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."