A day to grieve, to hope

A day to grieve, to hope

Ruslan Sangadji and Tony Hotland, The Jakarta Post/Banda Aceh

Today's menu: kare daging (beef or mutton curry). In the huge
army tent inside the TVRI compound in Banda Aceh, within
the 12-square meter area designated as their quarters, Mardiati
and 12 members of her family feast on meat, rice, chips
and syrup. Meat is being served for the first time since the
magnitude-9 earthquake and tsunamis destroyed their homes in
Lamtemen Timur village on Dec. 26.

"We're so glad we have meat today. My daughter had been
bugging me because she wanted to eat meat," Mardiati, 44, said as
she cut the food into smaller pieces.

The meat was the family's share for Idul Adha, or the
Sacrifice Day, which most Muslims in Indonesia celebrated on
Friday. Some 600,000 people have been displaced by the disaster
that killed over 166,000 people in Aceh and North Sumatra.

Mardiati, whose husband died some years ago, said she received
a small plastic bag of meat. As head of the family, she had to
line up for the coupon in the morning, and join another line for
the meat. "We're so happy today. The men also got Rp 150,000 this
morning from Arabic guys after the Idul Adha prayer, so we could
buy spices to cook the meat with," she said.

Then some fellow villagers came to her tent and shared stories
and ate biscuits. "After we have no meat left, we'll just go back
to salted fish," she said, followed by a burst of laughter.

Still, the meat gave them temporary relief from rice, salted
fish and instant noodles; their usual fare during the past three
weeks.

More important, the holiday brought a spiritual uplift for the
refugees who remain uncertain about their immediate future.

In the morning, they thronged the open fields where Idul Adha
mass prayers were held. The sermons inevitably touched on the
disaster and on the need to persevere. President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono flew in from Medan on Friday morning to join the
congregation at the Baiturrahman Grand Mosque, a magnificent
structure dotted with eight giant minarets, at the town's center.
The mosque has been restored and repainted since the disaster.

Making his third visit to Aceh since the disaster, Susilo
urged the Acehnese to start looking ahead and rebuilding lives.
His presence, and that of many other VIPs -- including National
Police Chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar, Army chief Gen. Ryamizard
Ryacudu, Cabinet members and former president Abdurrahman Wahid
-- led to the imposition of a tight security protocol.

The throngs of people, many of whom came from distant places
to pray at their favorite mosque, had to go through metal
detector gates and had their bags searched. Those who turned up
late had to settle for praying in the adjacent streets.

On Friday, one stubborn body, blackened by mud, was still
lying outside a building office close to where many people parked
their cars and motorcycles.

Nearby, armed soldiers in armored cars were reminders that
Aceh was still a war zone between the Indonesian Military and the
Aceh Free Movement (GAM).

"We prayed for peace and no more conflicts or disasters,"
Asnaini, a 40-year old Banda Aceh resident who came to pray with
her family. "We have lost enough families and souls. We don't
want to keep living in fear and anxiety."

Ibrahim Hasan, a local ulema who gave a sermon at
Baiturrahman, said Acehnese must be strong when dealing with such
a horrifying tragedy and be resourceful in opening the way for a
peaceful settlement to end the ongoing conflict. He challenged
the President to end the conflict in a peaceful way.

Inside the TVRI compound, the celebration was far more
subdued. After the prayers, women and children broke into tears
as they remembered the lost loved ones even as men chanted
praising God's greatness.

On Thursday night, men were seen gathering in one tent, and
women in another. Later, they hugged and cried together.

Outside, six-year old Meli was crying alone. "Mama, I am
hungry..," she said. Her mother, Nini, came out, saying, "We'll
buy something in a minute. We have nothing left in our tent."

On the field, some 30 children chanted "Allah is Great" over
and over. Their mothers could not hold back their tears.

While the more fortunate Acehnese shopped for new clothes to
wear for Idul Adha, many in the refugee camp struggled for used
clothes that were distributed by the Indonesian Humanitarian
Movement earlier on Thursday.

One of the few motorcades touring the town on Thursday night,
a tradition on Idul Adha Eve across Indonesia, was organized by
the Jakarta-based Islamic Defenders' Front (FPI). A convoy of
about 10 open trucks, filled mostly by FPI members who came as
volunteers to clean up bodies, toured Banda Aceh with a light
police escort.

FPI chairman Habib Rizieq Shihab in his Idul Adha sermon at
the TVRI compound said the disaster was a punishment for the
nation's collective sins. Aceh was picked because the people were
far more resilient to face such an ordeal, he said.

"This disaster has been inflicted upon the Acehnese because
they are the most resilient people and no matter what, they will
remain steadfast to Islam. They are our big brothers. They must
show to the rest of Indonesia that they are strong," he said.