Placing women's priorities center stage in Aceh

Placing women's priorities center stage in Aceh

The following are reports from The Jakarta Post's contributor
Carla Bianpoen on the recent Acehnese Women's Conference, the
second of its kind. This year's conference aims to strengthen the
role of women in the province's ongoing reconstruction and
rehabilitation.

The Aceh Women's Conference 2, or Duek Pakat Inong Aceh 2, once
again showed Aceh women's leadership at critical times.

Held in Banda Aceh from June 16 through June 19 -- six months
after the devastating earthquakes and tsunami -- and in light of
women's limited participation in the development and
implementation of Aceh's reconstruction, the conference is bound
to have major implications for reconstruction efforts in the
region.

Dr Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, director of the Aceh Reconstruction
Agency, welcomed the recommendations of the congress, brought to
him by a delegation of Acehnese women consisting of the newly
elected Presidium of Balai Syura, the Aceh Women's Council, and
Debra H. Yatim, who has been appointed as his special advisor for
women's affairs.

"I am convinced that it is women who will bring about change,"
Kuntoro said.

Earlier Kuntoro had asked Debra H Yatim to be his special
advisor and liaison for women's affairs. The appointment was
welcomed by Noeleen Heyzer, executive director of the United
Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) who hired Debra H.
Yatim in February 2005 as UNIFEM's gender advisor for Aceh
reconstruction and rehabilitation.

"The reweaving of the social fabric of life is the foundation
for reconstruction and a necessary part of the healing process.
It is women, in their families and their communities, who are
playing this role," she said. UNIFEM, together with the United
States Agency for International Development (USAID), sponsored
the conference.

UNIFEM has an office in Banda Aceh where Saiful Mahdi works as
the agency's coordinator for Aceh's program for rehabilitation
and reconstruction.

There were many differences between this and previous women's
conference, but the most remarkable could have been the singing
of the national anthem Indonesia Raya at this conference.

Another difference from the first Acehnese Women's Conference
in February 2000 (Duek Pakat Inong Aceh ), where peace and
justice were the main concerns amid demands for a referendum
raised by local students and human rights activists, the women
demanded a decision-making place at the peace negotiating table,

The conference, which closed on June 19, focused on
livelihoods, protection and women's place in the reconstruction
process of their devastated province.

Particular focus was on the issue of land title and ownership,
including inheritance rights, particularly in the case of
children who lost their entire family; the creation of adequate
settlements and housing, the lack of gender sensitivity in the
planning and management of temporary barracks; and the need for
more opportunities for women to interact with local and national
authorities and to participate in decision-making to engage with
the reconstruction process.

Whereas the first conference was one of threats -- as
students, non-governmental groups and representatives of women's
groups supporting the Free Aceh Movement demanded a referendum --
the second conference was infiltrated by opinions voicing
fundamentalist understandings of sharia law.

A wide cross-section of society -- including farmers,
fisherwomen, refugees, the disabled, students, businesswomen
religious leaders, government officials, academics and non-Muslim
minorities -- enthusiastically participated in this year's
conference.

Both conferences resulted in a victory for women -- the first
in dropping the referendum call from the agenda and putting peace
on center stage, and the second, ultimately expressing the needs
to get out of their multilevel, dismal situation, as well as the
strong and realistic view of Aceh women in modern society.

Such was the outcome of spirited discussions in seven parallel
commissions dealing with (1) Women and Sharia Law in the Context
of Aceh Tradition and Social and Cultural Conditions; (2) Women
and Peace from Legal, Human Rights and Government Regulations
perspectives; (3) Women and Politics; (4) Women in the Economy
and as Laborers; (5) Women and Education; (6) Women and Health;
(7) Women and Children Refugees.

Outside the conference hall, women who were not so eloquent at
the microphone, spelled out the concrete problems. Like the woman
from Banyak island in Singkil district.

The 53-year-old Hajah Mawarni, who says she goes to sea to
fish and also buys and sells fish in Singkil, explained at length
that it takes four hours to sail from Banyak island to Singkil,
where she sells the fish.

The boat only goes three times a week. Mawarni said that since
the tsunami the ice-making machine had been out of order, so they
could not keep the fish fresh.

Houses are either gone or still deep under water. The owner of
the Jasa Baru Indah guest house, which disappeared in the
tsunami, also complained that only those whose houses were
affected were given subsidies or sustenance.

"As if those who did not lose their houses had not been
affected at all," she protested.

Teachers Husnimar, 39, a graduate of the Teachers College and
Hj. Nur Tasaim Anhar, who is a graduate of the School of
Agriculture, revealed that their elementary school building was
ravaged by the tsunami, and they were still teaching their
students in a tent on what was formerly the volleyball field.

In Cane, in the southeastern part of Aceh, near Gunung Leuser,
Erdarina had another story to tell.

"Our problem is domestic violence," she says.

"Just recently, a woman's fingers were chopped off by her
husband. We are still investigating what the cause was," said the
founder of Lembaga Perempuan (Women's Foundation).

Erda is looking for ways to get training in handling such
cases.

It seems that a solid information and communications system is
urgently needed.

For many participants, this was the first time they had
participated in a conference at all, and numerous were the times
that they had to be reminded of the rules that had been agreed
upon at the beginning of the conference.

Also, the long list of members of the Steering and the
Organizing committee were not familiar enough with the rules of
the conferences, and those with great experience like Rosni
Idham, Samsidar, Azriana, had a hard time keeping the
participants' exuberant emotions in check.

The voting process to elect the new Presidium of the Balai
Syura Ureng Inong Aceh was also an exciting event, with protests
and cheers. Balai Syura was established in April 2000 as a
follow-up on the recommendations of the first conference. Its aim
is to be a place where Aceh women can deliberate and make
decisions. It is currently represented by delegates from 21
districts.

The Presidium, elected to lead the Balai Syura Ureng Inong
Aceh, of which Aceh women's organizations in 21 districts are
members, comprise: Asna Husin, a graduate of the School of Middle
Eastern Studies at Harvard University and currently a lecturer at
IAIN Tarbijah in Banda Aceh; Iliza Saaduddin Djamal, a member of
the local legislature and member of the United Development Party
(PPP), Samsidar, Aceh member and Special Rapporteur of the
National Commission on Violence against Women, Naimah Hasan, who
sits on the Supervisory Board for the Nias and Aceh
Reconstruction, has been a member of the Partnership for
Governance Reform since 2000, and participated in the Indonesia
-- Free Aceh Movement dialog for Humanitarian Pause in Aceh in
2000-2001; and Dahlia who is a member of Majelis Taklim Women's
Prayer group.

The conference also elected Nursiti as Secretary-General.
Nursiti is a graduate of the Law School at Syah Kuala University
in Banda Aceh and a member of the Working Group on the
Transformation of Gender Understanding (Kelompok Kerja
Transformasi Jender).

The mechanism for linking Aceh women's needs, aspirations, and
voices from all the corners in the Aceh districts with the Aceh
Reconstruction Agency is currently being worked out. No doubt a
daunting, yet gratifying, task