International
Relations
in THE AGE OF EMPIRE
Aceh Goes to Heaven
Andre Vltchek, Znet 11 January 2005
"...This
compassionless, paralyzed and morally corrupt
(Indonesian) society was now facing one of the most
terrible natural disasters in human history. Government
officials and their business associates smelled a
tremendous influx of foreign aid, which could, if
unchecked, easily meet the same fate as the money from
former foreign loans originally intended for
development, infrastructure, and social programs but
which disappeared in the deep pockets of elites, never
reaching the impoverished majority of
Indonesians...Shortly after the tsunami hit the coast,
GAM (Free Aceh Movement) declared a ceasefire. Few days
later there were reports that Indonesian military
continued with its operations. Sporadic exchanges of
fire erupted in several places of Aceh. With no shame
and no hesitation, the President of Indonesia began
accusing GAM of breaking the ceasefire... One of
"profound" religious interpretations of this disaster
in Indonesia was that God punished the people of Aceh
for fighting for their independence. Official media
even managed to find some Acehnese who declared it on
the record. "If we don't stop fighting, we'll all go to
hell."Those who always suspected that there are no
eternal flames, those who respect human life above
anything else always knew that Aceh was already going
through hell for many years. But "hell is the others" -
those who fight innocent civilians, those who torture,
those who are blocking help from the suffering people
in their moment of tremendous need and catastrophe.If
those who are using disaster and human suffering for
their own political, economic and military goals are
not stopped soon, the entire country of Indonesia may
soon go to hell. Not to some hell depicted by religious
books - but to a real hell which is life in a society
which has lost all basic moral human values; which
allows small minority of people vulgarly lavish
lifestyles at the expense of tens of millions who are
starving and desperate."
Resting in a comfortable seat of super-express
speeding towards northern Japan, I was admiring the
snow-covered beauty of the rural countryside.It was
getting dark and the wheels of the train were gently
drumming against the rails in a monotonous and reassuring
rhythm. The world seemed harmonious and safe.
Then suddenly my eyes caught sight of the letters of a
news bulletin passing through the digital display above
the door. Strong earthquake shook northern Sumatra. There
were dozens of casualties. Just that - no further
information was provided. I checked the news, one hour
later, on the internet in my hotel in Sendai. It seemed
that hundreds of people lost their lives in Indonesia,
Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand. An earthquake off the
coast of Aceh, reaching magnitude of 9 on the Richter
scale, was followed by a tsunami - a monstrous 10 meters
high tidal wave - which crashed mercilessly and with
unimaginable force against the shores of several
unfortunate countries.
In the next few days the number of victims grew to
thousands, then to tens of thousands. Whole villages and
entire towns disappeared from the map. Hundreds of
thousands of refugees hit what was left of the roads, but
the roads were leading nowhere; as bridges were washed
away/ Floods were fragmenting the entire North of Sumatra
Island. Electricity and water supply collapsed (limited
and unreliable everywhere in Indonesia even before the
disaster); there was no food, no blood for the injured
and no medicine. There was no reliable information
either, since the foreign press was banned from traveling
to the province, "for its own safety".
The Army - a tremendous contingent of it based in the
province in order to suppress insurgency - did close to
nothing. It was ordered to clean corpses and it cleaned
some, but it otherwise showed no initiative, leaving a
desperate population with almost no help. The
government did close to nothing. Instead of ordering
special military units to travel immediately to the
province, instead of using hundreds of military
helicopters and aircraft to supply food and medicine,
instead of ordering all seaworthy vessels to the area of
disaster, the President of Indonesia urged the citizens
to "scale down New Year's celebrations and pray
instead."
Huge transport planes were sitting on runways all over
Java, waiting for the order to take off - an order which
never arrived.
Instead of employing professionals trained to cope with
emergency situations, vice president Jusuf Kalla used
military planes and commercial aircraft to shuttle Muslim
militants (they called themselves "volunteers") from
Majelis Mujahedeen Indonesia and Islamic Defenders Front
(Front Pembela Muslim - better known as its acronym FPI -
militant Muslim group from Jakarta devoted to enforcing
Islamic law against drinking, gambling, and
prostitution), a fact later reported by The New York
Times. Then Laskar Jihad, one of the most militant Muslim
groups in Southeast Asia made inroads into the province.
Hundreds of Christians, mainly of Chinese origin, were
forced to flee Aceh.
The presence of "volunteers" - directly sponsored by
the government - had one main purpose: to secure
Indonesian and religious order (already the strictest in
entire Indonesia) in the province which was fighting for
independence for almost thirty years, at enormous
cost.
Practically speaking, these untrained urbanites were
only taking precious space in scarce flights to the
province, although the propaganda machine fired the
stories how some of them single- handedly managed to
restore electric supplies and telecommunications in Banda
Aceh.
And the dead kept mounting, diseases were spreading,
hunger began to kill those who miraculously survived the
brutality of the nature.
At one point the refusal to help Aceh began to look like
a vengeance killing by the government and the military.
Then Aceh suddenly appeared in the spotlight of interest
of the international community and after some hesitation,
the government "benevolently" allowed foreign aid and
some international press agencies to enter the
province.
The results were almost immediate. International
organizations and foreign military flew in and began
building infrastructure from scratch.Not to rebuild it -
there was not much social infrastructure even before the
tsunami - but to construct provisory hospitals, food
supply centers, shelters for the homeless. It was not
enough, but it was at least something; definitely more
than the state did in the last three decades when it came
to investment in social infrastructure.
While this was happening, the Indonesian government was
bragging that the disaster would not jeopardize predicted
economic growth for the year 2005 (the lowest in the
region even before the tsunami).
The Finance Minister openly declared that it expects
foreigners to rebuild the area, while not diverting any
substantial funds from state coffers. He was also quick
to point out that vital oil production (the main reason
for the occupation and the main income of the province -
basically controlled by foreign multi-nationals after
corrupt deals signed by Suharto's government few decades
ago) suffered only a minor setback, although some inside
reports suggest the contrary.
The government also suggested that Aceh is an outskirt of
Indonesia; therefore its plight will have no major impact
on the economy. In fact, it argued with no scruples,
Indonesia could benefit, because it may attract thousands
of tourists who will be avoiding damaged holiday resorts
in Thailand.
To put the situation into perspective, the social system
in Indonesia collapsed during the years when Suharto,
supported by the West, fully controlled the political and
economic life of Indonesia. This was also a period when
Indonesians went through rigorous religious
indoctrination which was supposed to reinforce the
culture of obedience, which in turn served the
regime.
Almost all public services were privatized, the quality
of education nose-dived and life expectancy stagnated at
around 64 years (one of the lowest in the region).
Indonesia has, per capita, one of the highest numbers of
orphans anywhere in the world and one of the worst
records of child prostitution in the region. The poor
have no safety net and justice is for sale. Indonesia,
according to "Transparency International", is one of the
most corrupt nations on earth.
The Indonesian military had been involved in a massacre
of Sukarno's supporters after the coup in 1965 (up to 3
million people were butchered in a matter of months), it
led genocidal war in East Timor (one of the most horrific
barbarities of the 20th Century, happily applauded by the
West), and caused gross human rights violations in Papua,
Ambon, Aceh and elsewhere. It was and still is much
better trained in raping and torturing civilians than in
any sort of humanitarian assistance.
This compassionless, paralyzed and morally corrupt
society was now facing one of the most terrible natural
disasters in human history. Government officials and
their business associates smelled a tremendous influx of
foreign aid, which could, if unchecked, easily meet the
same fate as the money from former foreign loans
originally intended for development, infrastructure, and
social programs but which disappeared in the deep pockets
of elites, never reaching the impoverished majority of
Indonesians.
As foreign governments were trying to outdo each other in
pledging hundreds of millions of dollars for
reconstruction of disaster stricken areas, Indonesian
officials and military on the ground in Aceh were openly
sabotaging relief efforts.
Food and medicine were piling in Medan and Banda Aceh,
while almost no help was reaching desperate communities.
A chartered Boeing 737 hit a buffalo after landing,
shutting down for hours the only runway in the then only
functioning airport in all of Aceh. Apparently it was not
worth it to assign the military to guard this vital
lifeline. But was it really an accident?
"One of the consequences of the lack of distribution of
aid and medical assistance to several refugee camps has
been the death of many refugees, especially women and
children", says Yulia Evina Bhara from SEGERA
(Alliance-Solidarity Movement For the People of Aceh).
"This has occurred in Mata Le, Ulee Kareng, and large
part of Pidie and Aceh Jeumpa... It is evident that the
government has not taken any cooperative steps in terms
of allowing easy access to areas in which aid needs to be
distributed. If this continues to be the case, it means
that the government is effectively disregarding the much
needed humanitarian solidarity..."
Shortly after the tsunami hit the coast, GAM (Free Aceh
Movement) declared a ceasefire. Few days later there were
reports that Indonesian military continued with its
operations. Sporadic exchanges of fire erupted in several
places of Aceh. With no shame and no hesitation, the
President of Indonesia began accusing GAM of breaking the
ceasefire.
Foreign mainstream press (traditionally friendly to the
post-1965 Indonesian regime), which initially
concentrated its coverage strictly on disaster itself and
later on the foreign relief operations, began asking some
uncomfortable questions. Although still omitting
information concerning the horrific human rights record
of the Indonesian state, it couldn't fully ignore voices
of Acehnese people who were accusing the government of
sabotaging relief operations.
Sharp criticism of Indonesian government and military
also came from foreign aid workers.
That seemed to be unacceptable for the establishment. On
January 9th, the government began tightening restrictions
on the movement of foreigners in the province. Reuters
reported that on the 11th of January all good will
vanished. Indonesia restricted foreign aid workers to two
large cities because of "militant threats".
Indonesian army chief - General Endriartono Sutarto -
declared that GAM might soon attack foreign aid workers
or troops in Aceh. All aid agencies and NGOs operating in
the province were urged to provide a full list of their
staff.
GAM responded by denying all accusations made by the
government, claiming that it never intended to cause harm
to those who came to help, be it foreigners or locals.
Foreigners operating in Aceh confirmed that they felt no
threat from the independence movement.
A crackdown on independent sources of information by the
Indonesian state is becoming inevitable. As in East
Timor, Papua, and Aceh (before the disaster) it will be
done under the cover of "protecting" the lives of the
foreigners. The question is what will happen to Acehnese
people afterwards. Even now, several members of
Indonesian NGOs claim that the government actions (or
more precisely - inaction) are responsible for at least
50 thousand out of 100 thousand known victims of
disaster.
Is Aceh going to become another East Timor? Is the
present situation just a result of impotence and
incapability of the government, military, and the whole
system, or of something much more sinister? Is it
revenge; an extermination campaign design to break and
secure this economically vital province?
Acehnese are proud and tough people. When Javanese
elites were selling their country to foreigners, when
most of the islands of today's Indonesia were accepting
the presence of Dutch colonizers; Aceh fought bitterly
for independence. "Under the Dutch, Java used to send
assassins to break Aceh", said Pramoedya Ananta Toer,
the greatest Indonesian writer and intellectual father
of Indonesian state. "We have so much to learn from
them!"
Recently, exploited by foreign multinational companies
and by new Javanese elites, the people of Aceh began to
fight again, against all odds. This time they fought
against the Indonesian state - against one of the largest
military forces on earth. 10 thousand men, women and
children died in almost three decades of the conflict;
maybe many more.
One of "profound" religious interpretations of this
disaster in Indonesia was that God punished the people of
Aceh for fighting for their independence. Official media
even managed to find some Acehnese who declared it on the
record. "If we don't stop fighting, we'll all go to
hell."
Those who always suspected that there are no eternal
flames, those who respect human life above anything else
always knew that Aceh was already going through hell for
many years. But "hell is the others" - those who fight
innocent civilians, those who torture, those who are
blocking help from the suffering people in their moment
of tremendous need and catastrophe.
If those who are using disaster and human suffering for
their own political, economic and military goals are not
stopped soon, the entire country of Indonesia may soon go
to hell. Not to some hell depicted by religious books -
but to a real hell which is life in a society which has
lost all basic moral human values; which allows small
minority of people vulgarly lavish lifestyles at the
expense of tens of millions who are starving and
desperate.
Aceh is bleeding and the worst may still be ahead. Those
who are arriving in Aceh should know that they are not
only entering a land devastated by horrific natural
disaster; they are entering a territory which was
brutalized and exploited for decades and which still is.
It doesn't only need aid - it needs solidarity,
protection, and determined long-term help; and it needs
it now! It needs a referendum and if it decides to vote
for it - freedom. Anything will be better than the
present situation - from here Aceh can only go to
heaven!
ANDRE VLTCHEK, writer, political analyst and filmmaker
lives and works in Southeast Asia and South Pacific and
can be reached at: [email protected]
|