Life gets even tougher for Acehnese under siege

Life gets even tougher for Acehnese under siege

Bernie K. Moestafa, The Jakarta Post, Lhokseumawe, Aceh

A convoy of five marine trucks, two armored personnel carriers
and a tank rumbled into Pulo Ara village, a group of wooden
houses on a sandy beach and nestled among banana and palm trees.

Pulo Ara looks eerily empty. A few faces belonging to women
and children appear from behind half-closed doors and window
shutters.

For 50-year-old Saridah, the sight of soldiers sweeping
through her village is nothing new.

It has been more than three weeks since Aceh came under
martial law in a new war against the separatist Free Aceh
Movement (GAM) following a five-year lull.

People here have faced the return of the war with a certain
degree of resignation, as they endure tighter security checks,
power blackouts in many parts of the province, higher prices of
staple foods and an overall slump in business.

In villages like Pulo Ara, located in Bireuen regency -- one
of GAM's strongholds -- living under martial law can often mean
getting very close to the actual combat. For rice farmer Saridah,
the sound of gun fighting is all too familiar.

"The shooting is a bit farther away than usual," she said as
she sat with her children inside her home. "Soldiers come here
often, sometimes they chat with us."

The column of military vehicles that passed through her
village on Wednesday supplied ammunition to the front line,
which, one soldier said, was located five kilometers further down
the gravel road.

They stopped at Pulo Ara for a quick sweep for rebels. Marines
took up positions behind trees on both sides of the road and the
houses just beyond, aiming into the woods. But no shot was fired
today.

GAM still retains some influence in villages like Pulo Ara in
Bireuen. Locals are often torn between obeying the Indonesian
authorities or the rebels. Both sides can be demanding.

Nazar Yusuf, a resident of Blang Mane village in Bireuen, lost
his identity card to GAM rebels. The rebels collect the cards to
hamper authorities's efforts in hunting down rebels, most of whom
do not have IDs.

For this, however, 43-year-old Nazar could have gotten into
grave trouble, had he not had his driver's license to show to
marines who manned checkpoints along the main road between
provincial capital Banda Aceh and Lhokseumawe, stopping and
searching vehicles as they passed through. He said a group of
about 10 GAM rebels took away his ID card on Monday.

Between towns, security checks are also frequent. Vehicles
plying the Banda Aceh-Lhokseumawe route must pass through over a
dozen police and military posts.

Located away from stray bullets and the chances of coming
across a GAM rebel, towns are a much safer place to be.

Still, martial law has impacted the daily routine here as
well. Random security checks can be annoying and intimidating,
and although the martial law administration has not imposed any
curfews yet, people refrain from venturing out late at night.

Even in the capital of Banda Aceh, the streets already look
deserted at about 8.00 p.m. The shorter nights cast a pall over
businesses, as shops close about one to two hours earlier than
usual. In the town of Lhokseumawe, where the military has set up
its command center, people hurry back to their homes at around
6.30 p.m.

Abdul Munir, who drives a motorcycle-pulled rickshaw, known
locally as becak mesin, said that he used to be able to pick up
passengers and drive them anywhere in town. Since martial law was
imposed, however, he did not dare wait for passengers into the
early morning like before.

He said his average daily income used to be Rp 40,000 (US$4.8)
a day, but now, "It's hard to earn even Rp 20,000," he said,
sitting on the beach in front of his shack.

The 42-year-old Abdul is originally from North Sumatra, but
was born in Aceh and now lives amid a community of other migrants
from Java and Sumatra.

Other shop owners report a similar slump, complaining that
fewer visitors have come to Lhokseumawe since the province came
under martial law.

For people like Abdul, life has gotten even more difficult
with last week's power blackout. "We are practically making
friends with the mosquitoes and rats that come out at night," he
said.

Abdul is among the many who cannot afford to buy a generator,
which sold out within a matter of hours after the blackout. A new
stock of generators was seen arriving at shops on Wednesday amid
a surge in demand.

State-owned electricity company PT PLN said it might take up
to one month to restore the power in Lhokseumawe. Last week's
power outage hit much of northern Aceh, covering the regencies of
North Aceh, Bireuen and Central Aceh, and parts of Pidie.

PLN is facing a potential revenue loss of Rp 240 million a
day, excluding Rp 1.2 billion in repairs to fix the four pylons
that were allegedly sabotaged by GAM.

Among those who have benefited from the power outage is an old
couple who has sold kerosene lamps in Lhokseumawe for the past 25
years.

At only Rp 8,000 a lamp, which burns for many hours, the
commodity is in high demand among those who cannot afford to buy
a generator, which costs between Rp 900,000 to well over Rp 2
million.

But those Acehnese who will benefit from the consequences of
the conflict are few and far between -- for the majority of
Acehnese, life will only continue to become harder and harsher
the longer the war goes on.