Govt faces uphill battle to rebuild battered Aceh
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
With more than half of its population living in poverty and an economy barely functioning after years of war, the government is facing an uphill battle to rebuild Aceh, observers and government officials say.
Activists and economists say the government should first focus on restoring normalcy over the next few months.
"The priority should be to patch up the social fabric of the people here," Aceh women' rights activist Naimah Hasan said on Wednesday.
Hopes run high of life returning to normal following Monday's signing of a peace accord between the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and the Indonesian government.
GAM has been fighting for an independent state since 1976, and the peace deal marked the best breakthrough so far in putting an end to the war.
The oil and gas rich province has seen much of its economic infrastructure destroyed in the years of fighting.
Naimah said the province's agricultural and fishing industries were neglected as thousands of people had fled their homes and became refugees.
American-based oil and gas company ExxonMobil Oil Indonesia Inc. runs a giant natural gas field in Arun despite the hostile environment. Much of the company's proceeds however remain out of reach for most of the people in Aceh.
About 60 percent of Aceh's 4.1 million population live in poverty according to estimates by the local administration.
It has been said that 10,000 new homes will have to be built.
With a peace deal signed, the province hopes to put to effective use the around Rp 6 trillion (about US$680 million) it is entitled to under its special autonomy status.
At the recent international conference on the reconstruction of Aceh, 23 countries agreed to establish a post-war trust fund for that purpose. No amount has been agreed on as yet.
Aceh's Syiah Kuala University economist Humam Hamid suggested that farmers and fisherpeople be provided capital to kickstart Aceh's grassroots economy.
Another local economist, Nazamuddin, said the villages needed new roads, especially those leading to GAM controlled areas where the infrastructure was largely cut off.
This, he said, would revitalize economic activities between regions that before had been isolated.
Still the biggest challenge might be to maintain and build on the new found peace. The government has warned the peace accord is fragile and at risk of faltering if violence is sparked.
Consequently the reconstruction of Aceh's economic infrastructure is placed as the last priority in a four-step action plan to implement the peace accord.
Preceding the reconstruction stage under the plan is the humanitarian aid and social rehabilitation steps.
Over the next six months the priority would be on returning the refugees and providing aid to the victims of the conflict, Coordinating Minister for Security and Political Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said during a press briefing on Wednesday.
Yet before everything else, he stressed, peace must be upheld.
To this end, Syiah Kuala University rector Abdi Wahab said the people of Aceh must rekindle their trust among themselves and towards the government.
Building that trust was difficult and would require time, he said as reported by Antara on Thursday.
Susilo called this the reconciliation and society building stage.
"There is a need for it (reconciliation), after there has been such a distance between us for quite a long time; because in living together there must be no permanent feeling of vengeance and hostility," he said.