http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=38484
DEVELOPMENT-INDONESIA: Poverty, Trauma - Aceh's War, Tsunami Legacy By Prangtip Daorueng LHOKNGA, Aceh, Jul 10 (IPS) - The road that links Iskandar Muda airport to the provincial capital of Banda Aceh buzzes with renovation work. The trucks loaded with construction material and the taxies that ply up and down the road, once bristling with security check points, are sure signs of Aceh's recovery. "A lot of people died here during the (December 2004) tsunami," said 42-year-old Zakaria from Lam Paya village near Banda Aceh. "After the tsunami, we got jobs as workers in housing projects run by non-governmental organisations (NGOs). There are no more NGO jobs. It is very difficult for many of us to get a stable income at the moment," he said. Lhoknga, 15 km from the capital city Banda Aceh, was hit hard by the Indian Ocean tsunami and three-decade-old conflict. Before the peace deal with Jakarta, Lhoknga, which is surrounded by sea and mountains, was known as a stronghold of the separatist group Free Aceh Movement or Gerakan Aceh Merdeka (GAM). In August 2005, the Indonesian government and GAM signed a peace agreement to end the civil war that had claimed over 15,000 lives. The peace deal gave resource-rich Aceh political and economic autonomy and in December 2006, GAM's former head of intelligence Irwandi Yusuf won the provincial gubernatorial election. Aceh's elite were led to believe that the province would enter a period of peace and prosperity, but it soon became apparent that political success alone would not bring about the 'New Aceh'. The tsunami recovery process is far from complete and the majority of Acehnese face the fundamental problems of poverty and post-conflict trauma. In 2006, the Indonesian government allocated 250 billion rupiah (27.65 million US dollars) to compensate former rebels and help the economy. Meanwhile, new governor Yusuf has tried to attract investors to resource-rich Aceh. But it might take a long time before economic recovery reaches the grass root level. In Lhoknga, the majority of men including GAM ex-combatants are still jobless. The soil which was once fertile for growing rice has been damaged by sea water after tsunami. Villagers who rely on agricultural activities have switched to other crops such as chili, but still lack investment capital. "Many of us work as daily workers at the cement factory nearby. The wage is 35,000 rupiah (about four dollars) per day and we don't have work everyday. It might be enough for single men, but not for those who are married," said Zakaria. "So we sit here in the village, wondering what will happen to our lives," added his wife Mawar. Zakaria and Mawar's family is considered lucky in an area full of widows and orphans. Cut Soraya, 35, is not this lucky. One night in 2003, during the peak of the civil war, a group of masked men took her husband, a driver and a GAM coordinator, from home. Cut Soraya, who was three-months pregnant then, searched for her husband in every police station the following day before finding his dead body dumped on the street. Cut Soraya is now an unemployed mother of three children. GAM sends her money from time to time. She wants to start a beauty parlour but has no idea how to start. "I once thought of committing suicide. All I want now is for my kids to have good education. I don't know what I should want for myself though," she said. Cut Soraya represents the majority of Acehnese who suffer economic and psychological impacts of war. A survey by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), the Indonesian government and Harvard Medical School, released in June this year, points out that 85 percent of nearly 2,000 people interviewed in 105 villages in the province still suffer deep fears and insecurity. The survey, sponsored by the World Bank, indicated that 35 percent of interviewees showed symptoms of depression, 10 percent suffered symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and 39 percent had anxiety. Like Cut Soraya, almost three-quarters of the interviewees said they had been exposed to combat, with 28 percent reporting they had experienced beatings and 38 percent losing a friend or a relative in the conflict. Such trauma also appears among children. Dewi Setiawati, a teacher at a junior high school for tsunami and war orphans in Lhoknga, said that orphans of parents who died during the conflict showed signs of depression and anger at school. Though the war is over, many of the children said they wanted to join GAM to fight in the jungle. "Most of the children who said so had witnessed violence on one or both of their parents. When they draw in the art class, they often draw GAM's flag or a kris (Acehnese traditional weapon). It takes time to understand them and to make them start seeing life differently," she said. While the issue of post-conflict recovery is fundamental for Aceh, it seems to receive little attention from outside donors. Some local aid workers said that the billions of dollars that have poured into Aceh for tsunami recovery may not improve livelihoods unless more attention is given to poverty and trauma issues. "A large part of the nine billion dollar is dedicated to tsunami recovery and very little to post-conflict rehabilitation," said Patrick Barron of the World Bank at the June press conference on the post-conflict trauma survey. Zakaria of Lhoknga believes that the Acehnese still have a chance for a brighter future. "If the new Aceh government can get rid of corruption and put more efforts for the welfare of the people, Aceh will be successful in maintaining peace for a long time," he said. ***** +POLITICS: How Aceh Found Peace (http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=34799) + TSUNAMI IMPACT: Nobel Peace Laureate Calls for Aceh Peace (http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=27179) (END/2007)
