'It has brought out the best in society'

'It has brought out the best in society'

The quake and tsunami that swept through the northwestern part of
the country killed at least 80,000 Acehnese and destroyed a major
part of the province. Relief workers and aid as well as
volunteers have flown to the province to help bury the dead and
to ease the plight of the survivors. People that The Jakarta Post
talked to, however, saw some good come out of the devastating
calamity.

Feta, 23, is doing her master's at the Prasetya Mulia School
of Management in South Jakarta. She lives with her parents in
Bintaro, also in South Jakarta:

I think the tragedy is a warning that we are nothing compared
to nature. We have been made to realize that pride is a wasted
emotion.

The eagerness of everyone across the country to help Aceh and
North Sumatra residents also shows that we still have a high
sense of solidarity as a nation. We are willing to make
sacrifices for fellow citizens.

Actually, I before the tragedy I thought we were very selfish
people and would ignore anything happening to anybody else.

All in all, I think the tragedy has brought back the humane
side of, not only each of us, but all society.

Ramin, 31, is a taxi driver. He lives with his parents in
Mampang Prapatan, South Jakarta:

Aceh is a troubled province. Many Acehnese have been killed in
armed conflict with the military in the past decade, the
collective number could be in the thousands.

The natural disaster killed tens thousands of them, including
soldiers and police deployed there, in one swift moment.

What does that tell us?

To me, it means that peace should be regained in Aceh. The
people should restructure the local society and stop believing
they have been neglected by the rest of Indonesian society. That
notion led them to want independence.

We are one nation, when one of us is hurt, we all feel the
pain.

-- The Jakarta Post