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.