Max Lane
"The death toll in Aceh from the tsunami is closer to 300,000 people", Thamrin Ananda, chairperson of the Aceh People's Democratic Struggle Front (FPDRA), told Green Left Weekly by phone from Jakarta on January 27.
The FPDRA has been active in organising students, farmers and women struggling for democratic rights and for a self-determination referendum. Its leaders have been in and out of prison and its newspaper was closed down during Jakarta's declared state of military emergency in Aceh.
"The official count now is 230,000 dead, but we think this is an underestimation. More than half, perhaps even two thirds, of the population of our capital, Banda Aceh, has gone", he emphasised, "and that was a city of 270,000 and in other parts of west Aceh, 90% of the people have been lost."
The Indonesian government talks of 400,000 displaced people, but Ananda thinks it is almost twice that, with the bulk fleeing to stay with friends and relatives in "unaffected" areas. "75% of Aceh's infrastructure has been destroyed, remembering that much of the area's infrastructure has been concentrated in Banda Aceh, and other areas that the tsunami hit, such as Pidie", Ananda said.
Acehnese society has been deeply altered by the tsunami's violence, he explained. "All the social and political organisations of the Acehnese have been devastated. They have lost most of their leaders, much of the membership, all their offices and possessions. Even the geography has changed. Much of the old Banda Aceh is permanently under water now and since the capital is not functioning as it used to, either administratively or commercially, the geopolitics of the region is changing."
With a possible 300,000 dead, at least 700,000 displaced, tens of thousands of the displaced people traumatised, and much of the other 2 million Acehnese bearing the burden of taking in the displaced people, the survival of Aceh at its previous socio-economic level — which was already severely underdeveloped — is under threat. "Everything is disrupted. Many of the things needed for production are not available or too expensive now, the whole of the people are suffering a drop in their levels of living. Survival and recovery from trauma are the immediate, pressing activities of the people. This is affecting political life too."
But according to Ananda, recovery cannot be separated from politics even in the current horrific devastation. "We are very worried that there will be no ceasefire between the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM)", said Ananda. "This will be a disaster for the Acehnese people."
"Recovery is hard enough as it is, let alone if there is no halting of the war and the Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) continue to be so powerful here. It is enough that the people are traumatised by the disaster and afraid for their survival. Let alone having to be in fear of the TNI as well".
Over the phone, Ananda quickly recounted examples of TNI harassment of Indonesian relief-effort volunteers in Aceh, and even them detaining survivors who had raised criticisms of the aid distribution. One of the volunteers from the National Student League for Democracy (LMND) working for SEGERA (Solidarity with the Acehnese Peoples Movement) was beaten, he said.
"In fact, in recent days the TNI has gone on the offensive. There have been many attempts at provocation in Banda Aceh — harassment of Acehnese and seizure of property ... They want to provoke GAM into a serious counterattack so as to sabotage the negotiations between GAM and the government that are scheduled to begin on January 28 in Finland", he explained.
"While the GAM leadership in Aceh lost some personnel to the tsunami, most were safe. They were in the mountains. They have survived. They are even active now in Banda Aceh. The TNI had many losses being located on the coast, where their illegal logging and other commercial interests are based." Ananda clearly thinks that the TNI does not want the negotiations to succeed.
He explained that he had just come from appearing on a TV talk show in Jakarta and that there is wide public support in Indonesia for the call for both sides to hold back from raising any political demands at the negotiations.
"We do not want GAM to raise the issue of independence and we do not want the Indonesian government to raise the issue of special autonomy or acceptance of the unitary state of Indonesia. We want them to agree to an indefinite ceasefire based on everybody working together to ensure proper reconstruction of Aceh."
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has decreed the establishment of a Special Aceh Authority (BOK) to be established to oversee the reconstruction. Its membership is to be appointed by the government in Jakarta.
FPDRA issued a statement on January 24 outlining its call. This also included the demand that "all elements of the political spectrum be considered important parties within the negotiations or the dialogue. These must include all civilian elements outside of both the government and the GAM comprising academics, Moslem clerics, political activists, students, and other Acehnese public figures.
"The involvement of civilian representatives in the negotiation is very important, considering that the conflict in Aceh does not only involve GAM and the Indonesian government; and that in every phase of the conflict, civilians have been treated as combatants by the belligerents."
Ananda emphasised: "If we can have a real dialogue and cooperation between all these elements, GAM and the government in Jakarta, this provides a better basis than just a BOK made up of Jakarta appointees. We need the society to be a part of the whole process, not kept out of the picture."
The Indonesian government negotiation team left for Helsinki on January 27. It is lead by three ministers: for home affairs, for defence and for human rights. But statements by the Indonesian president are worrying. "Any attempt by the Indonesian government to raise the political issues will abort the talks", said Ananda. "According to the GAM statements we have seen, they are prepared to support a ceasefire without raising the political issues."
The FPDRA, says Ananda, thinks that a ceasefire and a joint approach to reconstruction could also operate as a period of confidence building. "There has already been a good response by Acehnese to the large numbers of non-Acehnese from Indonesia helping as volunteers. They are certainly appreciated much more than the TNI, of course. GAM has also assured all volunteers, including Indonesians, of their protection and so far no Indonesians have been harassed by GAM. This is a good development."
The key will be the attitude of the political elite in Jakarta and the TNI in Aceh. In the past, the various fractions of the political elite have been too afraid to confront the military, lest it line up with their opponents. While the TNI lost much of its role as an instrument of repression (outside Aceh and West Papua) after the fall of Suharto, it has remained an important player in business, government administration and elite wheeling and dealing.
The elite-controlled parliament virtually ceded Aceh to the TNI as a fiefdom by approving President Megawati Sukarnoputri's May 2003 decree setting up a state of military emergency. Even though this was downgraded in 2004 to a state of civil emergency, the TNI has remained the real power, ruling over Aceh as if it was ruling over the hostile population of an occupied foreign country. Any kind of ceasefire and dialogue and collective response to reconstruction, especially one that allowed for a legitimate role for GAM and other opposition groups, would fundamentally undermine the TNI's rule.
"The role of international solidarity in campaigning for this kind of ceasefire agreement may be crucial", said Ananda, "as will be pressure from Indonesian society". Other Indonesian and Acehnese groups have put forward the same position as the FPDRA. On January 27, the program director of the human rights group, Imparsial, Otto Iskandar, also called on the two sides not to raise their political demands. Rafendi Djamin, from the Human Rights Working Group, representing almost all Indonesian human rights organisations echoed this call.
A similar sentiment has been echoed by some religious leaders in Aceh. Tengku Baihaqi Yahya, secretary-general of the Aceh association of the Dayah Muslim scholars, was quoted in the Jakarta Post on January 27: "The warring parties must sit together and be willing to backtrack, rather than stubbornly maintaining their different stances, because such an attitude cannot result in anything positive and will only prolong the misery of the Acehnese."
From Green Left Weekly, February 2, 2005.
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