Disaster unites GAM, Acehnese in brotherhood
Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post/Lhokseumawe
Iwan Peusong is armed with an object vastly different from a year and a half ago, when he was a fighter with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM): He is responsible for one end of a stretcher, carrying the bodies of those who perished in last Sunday's tsunami.
Along with other volunteers, Iwan has been searching for and collecting bodies that are scattered throughout Lhokseumawe, North Aceh regency, as well as helping to distribute food and medicines to survivors in refugee camps.
"I have a moral responsibility to search for the dead. I can't leave them unburied after such awful deaths," he told The Jakarta Post, sifting through the debris of a house in Peusong Lama village, looking for bodies.
Iwan is among 106 former GAM members and supporters who joined a team of humanitarian volunteers one day after the tsunami swept through Aceh and parts of North Sumatra on Dec. 26.
Iwan, like many Acehnese survivors, lost family and friends to the disaster and suffered minor injuries, but claimed he was fit enough to undertake humanitarian work.
"I am reenergized when I discover the body of our brothers. As a native of Aceh, I am proud to help them," he said, adding that he was happy working alongside Indonesian Military (TNI) soldiers, who were once his long-time foe. Iwan surrendered just after the government imposed martial law on Aceh in May 2003.
"It is already an old memory," he said, referring to the many years he fought against the TNI for an independent Aceh. "I have buried the hatchet."
Iwan has not been tried for his part in the separatist war because he surrendered; instead, he was given a three-month reeducation course to develop a sense of Indonesian nationalism.
Ridwan Ali Basyah, once a staunch GAM supporter from Keude Aceh village, said former GAM fighters were providing humanitarian aid services mostly in Muara Batu, Blang Mangat and Bandar Sakti subdistricts, which were hit hardest by the disaster.
Ridwan, better known as Wan Lena, said ex-GAM members and supporters had joined the relief effort in a spirit of solidarity for fellow Acehnese.
"Those who died were our brothers ... we have to help each other," said Wan Lena, whose home was destroyed by the tsunami. He is one of the lucky few, as his wife and all seven children survived.
Wan Lena said the ex-GAM volunteers kept a low profile and did not work in an exclusive group.
"We are not affiliated with any non-governmental organizations, political parties or universities, who deserve to have their identities known. We just work side by side with ordinary people," he said, referring to non-Acehnese groups that have sent humanitarian teams to the town.
The teams arrived on Thursday to collect the dead and to evacuate the survivors to refugee camps.
The local social services agency said it had no records on the number of volunteers operating there, which may become an issue with the advent of post-disaster complications, such as disease, and food and water rations.
"Sorry, we haven't had the chance to record them," North Aceh social services head Iskandar Nasri said.