Resource-rich Aceh suffers from prolonged violence
A'an Suryana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The war-torn province of Aceh is known for its rich natural resources, notably oil and gas, and yet its people are among the poorest in the country.
World oil and gas giant ExxonMobil Oil has been operating for years in Aceh, tapping oil and gas from the region. The profitable business earns the government around US$1 billion per year.
Not only oil and gas, the 57,366 square kilometer Aceh, a home to four million residents, also has abundant wealth in several commodities, notably palm oil, sugar, chocolate and copra.
Given the rich natural resources, the province should have been able to raise the living standard of its people. However, government data shows that 40 percent of Acehnese villages can be classified as poor.
What went wrong? The popular view blames the central government for the misery that the Acehnese must shoulder.
Most of the natural resource revenue goes to the central government's coffers in the past years, and only a little was sent back to Aceh.
This injustice is cited as one of the main sources of the rebellion in Aceh.
The armed rebellion in Aceh has been going on for decades, with the latest waged by the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), which has been fighting for Aceh's independence from Indonesia since 1976.
GAM's campaign increased after former authoritarian president Soeharto stepped down in 1998 and his successor B.J. Habibie lifted the military operation status for Aceh.
As conflicts between the Indonesian military and GAM became frequent, these did not only take lives as casualties but also degraded the life of the Acehnese in general.
Trade, schooling and other activities among the people have been plagued by the conflict, preventing them from doing productive activities.
The conflict even forced ExxonMobil Oil to cease operations for five months in 2001. The impact was severe as the giant company was a sole gas supplier to a number of industries in Lhokseumawe, including natural gas liquefaction company PT Arun NGL and fertilizer companies PT Pupuk Iskandar Muda and PT Aceh ASEAN Fertilizer.
These companies were also forced to suspend operations.
Not only the oil and gas industry, but overall economic indicators show that the conflicts have impacted terribly on the Acehnese people.
The number of middle and big companies in Aceh dropped by 34.21 percent to 75 companies in 2000, from 114 companies in 1998. Likewise, the number of workers employed by these companies also went down from 15,822 in 1998 to 10,521 in 2000.
The gloomy situation also occurs in the investment side. The value of approved domestic and foreign investment has continued to drop since 1998.
Approved domestic investment plunged from Rp 1.3 trillion (about US$150 million) in 1998 to only Rp 1.2 billion in 2000. Approved foreign investment also slumped from US$6.2 million in 1998 to zero in 2002.
Exports have dropped from $3.1 billion in 1991 to only $667 million in 2001.
Government after government since Soeharto has tried to end separatism and restore normalcy in Aceh.
In a bid to end separatism, then president Abdurrahman Wahid initiated peace talks with GAM and drafted the special autonomy law.
Abdurrahman's initiatives were continued by his successor Megawati Soekarnoputri, who signed the special autonomy law into effect.
The law basically gives wider autonomy for local administrations to carry out local affairs. Unlike any other parts of the country, Aceh is granted freedom to observe the Islamic Sharia law. Not only that, the law also gives more revenue to the Acehnese from its oil and gas resources, from only 15 percent to 55 percent.
Nevertheless, autonomy has not ended separatism. And yet, Megawati still follows Abdurrahman's peace initiative by continuing the talks with GAM.
Megawati's administration reached a landmark agreement with GAM by signing the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement late last year. But this agreement has once again failed to end the conflict as the government sees GAM benefiting more from the agreement by recruiting more fighters and buying more arms.
The government is now preparing to launch another military operation in Aceh to end separatism. If the war drags on for longer than expected, it will only open a new episode of bloodshed and misery for the Acehnese.
Aceh Exports ============================================================== Year 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 Amount US$3.1b $3b $2.9b $2.5b $2.6b $2.6b $2.7b
Year 1998 1999 2000 2001 Amount $2.1b $1.8b $1.8b $667m ============================================================== Source: Central Bureau of Statistics