Aceh's outlook for 2006 and a refugee's hope
Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh
Salmiati (43), a refugee in the village of Mon Ikeun in Aceh Besar regency, said she had grown weary of living in a tent.
It had just rained in the settlement. The ground around her tent was muddy and she was trying in vain to clean her leaking shelter.
The widow shares the abode with her two children. Their father perished as he was swept away by the tsunami a year ago. She continues, after all these months, to dwell in her grubby tent, even though there have been billions of dollars donated from around the world for real homes.
"Will I still be here next year? Should I continue to depend on donors' mercy? Will there be any change?" lamented Salmiati. These are some intriguing questions to raise as the year winds down and the one-year anniversary of the disaster rapidly approaches.
Prior to the Dec. 26 tsunami, 1.2 million out of Aceh's 4.2 million population were categorized as poor. This total has increased to 2.2 million following the tragedy. So far, at least 500,000 survivors have become refugees in their homeland like Salmiati.
Nobody can predict whether the improvements for post-tsunami and post-conflict Aceh will be fast or slow in the coming year.
After a year, most victims of the tsunami in Aceh remain homeless. A large number of survivors are living in tents or crammed into small, temporary barracks.
Similarly, lots of coastal refugees are facing potable water shortages and are forced to consume water with a high level of salinity, while numerous children attend school in makeshift classes or in the ruins of a partially functioning facility.
This situation is in marked contrast to the presence of 150 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Aceh, with their diverse areas of operation ranging from housing and education to trauma handling and food provision.
Throughout 2005, the large number of foreign aid agencies and NGOs has also increased inflation in Aceh to the highest level in Indonesia. Prices of goods and services are soaring and beyond the reach of most Acehnese, who now live under the poverty line.
The Aceh rehabilitation and reconstruction agency (BRR) has been slow and less-than-successful this year.
Set up to coordinate all groups working to rebuild Aceh, the government agency seems to be overwhelmed and many things have escaped its officials' attention, including the daily tears of the exhausted tent dwellers.
Even though reconstruction is going at a snail's pace, they still cannot manage to facilitate proper coordination between the groups operating in the devastated region.
Some anticorruption NGOs have also spoken out against the BRR's bureaucrats, accusing them of being less than sensitive to Aceh's post-tsunami circumstances, while enjoying outrageously high salaries in spite of their ineffective performance.
Frustration among the displaced families is also noticeable as the year comes to a close. Four out of five displaced people conceded that they no longer trusted NGOs or the BRR, both of which they said were guilty of making promises that were never fulfilled.
In 2006, Aceh's improving or deteriorating conditions depend on how the BRR, along with the NGOs and foreign aid groups, doing their jobs in a much more efficient way.
Amid the various issues Aceh encountered in 2005, some fresh air has been brought to the conflict-fatigued populace. A peace agreement between Indonesia and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) was signed on August 15, 2005 in Helsinki.
Conflict is no longer a daily feature so the "security situation" can no longer be an excuse for the slow pace of reconstruction. Now there is no excuse for underdevelopment. GAM's weapons have been destroyed and thousands of members of non-local security forces have been withdrawn from Aceh.
The atmosphere of peace is all around and that should be able to speed up Aceh's post-disaster rehabilitation.
GAM figures will definitely appear in the April 2006 general elections to compete for their seats with party activists who have much more experience in party/election politics. GAM's struggle will change, starting with convincing voters to cast their ballots for them.
Understandably, GAM wishes to enjoy the fruits of the peace accord. But its leaders will have to work extra hard as they go head to head with seasoned politicians, with large, national political machines behind them.
The year 2006 indeed remains vague for Aceh, but many people here share the hope that significant transformation will take place, which should of course involve ordinary people -- especially tsunami and conflict victims. It is possible in terms of money, one need not be a mathematician to work out that there is more than enough money available to rebuild this province.
"I want to see more progress in Aceh, especially among people like us, with proper housing and schooling for all. But is it possible?" queried Salmiati as the sky darkened. Salmiati is not alone in cherishing this hope.
The writer is a correspondent of The Jakarta Post.