Acehnese long to return to their province when peace comes

Acehnese long to return to their province when peace comes

Harry Bhaskara, The Jakarta Post, Medan

If the longed-for peace was achieved in Aceh it could increase
the province's population by more than 20 percent, as people who
fled separatist conflict and the recent tsunami returned.

The Medan-based Aceh Sepakat foundation said it had half-a-
million members living in North Sumatra. Should they return, the
population of the province would swell to about 4.5 million.

"Before the tsunami, there was the hardship of everyday life.
After the tsunami, it was about the disaster," foundation
secretary-general Muchtar Yacob said.

The Free Aceh Movement (GAM) has fought for the independence
of the province since 1976 and clashes with government troops
have cost more than 12,000 lives. While there were no significant
agreements reached, delegates from both sides were upbeat after a
fourth round of peace talks between government and GAM
representatives were held in Helsinki last month. The talks are
set to reconvene for a fifth round on July 28.

Muchtar said most of the Acehnese who had left were
businessmen who needed a stable, peaceful situation before they
would return.

He believed the official tsunami death toll in the province
was much higher than the official estimation of 129,000.

"It was at least 300,000 people (killed), including those
missing," Muchtar told The Jakarta Post and Australian
journalists in Medan last Thursday. He estimated that a total of
half-a-million Acehnese had been killed in the tsunami and the
political violence since the 1970s.

Shortly after the tsunami, about 15,000 Acehnese refugees
flooded into Medan but most now have returned to Aceh, with only
a thousand still in the neighboring province.

Muchtar said Sepakat was a politically neutral foundation,
with its primary work providing community services for its
members.

Asked if he had ever heard about GAM torturing its civilian
detainees, Muchtar said he had not.

"Common sense dictates that it is very unlikely. I could not
imagine GAM ever torturing its own people," he said.

Muchtar said he would go home when there was peace.

"It is written in the Koran, go to a place where there is
peace and go back to your place when peace has returned."

Many Acehnese had lived in a conflict zone for a long time, he
said.

"Like the Vietnamese, hardship is not something strange for
us."