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Tragedy
offers an ironic starting point for peace
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By LIA SUNTOSO
Honestly, it took me a day to realize the magnitude
of the tsunami disaster as the various news stories unraveled.
My family comes from the Sumatra area. In fact, my mother
was born in Kutaradja, which is now flattened from the quake
and unruly tide.
Tsunami-stricken Aceh, Province Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam
(NAD) of Indonesia, is located on the northern tip of Indonesia's
Sumatra island. Aceh is often called ''the front porch of
Mecca''; as in the past, Aceh had served as the transit
port for Southeast Asian Muslims before their holy pilgrimage
to Mecca.
With the strong Islamic character of the population, the
Acehnese demanded autonomy, which was partially met by Indonesian
government's granting of ''special region'' (''Daerah Istimewa
Aceh'') status for the province in the late 1950s. Although
generally Indonesian Muslims are moderate Muslims, Aceh
is the only region in Indonesia where the Shari'ah law,
which calls for strict interpretation of Islamic texts,
is in effect.
Providing aid has its own geographic and political challenges.
Geographically,
Aceh has a rough terrain surrounded by rainforest and hills.
With a provincial area of 55,392 km square (21,387 square
miles), similar to half the size of Tennessee (42,146 square
miles), Aceh covers 2.89% of the total area of Indonesia.
Aceh is also home to Gunung Leuser, which contains one of
the largest rainforest national parks in the world. Aceh's
coastline, layered by numerous fishing villages, stretched
throughout the Aceh province.
Similar to the other parts of the agricultural Indonesia,
most Acehnese who live inland are farmers, while fishermen
live on the coastline.
The rough terrain — a beautiful, scenic drive en route
to Banda Aceh from Medan, the next large city in the neighboring
province of North Sumatra is approximately 600 kilometers
(app. 375 miles) away — can take anywhere from 14 hours
to several days' drive.
Politically, it is still fresh in my mind that in mid-2003,
Indonesia's Cabinet voted to revoke martial law status in
Aceh and implemented a state of civil emergency. Aceh has
been considered one of Indonesia's most troubled areas as
the guerrilla Free Aceh Movement (Gerakan Aceh Merdeka —
GAM) re-emerged in the late 1980s. It was only last week
that the Free Aceh Movement agreed to a cease-fire with
the Indonesian government.
Due to this political instability and unsafety, and in addition
to the visa requirement, special permission from Indonesia's
Ministry of Foreign Affairs was needed for journalists to
travel to Aceh. This requirement was lifted only recently,
following the tragedy.
The earthquake and tsunami acted indiscriminately, as it
killed both Republic and GAM loyalists, men, women and children
from either side. The disaster extended to Lhokseumawe on
the Northern side and Nias on the Western side and GAM areas
including Langsa, Idie, Pidie on the Eastern side. Cities
such as Meulaboh and Banda Aceh (formerly called Kutaradja),
capital of NAD, were destroyed. As the international death
toll officially passes 140,000 and continues to rise, the
search and recovery effort in Aceh remain particularly challenging.
After 9/11, the growth of all kinds of sentiments have outgrown
the effort to reconcile politics, cultural and religious
differences. The international conflict resolution has not
been as effective in resolving value differences.
The fact that the world is working together to help the
tsunami victims should be applied to other crises as well.
At this juncture, perhaps humanity can offer a common ground,
as the heterogenic nature of the world remains unchanged.
As much as I am inspired to promote world peace, realistically,
it is hard to expect all parties to recognize a starting
point for a dialogue and discussion. But, as John Lennon
puts it, ''Imagine.''
And before it's too late: Does it have to take a tragedy
for people to get along? The answer yet remains a mystery.
M (LS/IM)
Lia Suntoso is an immigration attorney at Rose Immigration
Law Firm in Nashville. She has lived in the United States
for a decade but maintains close ties to Indonesia.
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