FPI wins praise for collecting the dead

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh, Aceh

Dozens of members of the Islam Defenders Front (FPI) moved swiftly out of the pickup trucks as they arrived at the mosque in Ajun residential area in tsunami-battered Banda Aceh.

A brief prayer started their work on Sunday to locate and remove the corpses around the area and to clean up the mosque.

The economy of their movement and distribution of tasks never failed to amaze other groups of body retrievers, as FPI regularly picks up the most corpses, maybe second only to the military, reaching an average of 100 daily since they arrived on Dec. 29.

In a long-sleeved shirt with long pants, rubber gloves, boots and a mask, one of the members leads the 10-member team as "the hunter", while the others wait to retrieve the bodies he finds, then place the remains in bodybags and load them onto the trucks or just leave them on the road for the military to pick up later.

The FPI members always carry out a simple ceremony, which includes a formal prayer for each of the dead, which, according to Islamic rites, is required before burial.

There have been interesting stories about how this laskar (paramilitary unit) has been so adept at removing dead bodies considered impossible for others without special equipment.

Once, according to the stories, six members were unable to lift the debris piled up on a corpse, but then two of their comrades stepped in and managed to remove the body out after they read Koranic verses and appealed to the deceased: "We're here just to help. Please give us a way to make this task easier."

Recently, the FPI were called by residents living near a mass burial ground, who had reported a strange odor coming from a newly dug grave. They began digging into the mass grave where dozens of students and staffers from two nearby Muslim boarding schools in Lhok Nga were buried. They then found that the smell was coming from the newly decaying body of a woman, and the body was in relatively good condition.

They removed the body and gave it a proper burial because the woman, who was recognized as a ustadzah or female preacher at one of the boarding schools.

As is the case with other body removal teams, anxiety, fatigue and nightmares have also attacked the FPI members, who have set up a tent camp inside the Heroes Cemetery in downtown Banda Aceh.

"I don't know what Habib says in his prayers, but they sure do keep us healthy and we never lose our eagerness to find as many corpses as possible each day," Hasril Pasaribu said on Sunday.

He was referring to FPI leader Habib Rizieq, who recently joined the volunteers, who have come from other parts of the country. They have been told that the people who died by drowning in a gigantic tidal wave were considered true martyrs.

"We've been called here to bury them properly," Hasril added. "Besides, the Acehnese wanted all the dead bodies to be buried properly or they think the aftershocks won't stop. We believe that prayer is what helps us through all this and protects us from the diseases we are exposed to as body retrievers," he explained. The World Health Organization has said that following natural disasters, bacteria and viruses from corpses die within 24 hours.

FPI commander Hilmy Bakar Almascaty has arranged working shifts every other day for the members so they would not have to see corpses each day.

"It's bad for them. We're also developing programs for the survivors, such as Koran teachings at boarding schools or giving education to students and orphans at the refugee camps," he said.

FPI is just one of many religious groups working in Aceh, but their presence has raised fears that they are spreading extremist ideas. However, Coordinating Minister of People's Welfare Alwi Shihab said both Christian and Muslim groups were involved in relief operations, and so far there were "no problems" as they were focusing on humanitarian work.