Aceh, I weep for you

Aceh, I weep for you

From Koran Tempo

I can still recall clearly the time when I performed my ritual
Friday prayer at Baiturrahman Grand Mosque in Banda Aceh with
Nurcholish Madjid as the preacher that particular day.

Taking part in the communal prayer was also the Aceh Governor
Abdullah Puteh, now on trial for corruption.

I can also still recall clearly how local vendors sold us
their merchandise and how gratifying it was to drink ice mixed
with cucumber and syrup, which was sold beside the mosque.

Words pale before the devastation that a major earthquake and
a massive tsunami have wreaked in Aceh. Buildings collapsed and
corpses were scattered everywhere.

When you remember Aceh, you call to mind a certain pride as
well as its several predicaments. Following this devastation, you
can no longer sit in a leisurely way at a roadside coffee shop,
sipping your coffee and reading a newspaper. You can no longer
sit in an open-air cafe facing the sea in the afternoon while
chatting with your buddies off of Olee Lheue Street.

Indonesia weeps. The plight of Aceh is the plight of all
Indonesians whose conscience is filled with concern over the
destiny of their fellow countrymen in Aceh. It seems that the
plight that the Acehnese have to suffer is unimaginable. But,
then, no man can do anything in the face of an act of God. We
simply must believe that God has a plan, which is a mystery to us
humans.

The enormous natural disaster that has hit Aceh has reunited
us all as fellow countrymen to share the plight of our sisters
and brothers in Aceh. The silver lining is that we now realize
that we are still a nation that loves one another and is
concerned with one another's sufferings.

Aceh, I weep for you. I gaze at you with a deep longing to
touch you in God's love.

ANWAR M. NOER

Jakarta