Aceh rebuilding 'to start with communities'

Riyadi Suparno, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A young man, equipped with a compass and signposts, was measuring plots of land in a destroyed village in Banda Aceh when Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, the newly-appointed chairman of the Aceh reconstruction agency, visited his village recently.

Apparently entrusted with the task by the surviving villagers, this young man then presented his drawing showing the boundaries of the plots to Kuntoro and asked him to sign it -- as a symbol of his endorsement.

"This was very encouraging. I have found a positive mood in Aceh. So, without hesitation, I signed it. And that was my second such signing since I arrived in Aceh," Kuntoro said during a discussion with a number of journalists in Jakarta on Monday evening.

Kuntoro visited Aceh last week, a few days after being installed as the chairman of the Aceh and Nias Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency.

When asked what would happen if a village was not designated as a residential area any longer under the government's Aceh reconstruction blueprint, Kuntoro responded, "then we will do what we find suits the people, not the bureaucrats."

"Land is the only thing they have now. So, we must not prevent them from reclaiming their rights and building houses on it," he said.

He said he would use the blueprint, prepared by the National Development Planning Agency, as a guideline only and would not force its implementation on people if it negated the realities on the ground.

"I can assure you that we will develop Aceh using a total community participation approach. The blueprint is important, but the actual needs of the people are more important.

"If fishermen, for example, want to build their houses on their land by the sea, let them do it. What we can do is to help them build their houses and prepare themselves for what they should do in the event of another tsunami," he said.

Kuntoro acknowledged that he himself had no time to study the blueprint, but would assign his deputies to look into it, as well as the criticism levied at it from various sides.

A number of Acehnese as well as activists have criticized the blueprint, which they say fails to accommodate the interests of the victims and leaves the door open to corruption.

Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW), for example, has said that the data used to determine the cost of reconstruction projects, such as the number of displaced people and the total population, is inaccurate and inconsistent.

Kuntoro acknowledged the inconsistencies and said he would assign an independent body to everything that required funding, including the number of displaced people.

He noted that the initial results of an independent audit on the number of displaced people showed that the actual number of people who would be eligible for assistance would likely total about 190,000 -- far lower than the 514,000 stated in the blueprint.

"We will do our best with regard to transparency so as to ensure that none of the money for Aceh is embezzled," Kuntoro said. "If there are any reports of corruption, this will drive away foreign donors."

Kuntoro once again highlighted the importance of foreign funding for the reconstruction of Aceh and Nias, stressing that the government had little money to spare. Of the total reconstruction cost of Rp 46 trillion, the government would only be able to provide about 30 percent. For this year, the government could only commit about Rp 6 trillion.

Worse still, government funding for this year was still available as it would first need clearance from the House of Representatives, Kuntoro said. He expected the money would become available only in September.

"Even to pay our operational costs, we have to find the funding elsewhere. UNHCR has been kind enough to rent us a house, USAID rents a number of cars for us, and Australia is committed to helping us with A$100,000," Kuntoro said.