Northern Sumatra recovers from tsunami calamity and longstanding conflict
By KEVIN SPURGAITIS
It’s been six months since a tsunami earthquake engulfed Aceh province in Indonesia — and parts of South East Asia. In its wake, wastelands abounded in place of vegetable patches. Survivors fell gravely ill, combating hunger and acute respiratory diseases. Providentially, the war-torn region is awash in donations. Many people are convalescing and starting anew. However, aid groups now fear for Acehnese’s long-term future.
In the remote, beleaguered region, military suppression and red tape have entangled the reconstruction effort, according to human rights activist Evi Zain. “I appreciate the immediate response from Canada and the world after the tsunami, but not many people knew about my homeland’s problems before the (calamity),” says Zain, co-ordinator of Kontras-Aceh, an underground Committee for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence. She recently toured Toronto and Ottawa in partnership with KAIROS, Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives.
“We want Canada to know about the human-rights abuses and the military as violators. The Indonesian government is making decisions without consultation with civil society groups, but they are the very survivors of the tsunami and the conflict.”
Born in Lhokseumawe, North Aceh, the 32-year-old began her humanitarian work in 1996. Even with her own home razed — and family and friends lost to the tsunami — she and other human-rights defenders resumed their investigations into missing persons, while facing violent persecution at the hands of armed forces, she alleges.
Steadfast, though, Zain continues advocating at home and abroad for Kontras-Aceh. Zain recently testified at the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in Geneva, entreating member countries not just for emergency aid to her country, but peace.
“Our mandate is to help victims and demand the rights of the survivors of the tsunami,” says Zain.
“Everything has been chaotic … It’s horrible.”
Clash before the storm
There’s a 30-year history of militarization and resistance in Aceh. Indonesia’s largely Islamic province — with a population of 4.5 million — was once promised regional autonomy with control over education and religious affairs. However, the central government never carried out these concessions, and even began siphoning Aceh’s lucrative offshore gas mid-last century. This propelled the Free Aceh Movement (Gerakan Aceh Merdeka or GAM) in 1976, which continues to arm itself in its struggle for independence from Indonesia.
According to non-partisan Kontras Aceh, the Indonesian military’s (TNI) counter-insurgency war against GAM has been bloody — and everlasting. Both rebels and non-combatants are tantamount through many gun scopes. Civil liberties have also been curtailed, as many students and politicians have been suspected as GAM sympathizers. At times, red crosses are splattered on their doors.
Yet, the world has heard little about Aceh’s “atrocities.” Foreign aid workers, human rights defenders and journalists were banned from working in the region for nearly two years, before December’s earthquake tsunami. Peace talks between both sides recently resumed in Helsinki, but have been described as “fragile and inadequate” by pundits.
Despite assurances of a ceasefire by TNI chief General Endriartono Sutarto, the army resumed raids into suspected rebel areas this year, as part of its on-going “security” operations. The move drew the ire of advocacy groups, which have chided the armed forces for its poor human-rights record. Kontras Aceh has recorded more than 100 cases of abuses between January and May. They include house raids, arbitrary arrests, torture, sexual violence, killings and disappearances. Still, farmers fear being shot in their own fields. (Official and independent estimates of deaths widely vary).
TNI has a vested interest in controlling Acehnese society, charges Nancy Slamet, International Human Rights coordinator with KAIROS. “How can there be free and safe access to aid when there is perpetrator of human-rights violations dispersing the aid. It’s against humanitarian principles and law for a party to a conflict to take a lead role in humanitarian aid, because it compromises their neutrality and impartiality.”
KAIROS is a coalition of 11 Canadian churches, with a long history of involvement in South East Asia. It supports the human-rights monitoring, documentation and advocacy efforts of Kontras Aceh.
“Right now, there aren’t sufficient mechanisms in place to ensure aid is not diverted to the military — no accountability,” says Slamet, pointing out that many people are rebuilding their own homes out of their own pockets. “But (the army) has bullied their way and reasserted themselves into this process, by justifying the need for security.”
Aceh’s civil society has been repressed and weakened as a result, according Jess Agustin, Asian Program coordinator with Development and Peace (D&P), a Canada-based, international development agency that finances more than 13,000 projects in 70 countries.
“In our rush to build houses, roads and bridges, I am afraid that donor countries and international organizations may overlook or gloss over this important dimension of reconstruction and rehabilitation,” Agustin said in a written statement.
Earlier in the year, Development and Peace responded to the crisis together with its local and international partners. In each of the affected countries, it conducted emergency assessments before preparing recovery programs in the ‘geographically far-flung,’ militarized region.
“We, the international community, have been given an unprecedented opportunity to rebuild the lives of the people in societies already torn by civil strife and conflict —from the ground up, not only the physical infrastructure, but also a social one.”
Agustin continued: “We have the support of the public; they have given us incredible resources. We must not squander this enormous goodwill and golden opportunity. Canada is well-respected and it can play a more active and direct role in ensuring that the preconditions for genuine reconstruction and development are met: civilian supremacy over the military and respect for human rights and democracy.”
Tsunami takes its toll
The Indian Ocean tsunami, which devastated South East Asia in December, left more than 200,000 dead or missing, while creating tens of thousands of refugees and orphans. Not far from the earthquake’s epicenter, the Indonesian island of Sumatra was the hardest-hit by the tidal waves. In the Northern Aceh province, the tsunami’s toll was the most striking: about 126,000 bodies have been buried, more than 94,000 people have been reported missing and nearly half a million people are still displaced, according many estimates.
Following the calamity, at least a dozen governments commenced their ‘missions of mercy.’ Scores of aid agencies set foot in Aceh and ad-hoc encampments arose, while forensic teams painstakingly identified the dead. Internationally, countries have donated more than US$5 billion to tsunami relief, which is more than Western nations spent on global AIDS last year.
And it may surpass the $5.8-billion the UN received for all humanitarian relief last year, according to press reports. Canada, alone, donated $425 million towards multi-year reconstruction programs through organizations like D&P, whose funds were matched by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). There will be support for medical care, trauma counselling, community kitchens and housing, as well as for education and defence of human rights. Fully funded ‘micro-credit’ projects will also allow people to earn a living again, whether it be on a farm, fishing boat or in an office space.
However, the road to recovery isn’t exactly paved with goodwill. Widespread theft of food aid and logistical supplies is a concern. And because of bureaucratic holdups and NGOs’ failure to establish steady supply chains, thousands of containers of food have been stranded in the region’s main port in Belawan, customs data show. Dockside, some perishable items easily pass their ‘sell-by dates.’ For the hundreds of thousands of people surviving without proper shelter and supplies, experts also forecast greater backlogs of clothes and construction materials.
Additionally, KAIROS alleges the TNI is selling aid to victims based in the provincial capital of Banda Aceh, or the ruined coastal city of Meubaloh. They are also delivering food discriminately, as they lead relief operations. Its unsupervised management of aid, which civil society groups call “problematic,” contravenes the Principles and Good Practices of Humanitarian Donorship endorsed by multi-lateral donors in Stockholm in 2003.
Many activists also criticize its prominent role in the transport of thousands of “terrorified” Acehnese. At least a third of all displaced persons now live in relocation shelters — usually thatched wooden barracks up to 90 feet long, divided into 12-by-15 feet rooms. Many others are staying in schools, mosques or with relatives. Monthly stipends have been promised to those living with host families. The military has also provided road-repair and bridge-building machinery. However, it’s said no sovereign nation wants foreign bodies on its soil longer than needed. Indonesian authorities, placing tight restrictions on international efforts, has prevented aid agencies from operating outside of Banda Aceh and Meubaloh, without consent or military escort.
In a May 3 letter to KAIROS, Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister Pierre Pettigrew maintained the international community encourages tsunami-affected countries to take the lead in their own recovery. “We have stressed to the Government of Indonesia the importance of protecting civilians and of maintaining the safe and unhindered access to tsunami-affected regions,” Pettigrew said. “The protection of civilians and humanitarian workers is a priority for all of us.”
However, the Department of Foreign Affairs also supports the Indonesian National Armed Forces’ (TNI) assistance in the provinces of Aceh and North Sumatra. Their role in coordinating relief efforts and providing security has been a “positive one,” the department said. “Few other actors have the capacity — both in human and technical resources — to provide the kind of rapid and efficient response that is needed (in the region) …”
Undiscovered country
That’s no solace for activists eyeing Aceh’s plodding recovery. Slamet says: “We’re trying to illustrate how a militaristic approach to resolving conflicts, to ensuring security around the world, does not work. It only results in greater insecurity and massive human-rights violations — and unrest.
“It’s not a question of money, it’s a question of how they use the money and whether it’s falling into the wrong hands. It needs to be looked at more carefully.”
Canada, she says, has a rightful place as a donor to demand accountability from the Indonesian government. In a June presentation to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade, a coalition of Canadian civil society and aid organizations, called on the Canadian government to press Indonesia to “unequivocally declare and respect a ceasefire,” halting military operations and lifting the state of civil emergency.
They recommend Canadian aid be directly channeled to the affected population; unrestricted access be granted to the entire province; and international monitors and media be permitted to keep a close eye on relief efforts and human rights conditions.
Perhaps a view askew, a ‘silver lining’ to the natural, political disaster isn’t plainly seen yet. Remaining in exile, running the risk of harsh reprisals, Zain is “frustrated” with what she describes as the society’s spiraling degradation.
“We hoped that after the tsunami conditions would get better for Acehnese, who have been suffering for a long time,” she says rather sullenly. “But we can’t return to our daily livelihoods this way … Meaningful reconstruction can only come about through the respect of my people and culture. If this can be done, we can ensure effective, safe and fair access to humanitarian assistance in this conflict situation.”
Originally published in the Catholic New Times, July 2005
