Will Aceh's hungry kids one day take up arms?<\/p>\n
By Ibnu Matnoor<\/p>\n
BANDA ACEH, Aceh (JP): He is only nine years old and he does
\nnot want to be a beggar. Yet there is no other way to put food on
\nhis family's table.<\/p>\n
\"I have to beg in order to buy rice for my mother and
\nbrother,\" said Muhammad Ridha at a rice store in Matang
\nGeulumpung Dua, Bireuen regency, in strife-torn Aceh last week.<\/p>\n
He said he was born in Ulee Gle village, Samalanga
\nsubdistrict. \"My father's name was Abdullah. He died five years
\nago.\"<\/p>\n
Muhammad Ridha said he was told his father was shot dead by a
\nmember of the military when the province was a military operation
\narea (DOM). When he was six, his mother took him and his infant
\nbrother to Mbang in North Aceh, 24 kilometers south of
\nLhokseumawe.<\/p>\n
They lived in a resettlement area for people uprooted from
\ntheir homes for the Lhokseumawe industrial zone in the 1970s.<\/p>\n
\"I had the opportunity to go to school until the second grade
\nof elementary school. When we moved to Lhokseumawe one year ago,
\nI quit school,\" he said.<\/p>\n
In Lhokseumawe his mother, Kak Ti, rented a room for Rp 40,000
\nper month. She and her children beg to pay the rent and cover
\ntheir daily needs.<\/p>\n
While other children Muhammad Rhida's age are brought to
\nschool by their parents in the morning, he is in filthy clothes
\nand on his way to Matang Geulumpang Dua. \"The bus fare for a
\nlittle kid like me is only Rp 1,000.\"<\/p>\n
He said he earned from Rp 5,000 to Rp 10,000 per day from
\nbegging. \"It's with that money that my mother buys rice,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Rhida said he wanted to go to school but his only option was
\nto beg.<\/p>\n
\"If someone wants to send me to school, I will go. But if I
\nhave to stay with that person, I am afraid nobody will give my
\nmother money to buy rice,\" he said with a faraway look in his
\neyes.<\/p>\n
There are believed to be tens of thousands of children left
\nfatherless from violence during the military operation from 1989
\nto 1998. The Forum of Human Rights Care (FPHAM) in Aceh said at
\nleast 16,375 children were orphaned.<\/p>\n
The data were for the four regencies of Pidie, Bireuen, North
\nAceh and East Aceh.<\/p>\n
\"The issue is that it was in the four regencies that the
\nviolations of human rights were heaviest during the period,\" said
\nFPHAM Aceh's executive director Saifuddin Bantasyum.<\/p>\n
Anak Bangsa Foundation (YAB) in Banda Aceh revealed last week
\nduring a charity even for children its latest findings that there
\nwere 54,000 children under 18 years old classified as neglected.<\/p>\n
Executive director of Banda Aceh YAB Kamal J. Farza said the
\nchildren did not have access to education and lived in absolute
\npoverty. \"Five hundred of them have received legal advice and
\ncompanionship from us.\"<\/p>\n
Date from Aceh's provincial education office said most of the
\nprovince's 4.5 million people were under 18. About 250,000 are
\nbetween six years and 12 years; there are 212,000 children
\nenrolled in elementary schools in Aceh.<\/p>\n
Office head Syahbuddin AR said that apart from the dropouts
\nthere were 64,000 children \"threatened\" with losing their
\nschooling. This is due to the destruction of a number of schools,
\ntheir equipment and facilities by fire, most of them deliberately
\nset.<\/p>\n
A total of 142 schools -- 142 elementary schools, 52 junior
\nhighs and 22 high schools -- were set on fire through April 2000.
\nNot all of the damage has been repaired.<\/p>\n
\"If it is not done soon, 63,000 students due to start studying
\non July 17 are threatened with dropping out of school,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Observers worry that the lack of adequate attention to
\nchildren is what leads to them becoming disaffected and
\neventually joining forces with the rebels.<\/p>\n
Investigations by The Jakarta Post found that most young
\npeople recruited to the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) after
\nthe signing of a peace agreement in Switzerland on May 12 were
\nthose whose parents were killed, missing or tortured during the
\nmilitary operation. Many were dropouts.<\/p>\n
Most of the young male recruits are undergoing training for
\ncombat. Some are being trained in intelligence, or given light
\ntasks as informers in their villages.<\/p>\n
Most of the young women recruited to GAM's women special
\ntroops are assigned as informers and for intelligence activities.<\/p>\n
They have only one goal in life -- to liberate Aceh from
\n\"Indonesia Jawa\" (Javanese Indonesia), their derisive term for
\nIndonesia.<\/p>\n
Since most youngsters are elementary school dropouts, it's
\ndifficult to have a rational dialog with them on the advantages
\nand disadvantages of using violence in their bid for freedom.<\/p>\n
\"Now, there is only one remedy that can cure our children's
\nheartache, namely independence,\" said Darmawati, a widow from
\nPidie. Her two sons were still young when their father and eldest
\nbrother were killed by soldiers. Now grown up, the young men have
\njoined GAM.<\/p>\n
The 45-year-old former elementary school teacher said the
\nsoldiers sadistically killed her husband and son because they
\naccused her of being an informer for the rebels.<\/p>\n
Military Operations Area (DOM) victims (1989 -1998)<\/p>\n
Killed : 1,321 persons
\n Missing : 1,958 \"
\n Tortured : 3,430 \"
\n Raped : 128 \"
\n Harassed : 81 \"
\n Fatherless : 16,375 \"<\/p>\n
Source: The Forum of Human Rights Care, Aceh<\/p>\n
Post-DOM Victims (August 1998 to 30 April 2000)<\/p>\n
Dead\/Missing : 5,533 persons
\n Tortured : 1,201 \"
\n Raped : 164 \"
\n Sexually harassed : 96 \"
\n Buildings burned : 1,621 units
\n Shops burned : 360 \"
\n Shop-houses burned : 115 \"
\n Motorbikes burned : 396 \"
\n Cars burned : 86 \"
\n Elementary schools burned : 183 \"
\n Secondary schools burned : 71 \"
\n High schools burned : 52 \"<\/p>\n
Source: Yadesa Foundation, Banda Aceh<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/will-acehs-hungry-kids-one-day-take-up-arms-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }