Acehnese see little progress in reconstruction work

Acehnese see little progress in reconstruction work

Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

People in Aceh and Nias have expressed little satisfaction in the
progress of reconstruction and rehabilitation work in tsunami-hit
areas, despite the government's claim that the pace of rebuilding
is picking up, according to a survey.

The survey, carried out by the Indonesian Survey Institute
(LSI) in December, revealed that Acehnese think there has been a
generous amount of aid given by local and foreign donors to help
finance the reconstruction of areas ruined by the Dec. 26
tsunami, which killed over 170,000 people and made at least half
a million people homeless in Aceh, in the northern tip of the
island of Sumatra.

However, only 27 percent of 833 Acehnese respondents were
happy with the progress of reconstruction work carried out by the
government.

The level of satisfaction is below 40 percent with regards the
development of housing, schools, clean water facilities,
employment provision, medical facilities and so on in Aceh.

As for the performance of the Aceh and Nias Rehabilitation and
Reconstruction Agency (BRR), which has been given a mandate to
lead the reconstruction work in the two regions, 38 percent of
Acehnese think that BRR has performed generally well, 20 percent
said the BRR worked fast, and 18 percent said that BRR's
management was transparent and open.

In Nias, however, the level of satisfaction is even lower.
Only 18 percent of 430 respondents said that a lot of progress
had been made by the central government, 18 percent think that
BRR performs well, 7 percent said BRR worked fast and 10 percent
praised BRR's transparency and openness.

There is a gap, however, between the perception of people in
Aceh and Nias and people in the rest of the country, in terms of
the progress in reconstruction and rehabilitation work.

Out of 1,119 respondents throughout the country, 74 percent
think that the government has made a lot of progress in the
rehabilitation and reconstruction of Aceh and Nias.

Rizal Sukma, researcher and deputy director of the Centre for
Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said that people in
Aceh and Nias might be uninformed.

"People in the rest of the country might be picking up the
news about the progress from the media, so they knew something is
being done," he said.

Meanwhile, BRR's director of donor and international relation,
Heru Prasetyo, admitted that reconstruction process in Nias was
really struggling.

"(Development) in Nias is difficult because the infrastructure
there is not good. But we do whatever we can," he said, adding
that it even took Japan 10 years to complete reconstruction work
after the Kobe earthquake.

As for the criticism of the plan to deploy 15,000 soldiers to
help speed up reconstruction in Aceh, Heru said the expertise of
noncombatant soldiers might help development, particularly in
coastal areas.

"Meulaboh harbor for instance was built with the help of
amphibious troops from Singapore who did construction work under
the sea. Surely, we cannot ask for their help, or other foreign
soldier's help again, can we?

"We're not saying that we need the military, but we need their
skills to develop the areas that are difficult to access," he
said.

Rizal said that the reconstruction work was important, but
must be in line with local demand.

"We shouldn't just focus on the speed of reconstruction, but
we must also pay attention to the peace-building process."