Blueprint on Aceh's reconstruction lacks focus

Blueprint on Aceh's reconstruction lacks focus

A'an Suryana, Jakarta

After the emergency relief period, the government is now
embarking on the second phase of the Aceh recovery program:
rehabilitation. According to the draft blueprint for Aceh's
recovery, the rehabilitation program will start in April and end
in December next year. The rehabilitation program is primarily
aimed at renovating and rebuilding public infrastructure --
hospitals, mosques and schools -- that were damaged or destroyed
by the tsunami, and making them functional again.

In the second phase, the government will also focus on fixing
crucial social problems, notably those related to land ownership.
Claims over land are expected to soar, and if this matter is not
handled well then it may well lead to serious social conflict.
Other areas that must also be dealt with by the government is
trauma healing among tsunami victims, and the refunctioning of
the economy, including the banking network.

Rehabilitation will be a mammoth task for the government, and
it will certainly needs huge sums of money to cope with it.

While the funds needed during the emergency relief phase
reached a massive Rp 5.1 trillion (US$542 million), much more
will certainly have to be drawn from the domestic budget and from
international aid to cover expenditure for the rehabilitation
program.

During the rehabilitation phase, funds will not only be
earmarked to cover renovation and rebuilding of public
infrastructure, but will also be used to cover expenses for
compensation of tsunami victims. And, certainly, this will cost
the government a lot.

In order to make the rehabilitation program a success, the
government has stated in the draft blueprint that it will
establish a special body to run the program. President Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono will directly oversee the Rehabilitation and
Reconstruction Body, and its headquarters will be in Banda Aceh.

The body has three components; namely, a Steering Board, a
Supervisory Board and an Implementing Body.

Overall, the draft blueprint has been praised for being open
to participation from Acehnese. But, it has also drawn criticism
from several quarters.

While the blueprint has apparently covered all aspects
required for rehabilitation and reconstruction, it lacks detail
when it comes to the all-important social development program.

"The program places too much emphasis on physical
infrastructure rehabilitation and ignores social infrastructure,"
according to Rufriadi, a well-known Acehnese figure.

In the blueprint, the government spells out details for the
rehabilitation of physical infrastructure, but fails to elaborate
on the social aspects of rehabilitation, particularly the
creation of jobs. The blueprint touches on the disbursement of
credit for people wanting to start businesses, but fails to
propose a strategy on how to create jobs. Such failure will be
detrimental to the government's efforts to rebuild Aceh.

The employment problem has to be put high on the government's
agenda. Soaring unemployment not only deprives life to tsunami
survivors, but also creates significant social problems. Rising
numbers of jobless will lead to higher rates of crime.

In order to address the unemployment problem, the government
should have provided concrete explanations in the blueprint
concerning a strategy to address the unemployment problem. It
should have offered, for example, establishment of training
centers in order to allow tsunami survivors to get better skills
that are needed by employers. The blueprint should also have
elaborated plans to create labor intensive projects that could
employ tsunami survivors in the stricken province.

The draft also fails to provide social security scheme. Such a
scheme is particularly important especially when supplies of food
aid start to run low. We can not rely on international aid
forever. The flow of aid will come to an end at some point and we
have to be ready to be self-reliant.

The draft blueprint is at the same time ambitious and lacking
in focus, in the sense that it attempts to broadly cover all
aspects of life. It covers education, religion, culture, and
physical rehabilitation; in the latter case, including the
rebuilding of sport facilities.

The rebuilding of sport facilities may be necessary and
worthwhile doing, but putting it in the blueprint may be
inappropriate. The government should focus first on the important
aspects of life such as food, jobs, medical facilities, housing
and clothing before embarking on rehabilitating tertiary needs
such as sport and entertainment.

It is not too late for the government to make revisions to the
draft blueprint; it still has another month to make changes.

The draft may need to be revised in any case, after another
major earthquake on late Monday night, measuring 8.7 on the
Richter scale, shook Nias and other parts of the island of
Sumatra, including Banda Aceh. But, whatever the revisions, the
plan has to be focused. And it needs to adequately address
several immediate aspects such as job and food security.

If these crucial problems can be adequately addressed during
the rehabilitation phase, then this will lay a firm foundation
before the government embarks on the third phase of the Aceh
recovery, namely the reconstruction phase that will begin in July
2006 and end in December 2009.

The author is a staff writer at The Jakarta Post.