Acehnese can only dream of a peaceful fasting month

Acehnese can only dream of a peaceful fasting month

Nani Farida and Teuku Agam Muzakir, The Jakarta Post,
Banda Aceh/Lhokseumawe

Ismiati has been longing for an evening prayer to be held in the
mosque after the breaking of the fast meal, along with neighbors
in her remote hamlet in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam.

But prolonged violence which is now prevailing in the
westernmost province has again dashed her dream of a peaceful
Ramadhan.

"My only wish is no longer hearing the noisy gunslinging, so
that we can pray at the Meunasah," the 20-year-old girl said on
Tuesday. Meunasah is the Acehnese word for mosque.

She said she was forced to stay home when the dusk fell during
the fasting month last year. This year nothing has changed.

Ismiati lives in Tiba hamlet in Mutiara Pidie district, some
12 kilometers east of Sigli. Gunfights have frequently erupted
there even before the martial law was imposed in Aceh on May 19,
which has allowed for a major offensive against the Free Aceh
Movement (GAM) rebels.

"Both the military and GAM are fond of fighting each other,"
Ismiati grumbled.

The Tiba hamlet has been known as a GAM stronghold, prompting
the Indonesian Military (TNI) to launch operations to hunt down
the rebels there.

"Sometimes we ate our breaking of the fast meal in anxiety, as
we knew well that government troops would comb our hamlet to find
the rebels," she said.

Ismiati is just one of thousands, perhaps millions, Acehnese
who miss the luxury of attending evening prayers during the
Ramadhan, as other Muslims in most part of the country do.

Muslims account for more than 90 percent of the Aceh
population of 4.2 million. The province has applied sharia
following the enforcement of the special autonomy for the natural
resource-rich province in 2001.

For Nuraini, a resident of Gampong Lhang subdistrict in Pidie,
security does not matter a lot to her willingness to observe the
fasting month.

"We will observe Ramadhan as we did in the previous years. God
willing nothing bad will happen to us during the holy month," the
54-year-old housewife said.

She and her family had always attended the evening prayer in a
mosque located one kilometer away from her home during the
fasting month last year she added.

"Sometimes we heard the staccato of firearms along our way to
the mosque. We then confined ourselves to our home and prayed
together," she recalled.

Nuraini said the martial law would not change her family's
habit a lot during Ramadhan.

She passed the first day of the fasting month safely and would
complete the religious duties and celebrate Idul Fitri with her
family, relatives and neighbors.

A Javanese migrant, Wignyo, who lives in Sungai Yu district in
East Aceh expressed hopes that the ongoing fasting month would
proceed peacefully.

"Gunfights used to mark the fasting month, but now many TNI
soldiers have built security posts in our residential area. I
hope this will bring peace to us throughout Ramadhan," he said.

The martial law administrator in Aceh Maj. Gen. Endang Suwarya
has said the military operation would continue during Ramadhan in
a bid to maintain peace and security in the province during the
holy month.

Visiting Coordinating Minister for Political and Security
Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono called on Tuesday GAM members to
take the momentum of Ramadhan, to surrender and give up their
secessionist movement.

"I sincerely ask GAM members for the sake of the holy month to
recognize to the unitary state of Indonesia. It's better late
than never. We always open up the opportunity of GAM to rejoin
the republic," Susilo said on the sidelines of the Youth Pledge
commemoration in Peureulak, East Aceh.

Susilo said the central government was taking into
consideration the mounting demand from the Acehnese to extend the
military operation, rather than foreign parties which were
pushing for an end to the major offensive.

"The critics do not know what is happening in Aceh. Only the
Acehnese know it better, so we listen to them," Susilo said.

President Megawati Soekarnoputri's cabinet will evaluate the
implementation of the military operation next week and decide
whether the operation will go on under the martial law or a new
status.

Martial law -- Page 2