, where or when. Once again their future is being handed down
\nto them from above, namely Jakarta. Despite many promises by
\nJakarta that the locals will be consulted, it remains clear that
\nthere is no mechanism being developed for the inclusion of the
\nAcehnese in the process of reconstruction.<\/p>\n
In fact a recent attempt by several Indonesian and Acehnese
\ncivil society groups in Central Aceh to hold a discussion forum
\non the reconstruction process and how to involve people was
\nbanned by the civil emergency authorities. If the Acehnese are
\nnot involved in either the direction or detail of their
\nhomeland's reconstruction, nor in the discussions for terms of
\npeace in their homeland, they will be doubly disenfranchised .<\/p>\n
Aceh's reconstruction is a vast task. The province should be
\nopened to anybody offering assistance. The international
\ncommunity must be given latitude in their work to support the
\nAcehnese people and the reconstruction of their home. Yet this
\ninvolvement is currently under threat. The government issued a
\ndeadline of March 26 for foreign workers in Aceh to leave the
\ndevastated province. Initially it was given to foreign troops
\nonly, but recent statements from the Police Task Force spokesman
\nin Aceh indicate that this is being expanded to include certain
\nforeign humanitarian groups as well.<\/p>\n
However the problems are not simply generated by the
\ngovernment. There is also a very clear lack of understanding or
\nknowledge about Aceh within most agencies now working in the
\nprovince. Staff brought in from all over the world, while experts
\nin their thematic field, know nothing of the people or the
\nproblems they have confronted their whole lives. While most have
\nsome understanding that the province has experienced a long-term
\nconflict there seems to be little understanding of -- let alone
\nplanning for -- an active military presence, weak civilian
\nstructures, and a terrorized population.<\/p>\n
The writer is an Acehnese human rights campaigner working as a
\nresearcher for TAPOL, the Indonesia Human Rights Campaign in
\nLondon.<\/p>",
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