Idul Adha brings relief, albeit temporary

Idul Adha brings relief, albeit temporary

Ruslan Sangadji
and Tony Hotland
The Jakarta Post/Banda Aceh

Today's menu: kare daging (beef or mutton curry).

In the huge army tent located inside the TVRI compound in
Banda Aceh, within the 12-square meter area designated as their
quarters, 44-year-old Mardiati and 12 members of her family feast
on meat, rice, chips and syrup. Meat is being served for the
first time since the magnitude-9 earthquake and tsunamis
destroyed their homes in Lamtemen Timur village on Dec. 26.

"We're so glad we have meat today. My daughter had been
bugging me because she wanted to eat meat," Mardiati said as she
cut the food into smaller pieces.

The meat was the family's share for Idul Adha, or the
Sacrifice Day, which most Muslims in Indonesia celebrated on
Friday. Some 600,000 people have been displaced by the disaster
that killed over 166,000 people in Aceh and North Sumatra.

Mardiati, whose husband died some years ago, said she received
a small plastic bag of meat. As head of the family, she had to
line up for the coupon in the morning, and join another line for
the meat. "We're so happy today. We've also got meat from another
organization and money. The men got Rp 150,000 this morning from
Arabic guys after the Idul Adha prayer, so we could buy spices to
cook the meat with," she said.

As The Jakarta Post was speaking with her, a number of other
refugees from the same village staying, came to her tent and
shared stories and ate biscuits. "After we have no meat left,
we'll just go back to salted fish," she said, followed by a burst
of laughter.

The survivors said the meat gave them temporary relief from
the plain rice, salted fish and instant noodles -- their usual
fare during the past three weeks.

More important than the meat, the holiday brought a spiritual
uplift for the refugees who remain uncertain about their
immediate future.

In the morning, they thronged the open fields where Idul Adha
mass prayers were held. The sermons inevitably touched on the
disaster and on the need to persevere. President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono flew in from Medan on Friday morning to join the
congregation at the Baiturrahman Grand Mosque, a magnificent
structure dotted with eight giant minarets, at the town's center.
The mosque was partially damaged during the disaster but it has
been restored and repainted since then.

Making his third visit to Aceh since the disaster, the
President used the occasion to urge the Acehnese to start looking
ahead and rebuilding their lives.

His presence, as well as that of many other VIPs -- including
National Police Chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar, Army chief Gen.
Ryamizard Ryacudu, several Cabinet members and former president
Abdurrahman Wahid -- led to the imposition of a tight security
protocol.

The throngs of people, many of whom came from distant places
to pray at their favorite mosque, had to go through metal
detector gates and had their bags searched. The mosque and its
compound were packed with people, and those who turned up late
had to settle for praying in the adjacent streets.

Three weeks ago, the mosque's compound, streets and nearby
buildings were filled with bodies. On Friday, one stubborn body,
blackened by mud, was still lying outside a building office close
to where many people parked their cars and motorcycles.

Armed soldiers in armored cars around the mosque were
reminders that Aceh was still a war zone between the Indonesian
Military and the Aceh Free Movement (GAM), which have been
fighting a guerrilla war for decades.

"We prayed for peace and no more conflicts or disasters,"
Asnaini, a 40-year old Banda Aceh resident who came to pray with
her family. "We have lost enough families and souls. We don't
want to keep living in fear and anxiety."

Ibrahim Hasan, a senior local ulema who gave a sermon at
Baiturrahman, said Acehnese must be strong when dealing with such
a horrifying tragedy and be resourceful in opening the way for a
peaceful settlement to end the ongoing conflict. He challenged
the President to end the conflict in a peaceful way.

At the shelter inside the TVRI compound, the celebration was
far more subdued. After the prayers, women and children broke
into tears as they remembered the lost loved ones even as men
chanted praising God's greatness.

On Thursday night, men were seen gathering in one tent, and
women in another. Later, they hugged and cried together.

Outside, six-year old Meli was crying alone. "Mama, I am
hungry..," she said. Her mother, Nini, came out, saying, "We'll
buy something in a minute. We have nothing left in our tent."

On the field, some 30 children chanted "Allah is Great" over
and over. Their mothers could not hold back their tears.

While the more fortunate Acehnese shopped for new clothes to
wear for Idul Adha, many in the refugee camp struggled for used
clothes that were distributed by the Indonesian Humanitarian
Movement earlier on Thursday.

One of the few motorcades touring the town on Thursday night,
a tradition on Idul Adha Eve across Indonesia, was organized by
the Jakarta-based Islamic Defenders' Front (FPI). A convoy of
about 10 open trucks, filled mostly by FPI members who came as
volunteers to clean up bodies, toured Banda Aceh with a light
police escort.

FPI chairman Habib Rizieq Shihab in his Idul Adha sermon at
the TVRI compound said the disaster was a punishment for the
nation's collective sins. Aceh was picked because the people were
far more resilient to face such an ordeal, he said.

"This disaster has been inflicted upon the Acehnese because
they are the most resilient people and no matter what, they will
remain steadfast to Islam. They are our big brothers. They must
show to the rest of Indonesia that they are strong," he said.