Remembering Aceh's tsunami disaster eight years ago, a new disaster risk reduction movie premieres this week.
Premiering on Dec. 20, "Pesan Dari Samudra" ("Message From the Ocean") tells the story of a family in Indonesia battling a disaster situation.
"Pesan Dari Samudra" is a 76-minute feature film made by renowned Indonesian filmmakers Mira Lesmana and Riri Riza.
This groundbreaking project, funded by the Australia-Indonesia Facility for Disaster Reduction (AIFDR), is an initiative from the Australian Red Cross.
“AIFDR was pleased to support this film as it explains what to do, and what not to do, in the case of an earthquake or tsunami,” co-director of AIFDR Matt Hayne said in a statement received by the Jakarta Globe blogs.
"Pesan Dari Samudra" will be aired on Metro TV, Dec. 29 at 9:30 p.m. The airing is eight years after the devastating tsunami struck Indonesia on Dec. 26, 2004.
“Indonesia is one of the most disaster prone countries in the world. This film is one of the many strategies being undertaken by AIFDR to spread key survival messages to those who may be impacted by natural disasters,” Hayne said.
For more information about the film, click here: www.pesandarisamudra.com
Friday, December 21, 2012
Guardian photo of the day
Series: Picture of the day
On the beach in Banda Aceh, Indonesia - picture of the day
A photographic highlight selected by the picture desk. A Muslim family enjoys nice weather on the beach: having buried her father, a young girl looks around for another victim
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Karin Andreasson
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 20 December 2012 17.04 GMT
Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim nation, but nowhere is the faith more strictly interpreted than in Aceh, sometimes referred to as the 'verandah of Mecca' because it was one of the first parts of the archipelago to turn to Islam. Aceh is Indonesia's only province to have implemented sharia, or Islamic laws
On the beach in Banda Aceh, Indonesia - picture of the day
A photographic highlight selected by the picture desk. A Muslim family enjoys nice weather on the beach: having buried her father, a young girl looks around for another victim
Share
Tweet this
inShare
1
Karin Andreasson
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 20 December 2012 17.04 GMT
Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim nation, but nowhere is the faith more strictly interpreted than in Aceh, sometimes referred to as the 'verandah of Mecca' because it was one of the first parts of the archipelago to turn to Islam. Aceh is Indonesia's only province to have implemented sharia, or Islamic laws
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Two journalists reportedly assaulted in Aceh
The Jakarta Post | Thu, 12/13/2012 9:46 AM | Archipelago
A journalist group in Aceh has urged local police to investigate the attack against two journalists in East Aceh.
Ivo Lestari, an RCTI TV station contributor, and Yusri, a journalist from Harian Aceh, were reportedly assaulted by two men at a lumber mill in Teumpeum village, Peureulak district on Tuesday.
Ivo said that she and Yusri planned to run a story on illegal logging in the village as they heard from local residents that the lumber mill collected illegal logs.
Both journalists were accompanied by two residents.
Ivo tried to take pictures of piles of logs at the back of the mill when two men approached her and forced her to delete the pictures.
The men, Ivo said, later seized their cameras and press IDs before locking them up for around 30 minutes in a room. “They [the men] deleted all our pictures,” said Ivo.
Head of the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) branch in Aceh, Maimun Saleh, urged the police to investigate the case.
“We cannot let this happen because such violence is in violation of Law No.40/1999 on press. The law stipulates that journalists have the right to cover stories and spread the information to the public,” Maimun said, adding that journalists, on the other hand, had to follow the code of ethics in covering stories.
Friday, November 23, 2012
Thursday, November 22, 2012
Kuntoro Receives Order of Merit From Norway
Jakarta Globe | November 22, 2012
Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, the chief of the Indonesian REDD+ task force and head of the agency overseeing the post-tsunami recovery in Aceh, was awarded a Norwegian order of merit on Wednesday in Jakarta.
Norwegian Ambassador to Indonesia Stig Traavic presented the award, the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit — Commander with Star, to Kuntoro for his “outstanding service in the interests of Norway” and his “commendable work for humanity,” especially in leading the reconstruction and rehabilitation of post-tsunami Aceh.
“He has shown outstanding leadership as minister for the UKP4 [President’s Delivery Unit for Development Monitoring and Oversight] and as head of the Indonesian REDD+ Task Force,” Traavic said before presenting the honor.
Kuntoro said he was truly humbled by the honor.
“I am a simple man, I am a true believer in public service,” he said.
Kuntoro led the Aceh and Nias Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency (BRR) that rebuilt Aceh and Nias after the Indian Ocean tsunami in December 2004 devastated vast swaths of the region and killed an estimated 170,000 people there.
The BRR was established in April 2005 and disbanded four years later.
The Royal Order of Merit was established by Norway’s King Olave V in 1985.
japanese students visit Aceh to examine the conflicts and natural disasters of Southeast Asia
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia--New university courses that examine the conflicts and natural disasters of Southeast Asia are confounding the assumption that Japanese students are increasingly inward-looking.
This autumn, about 20 graduate students from institutions in Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Okinawa and elsewhere in Japan visited Banda Aceh, the capital of Indonesia's Aceh province, which suffered the double hardships of a 1976-2005 independence struggle and the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
In fiscal 2011, the graduate schools of Osaka University, Hiroshima University, Nagasaki University and Meio University in Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, started a program titled Peace and Human Security in Asia. The program is aimed at students who want to examine problems in Asia, such as conflicts, natural disasters and poverty, in an interdisciplinary manner.
The program has organized student exchanges with partner universities in Southeast Asia and has conducted short study tours.
The latest tour was to Syiah Kuala University, a state institution in Banda Aceh. The students attended a symposium on human security and took courses on social rehabilitation policies for the region's former combatants, a militia that fought for the pro-independence Free Aceh Movement against Indonesia's military.
They also studied aid programs for female survivors of the conflict and the tsunami. The group toured the Aceh Tsunami Museum, which opened in May last year, and one student visited a local newspaper company.
Overall, the students got a glimpse of how people there are confronting the legacy of problems and hardships.
Among the participants was 22-year-old Wataru Hayami. He realized that the students he met, at the symposium and elsewhere, were first-hand survivors of the conflict and the tsunami.
"The students were burdened with difficulties, but one of them said, 'The conflict and tsunami allowed us to meet each other,'" Hayami said. "The encounters I had with people of various backgrounds will be a life-long treasure to me."
Hayami is from Osaka University's graduate school, where he studies subjects such as normalizing diplomatic ties between Japan and North Korea.
During a visit to the tsunami museum, Kengo Shinmoto, a 27-year-old graduate student from Hiroshima University, listened to 30-year-old Gaya Triana describe what happened that day. Her younger sister didn't survive the disaster.
"I almost cried," Shinmoto said.
Elsewhere in Banda Aceh, a boat swept 5 kilometers inland is now preserved as a monument. Sturdy mosques that withstood the quake and tsunami have become symbols of rebuilding efforts.
For Shinmoto, it was reminiscent of a more recent tragedy. His thoughts turned to Japan's Tohoku region, which bore the brunt of tsunami damage in 2011.
"The scenes remind me of the lone pine tree that survived the quake," Shinmoto said. He was referring to a tree that became a symbol of resistance after it remained standing in Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture.
Koichi Watanabe, 34, another Hiroshima University graduate student, visited the head office of Serambi, a local newspaper. The editor in chief, 45-year-old Yarmen Dinamika, said that during the conflict years the newspaper used to come under pressure from both the national army and separatists because of its neutral editorial line.
The militia blocked Serambi's publication for 20 days and destroyed 12 trucks used to distribute newspapers. The tsunami killed a quarter of Serambi's work force, and Dinamika himself lost two sons in the disaster.
Watanabe said he had already been familiar with the Aceh issue, but had never imagined that the militia would put pressure on a newspaper.
"I realized there are so many things you cannot learn unless you go into the field," Watanabe said.
Issei Shibata, a 24-year-old Osaka University graduate student whose work examines the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, joined the program out of curiosity. Shibata said he wanted to discover how Aceh has been developing after separatists abandoned their independence bid. He decided to remain in Banda Aceh, staying in a private home and attending Syiah Kuala University for half a year.
"People here have a concept of 'us all,' which includes those on the opposite side, unlike the Israelis and Palestinians, who think of 'us' and 'them,'" Shibata said. "I am curious to learn more about Aceh."
A professor who led the tour added: "I wanted students to learn about the complicated and multifaceted reality of peace-building in a conflict zone, something that cannot be learned from textbooks and articles alone."
Akihisa Matsuno, 56, of Osaka University, leads research into conflicts and peace-building at the university's Osaka School of International Public Policy.
"The students seem to have learned something," Matsuno said.
By MAKOTO KUSAKAWA/ Staff Writer IndonesiaAcehstudenteducationconflictIndian Ocean tsunamiGreat Sumatra Earthquaketsunamiearthquakenatural disasteruniversity
This autumn, about 20 graduate students from institutions in Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Okinawa and elsewhere in Japan visited Banda Aceh, the capital of Indonesia's Aceh province, which suffered the double hardships of a 1976-2005 independence struggle and the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
In fiscal 2011, the graduate schools of Osaka University, Hiroshima University, Nagasaki University and Meio University in Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, started a program titled Peace and Human Security in Asia. The program is aimed at students who want to examine problems in Asia, such as conflicts, natural disasters and poverty, in an interdisciplinary manner.
The program has organized student exchanges with partner universities in Southeast Asia and has conducted short study tours.
The latest tour was to Syiah Kuala University, a state institution in Banda Aceh. The students attended a symposium on human security and took courses on social rehabilitation policies for the region's former combatants, a militia that fought for the pro-independence Free Aceh Movement against Indonesia's military.
They also studied aid programs for female survivors of the conflict and the tsunami. The group toured the Aceh Tsunami Museum, which opened in May last year, and one student visited a local newspaper company.
Overall, the students got a glimpse of how people there are confronting the legacy of problems and hardships.
Among the participants was 22-year-old Wataru Hayami. He realized that the students he met, at the symposium and elsewhere, were first-hand survivors of the conflict and the tsunami.
"The students were burdened with difficulties, but one of them said, 'The conflict and tsunami allowed us to meet each other,'" Hayami said. "The encounters I had with people of various backgrounds will be a life-long treasure to me."
Hayami is from Osaka University's graduate school, where he studies subjects such as normalizing diplomatic ties between Japan and North Korea.
During a visit to the tsunami museum, Kengo Shinmoto, a 27-year-old graduate student from Hiroshima University, listened to 30-year-old Gaya Triana describe what happened that day. Her younger sister didn't survive the disaster.
"I almost cried," Shinmoto said.
Elsewhere in Banda Aceh, a boat swept 5 kilometers inland is now preserved as a monument. Sturdy mosques that withstood the quake and tsunami have become symbols of rebuilding efforts.
For Shinmoto, it was reminiscent of a more recent tragedy. His thoughts turned to Japan's Tohoku region, which bore the brunt of tsunami damage in 2011.
"The scenes remind me of the lone pine tree that survived the quake," Shinmoto said. He was referring to a tree that became a symbol of resistance after it remained standing in Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture.
Koichi Watanabe, 34, another Hiroshima University graduate student, visited the head office of Serambi, a local newspaper. The editor in chief, 45-year-old Yarmen Dinamika, said that during the conflict years the newspaper used to come under pressure from both the national army and separatists because of its neutral editorial line.
The militia blocked Serambi's publication for 20 days and destroyed 12 trucks used to distribute newspapers. The tsunami killed a quarter of Serambi's work force, and Dinamika himself lost two sons in the disaster.
Watanabe said he had already been familiar with the Aceh issue, but had never imagined that the militia would put pressure on a newspaper.
"I realized there are so many things you cannot learn unless you go into the field," Watanabe said.
Issei Shibata, a 24-year-old Osaka University graduate student whose work examines the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, joined the program out of curiosity. Shibata said he wanted to discover how Aceh has been developing after separatists abandoned their independence bid. He decided to remain in Banda Aceh, staying in a private home and attending Syiah Kuala University for half a year.
"People here have a concept of 'us all,' which includes those on the opposite side, unlike the Israelis and Palestinians, who think of 'us' and 'them,'" Shibata said. "I am curious to learn more about Aceh."
A professor who led the tour added: "I wanted students to learn about the complicated and multifaceted reality of peace-building in a conflict zone, something that cannot be learned from textbooks and articles alone."
Akihisa Matsuno, 56, of Osaka University, leads research into conflicts and peace-building at the university's Osaka School of International Public Policy.
"The students seem to have learned something," Matsuno said.
By MAKOTO KUSAKAWA/ Staff Writer IndonesiaAcehstudenteducationconflictIndian Ocean tsunamiGreat Sumatra Earthquaketsunamiearthquakenatural disasteruniversity
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
The Delicacy of Mie Aceh in Meruya
BERITAJAKARTA.COM — 20/11/2012 21:48:32
Besides rice, noodle is second food that always served for Indonesian people. No wonder, a variety of processed noodles has become a common feature at several regions in Indonesia. One of them is ‘Mie Aceh’ which is the famous food from Aceh. To all of you who like this food, you can visit to Mie Aceh Sabang on Jl. Meruya Ilir No. 33 C and Jl. Anggrek Garuda, Kemanggisan, West Jakarta, which is famous for spices from Mecca Veranda.
The stall is quite famous among the culinary connoisseur. The taste and its presentation makes the customers become addicted. The stall itself has wide of 10x5 meters decorated with the ornaments of Acehnese culture. Hashim (34), the owner, has been selling since from12 years ago. The stall`s operate from 11 AM to 11 PM. Hasyim`s mie aceh is one of a kind since made up from natural ingredients and free from preservatives. ”The noodles process is made from crude ingredients which takes time until 2 hours,” said Hashim, Tuesday (11/20).
Each day, Hashim spends 25 kilograms of yellow noodles and noodles ingredients. He intentionally limits the amount of noodles to make sure it is completely spent in one day. This is because the noodles would not taste as good if it is more than a day old. “If the noodles are not completely spent in a day, it will be thrown away or cooked to be eaten by us and the employees,” he stated.
In serving the dishes, Hashim add his own mix of traditional spices which come directly from Aceh such as coriander, cumin, cloves, pepper, cinnamon and other secret spices. By using the spices mixture, Hashim`s dish has a deep aroma which stimulate the mouth to devour it completely. Moreover, the meat bits are copious, complemented with emping (fennel seed crackers) and pickled vegetables which make the taste even more special. “I got the recipe from my parents. There are at least 15 spices in the mixture I concocted,” he told.
Talk about the price, the customer only pays Rp 13 thousand for a bowl of fried noodles, fried rice Rp 13,000, as well as seafood noodles and nasi goring kambing (fried rice with goat meat) Rp 20 thousand. In addition, you can also order other foods, such as martabak kari kambing (a large omelet filled with chopped goat meat and vegetables served with mutton curry) and roti cane (traditional Indian bread) at the price of Rp 10 thousand. Then for drinks, timun serut (grated cucumber ice) at the price of Rp 6 thousand and teh tarik (sweetened milk tea elaborately strained between two vessels) Rp 8 thousand.
To serve the customers, Hashim has help from 7 servers which could serve as many as 300 servings of the noodle dish with the profit earnings amounted to5 million each day.“We also receive order as a catering in an event,” he finished.
Roby, (32), one of customers at Mie Aceh Sabang admitted, he is very often coming and eating at Hashim’s stall when he got home from work at Meruya. “I don’t have to go home, because the foods here like my parents’ cooking in Aceh,” he told.
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Indonesia: Niko sees efficiencies in modified semi - Oil & Gas Journal
Niko Resources Ltd., Calgary, and Zaratex NV encountered no commercial reservoir at the Jayarani-1 exploratory well on the Lhokseumawe PSC offshore Aceh Province in western Indonesia.
Jayarani-1 went to a TD of 11,537 ft and penetrated the predrill geologic objectives of Oligo-Miocene Peutu and Cunda carbonates.
Niko will now move the Ocean Monarch semisubmersible to West Papua to drill the Ajek-1 exploratory well on the Kofiau PSC, the first well to be drilled based on its patented SeaSeep technology, followed by the Cikar-1 well on the West Papua IV PSC and at least four other wells in the area. Partners in these wells include Hess Corp. on Ajek-1 and Statoil ASA on Cikar-1.
Niko’s Indonesia business plan has been to acquire a large number of PSCs in emerging exploratory trends, use advanced technology to develop a portfolio of high impact wells, execute leveraged farmouts, and target partners with worldwide deep water experience. Niko expects to benefit from economies of scale in drilling operations as well as increase the statistical likelihood of success.
Niko made a number of changes in the Ocean Monarch that have and will result in large time and cost savings. For example, due to reductions in the weight of materials and equipment on the rig, the time required for location moves could be reduced by more than 30%, Niko said.
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Momentum in ending Phillipines conflict should continue
KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 20, 2012): The momentum and spirit in ending the four-decade long conflict in the southern Philippines recently, should keep going as Asean still has other challenges in its landscape, Asean secretary-general Dr Surin Pitsuwan said today.
Of late, he said, Asean had seen a string of successes in managing conflicts, which included East Timor and Aceh.
"We have other challenges somewhere else on the landscape of Asean, and I hope this would be a momentum of going forward that we can reconciliate in other places, including Rakhine (Myanmar) and southern Thailand.
"The spirit of Mindanao will have a positive impact in other areas of conflict.
"Malaysia has been playing a very effective, contributing and wise role in mediating these conflicts, particularly Mindanao. It has taken a lot of time but I think all sides have been very patient and in the end, wisdom prevails and the only way to settle this is through negotiations.
"Malaysia has made a great contribution," he added.
Pitsuwan was speaking to reporters after delivering a talk entitled, 'The Role of Regional Networks in Humanitarian Aid' at the Raja Nazrin Shah 2012 Lecture Series' organised by Mercy Malaysia here.
The Philippine Government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) recently signed a historic agreement, which Malaysia helped broker, to end a four-decade long conflict in the southern Philippines.
The Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro was signed by Philippine chief negotiator Marvic Leonen and MILF's lead negotiator Mohagher Iqbal in the presence of Philippine President Benigno Aquino III and Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak, at the Presidential Malacanang Palace in Manila. – Bernama
Friday, October 12, 2012
lesson from aceh
MANILA, Philippines - On Aug 15, 2005, the government of Indonesia and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) signed a peace agreement that put an end to 3 decades of conflict that claimed over 15,000 lives and displaced tens of thousands of people in northern Sumatra.
The peace process in Aceh was in many ways quite similar to the one currently underway in Mindanao between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
What lessons can be drawn from that experience and what can we expect from the new Framework Agreement if we compare it to Aceh?
Background
Much like Mindanao with the Spanish, Muslim Aceh became a source of conflict when the Dutch colonizers arrived in Indonesia in 1873.
Indonesia declared independence from the Netherlands in 1945, and 4 years later the Republic of Indonesia was formally established, including Aceh in a unitary state.
But the Acehnese did not want to be part of a non-Islamic state and demanded to be a special autonomous region with powers over culture, education and religion.
Jakarta agreed, and the peace lasted for more than two decades decade until the 1970s, when vast deposits of natural gas were discovered in Aceh.
Like in Mindanao, the natural resources were pilfered by the national government and the local population practically did not benefit at all from them and remained one of the poorest and most underdeveloped regions in Indonesia.
Conflict erupts
The Aceh Sumatra National Liberation Front -- later renamed Gerakan Aceh Merdeka or GAM -- was formed in 1976 and that same year declared the independence of the territory from the "Javanese colonialists," as they viewed the national government in Jakarta.
The authorities, like in Mindanao, responded by launching an all-out military campaign to crush the rebels.
Scores of GAM militants were killed in the counterinsurgency operations as well as many civilians, and between 120,000 and 150,000 were internally displaced at the end of 2004.
Negotiations begin
General Suharto, who ruled Indonesia with an iron fist from 1956 to 1998, refused to negotiate with the Free Aceh Movement while he was in power, but after he stepped down his successors opened a window for peace negotiations with the GAM.
However, all attempts failed and each proposed deal was viewed with suspicion by the rebels after the long list of human rights abuses committed by Indonesian soldiers.
On top of that, Jakarta never considered offering the territory the option of independence accepted for East Timor, which finally broke free from Indonesia in 2002 after a quarter century of military occupation.
Despite efforts from both sides to pursue peace, hostilities on the ground remained unabated in Aceh and any type of agreement seemed impossible in the near future.
Tsunami brings peace
On Dec 26, 2004, a deadly tsunami devastated Aceh and killed around 150,000 people in the worst natural disaster in the XXI century so far.
The tragedy changed the dynamics of the conflict and compelled both sides to be more flexible and secure a peaceful environment for rebuilding Aceh.
Less than a year later, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed with the following key provisions:
Withdrawal of government troops, liberation of political prisoners and amnesty in exchange for GAM disarmament
Political autonomy except for foreign affairs, defense, monetary policy and other aspects inherent to the national government
70% of revenues from natural resources must stay in Aceh
Sharia law in place for all Muslims but not to be applied to non-Muslims
Fair and free elections with the participation of local parties, previously banned
Demobilized combatants have then right to government land to facilitate their reintegration in society and to be employed in the police
Lessons for PH
According to Abhoud Syed M. Lingga, executive director of the Insitute of Bangsamoro Studies in Cotabato City, the following lessons can be learned for Mindanao from the Aceh peace process experience:
Negotiations started moving forward when Indonesian President Gus Dur abandoned the rigid military approach favored by Suharto.
The agreed framework must be endorsed by the President, who must show true interest in pursuing the peace process and not leave it to the top negotiator.
New political thinking and the support of the military is essential, as well as political influence over Muslim groups.
Negotiators from both sides must be empowered to make tough decisions without having to consult each step with their superiors.
GAM was given the option to become a political party and won the 2006 and 2011 elections, as the MILF intends to do.
Demobilizing MILF combatants will not get rid of violence, as there are many other armed groups in Mindanao, unlike the GAM which was the only armed group apart from the military in Aceh
Being elected to positions does not terminate the need for reforms, and even those outside of the political process can contribute - Rappler.com
The peace process in Aceh was in many ways quite similar to the one currently underway in Mindanao between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
What lessons can be drawn from that experience and what can we expect from the new Framework Agreement if we compare it to Aceh?
Background
Much like Mindanao with the Spanish, Muslim Aceh became a source of conflict when the Dutch colonizers arrived in Indonesia in 1873.
Indonesia declared independence from the Netherlands in 1945, and 4 years later the Republic of Indonesia was formally established, including Aceh in a unitary state.
But the Acehnese did not want to be part of a non-Islamic state and demanded to be a special autonomous region with powers over culture, education and religion.
Jakarta agreed, and the peace lasted for more than two decades decade until the 1970s, when vast deposits of natural gas were discovered in Aceh.
Like in Mindanao, the natural resources were pilfered by the national government and the local population practically did not benefit at all from them and remained one of the poorest and most underdeveloped regions in Indonesia.
Conflict erupts
The Aceh Sumatra National Liberation Front -- later renamed Gerakan Aceh Merdeka or GAM -- was formed in 1976 and that same year declared the independence of the territory from the "Javanese colonialists," as they viewed the national government in Jakarta.
The authorities, like in Mindanao, responded by launching an all-out military campaign to crush the rebels.
Scores of GAM militants were killed in the counterinsurgency operations as well as many civilians, and between 120,000 and 150,000 were internally displaced at the end of 2004.
Negotiations begin
General Suharto, who ruled Indonesia with an iron fist from 1956 to 1998, refused to negotiate with the Free Aceh Movement while he was in power, but after he stepped down his successors opened a window for peace negotiations with the GAM.
However, all attempts failed and each proposed deal was viewed with suspicion by the rebels after the long list of human rights abuses committed by Indonesian soldiers.
On top of that, Jakarta never considered offering the territory the option of independence accepted for East Timor, which finally broke free from Indonesia in 2002 after a quarter century of military occupation.
Despite efforts from both sides to pursue peace, hostilities on the ground remained unabated in Aceh and any type of agreement seemed impossible in the near future.
Tsunami brings peace
On Dec 26, 2004, a deadly tsunami devastated Aceh and killed around 150,000 people in the worst natural disaster in the XXI century so far.
The tragedy changed the dynamics of the conflict and compelled both sides to be more flexible and secure a peaceful environment for rebuilding Aceh.
Less than a year later, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed with the following key provisions:
Withdrawal of government troops, liberation of political prisoners and amnesty in exchange for GAM disarmament
Political autonomy except for foreign affairs, defense, monetary policy and other aspects inherent to the national government
70% of revenues from natural resources must stay in Aceh
Sharia law in place for all Muslims but not to be applied to non-Muslims
Fair and free elections with the participation of local parties, previously banned
Demobilized combatants have then right to government land to facilitate their reintegration in society and to be employed in the police
Lessons for PH
According to Abhoud Syed M. Lingga, executive director of the Insitute of Bangsamoro Studies in Cotabato City, the following lessons can be learned for Mindanao from the Aceh peace process experience:
Negotiations started moving forward when Indonesian President Gus Dur abandoned the rigid military approach favored by Suharto.
The agreed framework must be endorsed by the President, who must show true interest in pursuing the peace process and not leave it to the top negotiator.
New political thinking and the support of the military is essential, as well as political influence over Muslim groups.
Negotiators from both sides must be empowered to make tough decisions without having to consult each step with their superiors.
GAM was given the option to become a political party and won the 2006 and 2011 elections, as the MILF intends to do.
Demobilizing MILF combatants will not get rid of violence, as there are many other armed groups in Mindanao, unlike the GAM which was the only armed group apart from the military in Aceh
Being elected to positions does not terminate the need for reforms, and even those outside of the political process can contribute - Rappler.com
Fisheries benefit from 400-year-old tradition
Published: Thursday, October 11, 2012 - 20:03 in Biology & Nature
Related images
(click to enlarge)
WCS Indonesia Program
A new study by the Wildlife Conservation Society and James Cook University says that coral reefs in Aceh, Indonesia are benefiting from a decidedly low-tech, traditional management system that dates back to the 17th century. Known as "Panglima Laot" -- the customary system focuses on social harmony and reducing conflict among communities over marine resources. According to the study, reefs benefitting from Panglima Laot contain as much eight time more fish and hard-coral cover due to mutually agreed upon gear restrictions especially prohibiting the use of nets.
The study, which appears in the October issue of the journal Oryx, is by Stuart Campbell, Rizya Ardiwijaya, Shinta Pardede, Tasrif Kartawijaya, Ahmad Mukmunin, Yudi Herdiana of the Wildlife Conservation Society; and Josh Cinner, Andrew Hoey, Morgan Pratchett, and Andrew Baird of James Cook University.
The authors say Panglima Laot has a number of design principles associated with successful fisheries management institutions. These include clearly defined membership rights, rules that limit resource use, the right of resource users to make, enforce and change the rules, and graduated sanctions and mechanisms for conflict resolution. These principles are the key to the ability of the institution to reduce conflict among communities, provide sustainable access to marine resources, and limit the destruction of marine habitats.
"No-take fishing areas can be impractical in regions where people rely heavily on reef fish for food," said the study's lead author Dr. Stuart Campbell of the Wildlife Conservation Society. "The guiding principle of Panglima Laot was successful in minimizing habitat degradation and maintaining fish biomass despite ongoing access to the fishery. Such mechanisms to reduce conflict are the key to success of marine resource management, particularly in settings which lack resources for enforcement."
However, the institution has not been uniformly successful. In particular, reef conditions in the adjacent island group of Pulau Aceh were poor possibly because of destructive fishing and poor coastal management. The precise causes of this breakdown of the Panglima Laot system are the focus of current research efforts in the region.
Other work by WCS and James Cook University suggests that fishers who are poorer and had lower levels of participation in resource management, had correspondingly lower levels of both trust in local institutions and involvement in community events. These groups subsequently felt less benefit from the customary PL system. In these places fishing is largely uncontrolled.
When the PL system is strong, and motivated by the aim of producing social harmony, restrictions on gear use by the Panglima Laot in Aceh have direct conservation benefits such as high coral cover and enhanced fish biomass.
Additional surveys over a wider geographical scale and over a longer period are required to reveal whether these findings also apply across larger scales and over time.
Monday, October 1, 2012
Aceh Exxon Mobile Suit Hangs in Balance as US Supreme Court Mulls Nigeria Claim | The Jakarta Globe
For more than three decades survivors of human rights abuses in foreign countries have turned to US federal courts to seek justice. On Monday the US Supreme Court hears a case that could make that impossible.
The case pits a Nigerian widow against a multinational oil company. Esther Kiobel and others say Royal Dutch Petroleum (Shell) helped the Nigerian government commit human rights violations against her husband, who was executed in 1995. Shell has denied the allegations and argues that cases involving foreign governments committing atrocities in their own countries do not belong in the US court system at all.
That the justices are considering the sweeping question of whether an entire class of lawsuits can be heard in the United States can be traced to briefs filed by three lawyers whose clients aren’t even involved in the case.
How their briefs came to be sheds light on one of the most closely watched cases before the Supreme Court this term and shows how the efforts of private lawyers pursuing a public policy goal can have momentous consequences.
A ruling against Kiobel could wipe out lawsuits pending against companies such as Exxon Mobil Corp, Rio Tinto Plc and Nestle, which are accused by private plaintiffs of helping governments violate human rights in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Ivory Coast, respectively.
Esther Kiobel’s husband, Barinem Kiobel, was arrested in 1994 along with Nobel Peace Prize nominee Ken Saro-Wiwa and others. They had spoken out against the government’s violent suppression of environmental activists who opposed Shell’s oil and gas drilling in Nigeria. Kiobel was found guilty of murder by a Nigerian military court in a trial that the US State Department said lacked due process, and he was hanged in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, in 1995.
With no recourse in Nigeria, Esther, who had received asylum in the United States, filed a lawsuit in federal court in New York alleging among other things that Shell cooperated with the Nigerian military, resulting in crimes against humanity. She relied on a 200-year-old US law called the Alien Tort Statute. While the case was under way, Shell won a ruling in September 2010 from the influential 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals that said Shell could not be held liable under the statute because it was a corporation. It was a major shock to human rights lawyers, who had brought more than 100 such cases against corporations in the previous two decades.
Teaming Up Again
The ruling quickly caught the attention of John Bellinger, an attorney at the law firm Arnold & Porter. In a series of interviews with Reuters, Bellinger, 52, discussed his actions over the subsequent 18 months. He stressed that he was speaking in a private capacity rather than as a representative of his clients in the Kiobel case.
Bellinger believed Kiobel’s lawyers were likely to petition the Supreme Court. Sure enough, in October 2011 the court agreed to take the case on the narrow question of whether corporations could be held liable under the statute.
Bellinger, who had been State Department legal adviser in the Bush administration, had bigger ideas. He wanted to present the court with arguments he had heard from foreign governments while he was at the State Department. Back then, Australia, Britain, Canada and others had protested when cases were brought under the Alien Tort Statute. They argued that US courts had no business judging events that took place on foreign soil.
When the Supreme Court accepted the Kiobel case, Bellinger started emailing and calling governments that had opposed previous Alien Tort Statute cases to see whether they wanted to file a brief and whether they already had legal representation. But none of those he contacted were ready to commit, leaving him with no one to represent.
In November last year, Bellinger called Shell’s lawyer, Kathleen Sullivan, who had been one of his professors at Harvard Law School. Sullivan, who declined to comment for this story, was preparing to argue the question that was before the Supreme Court at the time: whether the statute applied to corporations. Bellinger says she mentioned to him that former US Solicitor General Paul Clement was writing a brief for IBM in support of Shell. IBM is one of dozens of corporations that are defendants in another case, brought by South Africans who suffered abuses under apartheid.
Clement, a 46-year-old conservative wunderkind, has argued more than 50 cases before the nation’s top court. In late 2011 he was working on some of the nation’s highest-profile cases, including defending Arizona’s immigration law and a federal law that defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
Clement and Bellinger had worked together on an Alien Tort Statute case when Clement was solicitor general and Bellinger was at the State Department. When they spoke, the two lawyers decided to team up again. “Paul agreed,” said Bellinger, “we could track a number of the issues we’d argued in government.”
They divvied up the work. To build their case, Bellinger sought to document instances where foreign governments had complained about the statute. Clement’s job was to look at the big picture.
In an interview, Clement said he saw two issues lower courts were grappling with. One was Bellinger’s concern about whether the statute applied to cases where abuses were committed in foreign countries. The other was whether helping a foreign government commit an abuse, rather than committing the abuse directly, was covered by the statute. Only the 2nd Circuit’s Kiobel decision had brought up the new question of whether a corporation, rather than an individual, could be held liable under the statute. It was almost as if the Supreme Court was looking at the wrong question, Clement said.
Like Bellinger, Clement agreed to speak only in a private capacity and not as a representative of his clients in the ongoing litigation.
The two lawyers said they decided they needed to marshal a much broader argument than the one the Supreme Court had asked for in Kiobel. Bellinger spent December 2011 reaching out to clients of Arnold and Porter who were past, current or potential future targets of lawsuits under the Alien Tort Statute.
In February this year they filed their brief on behalf of BP Plc, Caterpillar Inc, ConocoPhillips, General Electric Co, Honeywell International Inc and IBM. They argued that the Alien Tort Statute does not cover events that took place in foreign countries, nor does it apply to those who help others commit abuses, only those who commit abuses themselves. None of the six companies would comment for this story.
Jack Goldsmith, another lawyer who had worked in the Bush administration, filed a similar brief on behalf of Chevron. Goldsmith declined to talk about the pending litigation.
Changing the Question
On a crisp morning in late February, Paul Hoffman, a veteran human rights advocate, stood before the Supreme Court to argue the case for Kiobel. Some 16 years earlier, Hoffman had brought a landmark lawsuit under the Alien Tort Statute against oil company UNOCAL over abuses in Myanmar, which settled in 2005 for an undisclosed sum. Since then, bringing lawsuits against corporations had come to define his career.
Hoffman had hardly opened his mouth, however, when Justice Anthony Kennedy interrupted with a question that had nothing to do with corporate liability but rather to do with the reach of US courts. Justice Samuel Alito jumped in next: “What business does a case like that have in the courts of the United States?” Then Chief Justice John Roberts joined the fray. The justices wanted to know if US courts had any role in adjudicating events that took place overseas. Hoffman was under assault and struggled to get back to the question of corporate liability.
Bellinger, sitting two rows back in the public gallery, smiled. The justices were interested in his argument.
Just how interested became clear a few days later. The following Monday, Bellinger got a message on his BlackBerry. The court had asked the parties to come back and argue a new question: whether, and under what circumstances, the Alien Tort Statute applied to events on foreign soil. “It was a stunner,” he said.
Clement was similarly surprised. “We didn’t file the brief imagining that they were going to ask for reargument,” he said. “We filed the brief thinking if the court said something favorable it would help our clients in lower courts.”
When the Supreme court seeks a second round of oral arguments, it can portend a significant ruling. Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark 1954 case that ended segregation in public schools, was decided after reargument. In 2009 a second round of arguments in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission was followed by a major decision on political spending by corporations and unions.
The court’s decision to consider the wider question could have a major impact. As of August this year, there were 36 claims against corporations under the Alien Tort Statute. If the court had ruled for Shell on the narrower question — that the statute does not apply to corporations — 20 of those cases could be dismissed. However, those 20 cases could be changed to name individual corporate officers rather than the corporations as defendants. This would mean the cases could go forward. And while they would be harder to win, they would still create negative publicity.
“It wouldn’t stop the next wave of litigation,” said Bellinger.
If, on the other hand, the court rules broadly for Shell, deciding that the statute does not apply to events on foreign soil, 29 of the current cases would likely be dismissed. The only cases that would remain are seven in which the alleged abuses took place on US soil.
Earlier this month, Hoffman held a final strategy meeting at New York University Law School. His casual chinos and sneakers belied the seriousness of Monday’s reargument for the survivors of human rights abuses. A ruling against the plaintiffs on the grounds that the events happened overseas would, he said, “rip the guts” out of the Alien Tort Statute.
Reuters
The case pits a Nigerian widow against a multinational oil company. Esther Kiobel and others say Royal Dutch Petroleum (Shell) helped the Nigerian government commit human rights violations against her husband, who was executed in 1995. Shell has denied the allegations and argues that cases involving foreign governments committing atrocities in their own countries do not belong in the US court system at all.
That the justices are considering the sweeping question of whether an entire class of lawsuits can be heard in the United States can be traced to briefs filed by three lawyers whose clients aren’t even involved in the case.
How their briefs came to be sheds light on one of the most closely watched cases before the Supreme Court this term and shows how the efforts of private lawyers pursuing a public policy goal can have momentous consequences.
A ruling against Kiobel could wipe out lawsuits pending against companies such as Exxon Mobil Corp, Rio Tinto Plc and Nestle, which are accused by private plaintiffs of helping governments violate human rights in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Ivory Coast, respectively.
Esther Kiobel’s husband, Barinem Kiobel, was arrested in 1994 along with Nobel Peace Prize nominee Ken Saro-Wiwa and others. They had spoken out against the government’s violent suppression of environmental activists who opposed Shell’s oil and gas drilling in Nigeria. Kiobel was found guilty of murder by a Nigerian military court in a trial that the US State Department said lacked due process, and he was hanged in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, in 1995.
With no recourse in Nigeria, Esther, who had received asylum in the United States, filed a lawsuit in federal court in New York alleging among other things that Shell cooperated with the Nigerian military, resulting in crimes against humanity. She relied on a 200-year-old US law called the Alien Tort Statute. While the case was under way, Shell won a ruling in September 2010 from the influential 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals that said Shell could not be held liable under the statute because it was a corporation. It was a major shock to human rights lawyers, who had brought more than 100 such cases against corporations in the previous two decades.
Teaming Up Again
The ruling quickly caught the attention of John Bellinger, an attorney at the law firm Arnold & Porter. In a series of interviews with Reuters, Bellinger, 52, discussed his actions over the subsequent 18 months. He stressed that he was speaking in a private capacity rather than as a representative of his clients in the Kiobel case.
Bellinger believed Kiobel’s lawyers were likely to petition the Supreme Court. Sure enough, in October 2011 the court agreed to take the case on the narrow question of whether corporations could be held liable under the statute.
Bellinger, who had been State Department legal adviser in the Bush administration, had bigger ideas. He wanted to present the court with arguments he had heard from foreign governments while he was at the State Department. Back then, Australia, Britain, Canada and others had protested when cases were brought under the Alien Tort Statute. They argued that US courts had no business judging events that took place on foreign soil.
When the Supreme Court accepted the Kiobel case, Bellinger started emailing and calling governments that had opposed previous Alien Tort Statute cases to see whether they wanted to file a brief and whether they already had legal representation. But none of those he contacted were ready to commit, leaving him with no one to represent.
In November last year, Bellinger called Shell’s lawyer, Kathleen Sullivan, who had been one of his professors at Harvard Law School. Sullivan, who declined to comment for this story, was preparing to argue the question that was before the Supreme Court at the time: whether the statute applied to corporations. Bellinger says she mentioned to him that former US Solicitor General Paul Clement was writing a brief for IBM in support of Shell. IBM is one of dozens of corporations that are defendants in another case, brought by South Africans who suffered abuses under apartheid.
Clement, a 46-year-old conservative wunderkind, has argued more than 50 cases before the nation’s top court. In late 2011 he was working on some of the nation’s highest-profile cases, including defending Arizona’s immigration law and a federal law that defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
Clement and Bellinger had worked together on an Alien Tort Statute case when Clement was solicitor general and Bellinger was at the State Department. When they spoke, the two lawyers decided to team up again. “Paul agreed,” said Bellinger, “we could track a number of the issues we’d argued in government.”
They divvied up the work. To build their case, Bellinger sought to document instances where foreign governments had complained about the statute. Clement’s job was to look at the big picture.
In an interview, Clement said he saw two issues lower courts were grappling with. One was Bellinger’s concern about whether the statute applied to cases where abuses were committed in foreign countries. The other was whether helping a foreign government commit an abuse, rather than committing the abuse directly, was covered by the statute. Only the 2nd Circuit’s Kiobel decision had brought up the new question of whether a corporation, rather than an individual, could be held liable under the statute. It was almost as if the Supreme Court was looking at the wrong question, Clement said.
Like Bellinger, Clement agreed to speak only in a private capacity and not as a representative of his clients in the ongoing litigation.
The two lawyers said they decided they needed to marshal a much broader argument than the one the Supreme Court had asked for in Kiobel. Bellinger spent December 2011 reaching out to clients of Arnold and Porter who were past, current or potential future targets of lawsuits under the Alien Tort Statute.
In February this year they filed their brief on behalf of BP Plc, Caterpillar Inc, ConocoPhillips, General Electric Co, Honeywell International Inc and IBM. They argued that the Alien Tort Statute does not cover events that took place in foreign countries, nor does it apply to those who help others commit abuses, only those who commit abuses themselves. None of the six companies would comment for this story.
Jack Goldsmith, another lawyer who had worked in the Bush administration, filed a similar brief on behalf of Chevron. Goldsmith declined to talk about the pending litigation.
Changing the Question
On a crisp morning in late February, Paul Hoffman, a veteran human rights advocate, stood before the Supreme Court to argue the case for Kiobel. Some 16 years earlier, Hoffman had brought a landmark lawsuit under the Alien Tort Statute against oil company UNOCAL over abuses in Myanmar, which settled in 2005 for an undisclosed sum. Since then, bringing lawsuits against corporations had come to define his career.
Hoffman had hardly opened his mouth, however, when Justice Anthony Kennedy interrupted with a question that had nothing to do with corporate liability but rather to do with the reach of US courts. Justice Samuel Alito jumped in next: “What business does a case like that have in the courts of the United States?” Then Chief Justice John Roberts joined the fray. The justices wanted to know if US courts had any role in adjudicating events that took place overseas. Hoffman was under assault and struggled to get back to the question of corporate liability.
Bellinger, sitting two rows back in the public gallery, smiled. The justices were interested in his argument.
Just how interested became clear a few days later. The following Monday, Bellinger got a message on his BlackBerry. The court had asked the parties to come back and argue a new question: whether, and under what circumstances, the Alien Tort Statute applied to events on foreign soil. “It was a stunner,” he said.
Clement was similarly surprised. “We didn’t file the brief imagining that they were going to ask for reargument,” he said. “We filed the brief thinking if the court said something favorable it would help our clients in lower courts.”
When the Supreme court seeks a second round of oral arguments, it can portend a significant ruling. Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark 1954 case that ended segregation in public schools, was decided after reargument. In 2009 a second round of arguments in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission was followed by a major decision on political spending by corporations and unions.
The court’s decision to consider the wider question could have a major impact. As of August this year, there were 36 claims against corporations under the Alien Tort Statute. If the court had ruled for Shell on the narrower question — that the statute does not apply to corporations — 20 of those cases could be dismissed. However, those 20 cases could be changed to name individual corporate officers rather than the corporations as defendants. This would mean the cases could go forward. And while they would be harder to win, they would still create negative publicity.
“It wouldn’t stop the next wave of litigation,” said Bellinger.
If, on the other hand, the court rules broadly for Shell, deciding that the statute does not apply to events on foreign soil, 29 of the current cases would likely be dismissed. The only cases that would remain are seven in which the alleged abuses took place on US soil.
Earlier this month, Hoffman held a final strategy meeting at New York University Law School. His casual chinos and sneakers belied the seriousness of Monday’s reargument for the survivors of human rights abuses. A ruling against the plaintiffs on the grounds that the events happened overseas would, he said, “rip the guts” out of the Alien Tort Statute.
Reuters
Monday, September 24, 2012
Tempointeraktif.com - The History of Shia in Indonesia
The History of Shia in Indonesia
Tuesday, 04 September, 2012 | 06:51 WIB
Tuesday, 04 September, 2012 | 06:51 WIB
TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta:It is difficult to trace when Shia teachings entered Indonesia exactly. However, Prof. A Hasjmy in his book, “Shia and Ahlussunah: Power Takeover since Early Islamic History in the Archipelago,” writes that Shia has existed in Aceh since the 800s, or 173 Hejira in the Islamic calendar.
The teachings were brought by about a hundred traders from the Arab Gulf, Persia and India, that arrived at Peureulak Port on merchant ships from the Kambey Gulf, Gujarat, led by Captain Khalifah.
They were Shiites who were persecuted in their homelands. The ‘Islamic missionaries’ managed to influence Peureulak residents and within only 40 years, or 1 Muharram 225 Hejira in the Islamic calendar, the Peureulak Islamic kingdom was established. The king was Sultan Saiyid Maulana Abdul Azis Syah, a Shiite and descendant of Quraysh-Arab.
PURWANTO
The teachings were brought by about a hundred traders from the Arab Gulf, Persia and India, that arrived at Peureulak Port on merchant ships from the Kambey Gulf, Gujarat, led by Captain Khalifah.
They were Shiites who were persecuted in their homelands. The ‘Islamic missionaries’ managed to influence Peureulak residents and within only 40 years, or 1 Muharram 225 Hejira in the Islamic calendar, the Peureulak Islamic kingdom was established. The king was Sultan Saiyid Maulana Abdul Azis Syah, a Shiite and descendant of Quraysh-Arab.
PURWANTO
Saturday, September 22, 2012
Rights body to summon energy minister | The Jakarta Post
Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Jero Wacik will be summoned to discuss the case of PT Triangle Pase Inc., an Australian mining company allegedly operating without a permit in East Aceh, a human rights official says.
“We will summon minister Jero Wacik and representatives from the company as well. The company has allegedly continued operations without approval from the local administration,” National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) official Ridha said after meeting with East Aceh regency officials in Jakarta on Friday.
Local residents reported PT Triangle Pase Inc. to Komnas HAM for continuing operations after its permit expired in February, Antara reported.
According to Terpiadi Madjid, a community leader in East Aceh, the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry and upstream oil and gas regulator BP Migas extended Triangle Pase’s permit without the consent of the local administration.
According to Triangle Energy’s website, the company has applied to renew its production sharing contract (PSC) for an additional twenty years.
“We will summon minister Jero Wacik and representatives from the company as well. The company has allegedly continued operations without approval from the local administration,” National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) official Ridha said after meeting with East Aceh regency officials in Jakarta on Friday.
Local residents reported PT Triangle Pase Inc. to Komnas HAM for continuing operations after its permit expired in February, Antara reported.
According to Terpiadi Madjid, a community leader in East Aceh, the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry and upstream oil and gas regulator BP Migas extended Triangle Pase’s permit without the consent of the local administration.
According to Triangle Energy’s website, the company has applied to renew its production sharing contract (PSC) for an additional twenty years.
Aceh Set To Become A Major Cacao Producer | Atjeh News
Banda Aceh — The district administration of Nagan Raya of Aceh, said it will open 115 hectares of new cacao plantations to make the commodity its biggest export earner.“The local farmers would operate the plantations,” Akmaizal, head of the Area Expansion and Supervision of the regional Forestry and Plantation Office, said.
The government will support the farmers with high yield seed variety and fertilizers, Akmaizal said on Tuesday.
He said cacao plantations in the regency of Nagan Raya are relatively small compared with other districts in Aceh.
He said the regency of Nagan Raya has only 4,500 hectares of cacao with annual production averaging 400-500 kg per hectare.
The opening of new plantations would make the district a major producer of that commodity.
The district’s production of cacao beans could reach 19,310 tons a year , he said.
Indonesia with annual production of around 550,000 tons, is the world’s third largest producer of cacao beans after the Ivory Coast and Ghana in Africa.
The country’s cacao production center is Sulawesi especially West Sulawesi.
The government has a program to revitalize the country’s cacao plantations with the Cacao National Movement launched in 2008.
With the program the country’s production of cacao beans is expected to reach 1.2 million tons in 2014.
Unlike the two African countries Indonesia will rely more on domestic market to dispose of its cacao beans with the imposition of an export tax on beans.
The export tax aimed at guaranteeing feedstock for domestic industries, resulted in an increase in cacao bean consumption in the country to 180,000 tons in 2010 from 125,000 tons in the previous year.
Last year, the domestic requirement was estimated to reach 280,000 tons especially with falling price in international market.
Last year, the domestic requirement was estimated to reach 280,000 tons especially with falling price in international market.
The price of cacao beans has been reported hitting the rock bottom or the lowest in 32 months on oversupplies.[]
Antaranews
Friday, September 21, 2012
Endangered Sumatran Elephant’s Surprise Birth: It’s a Girl! | The Jakarta Globe
Banda Aceh. A trained Sumatran elephant named Suci has given birth at Conservation Response Unit Sampoiniet in Aceh Jaya, Aceh.
Wahdi Azmi, field manager for the Aceh branch of Flora & Fauna International, a conservation group, said that Suci gave birth to a female calf early on Tuesday morning.
CRU staffers were not there to witness the birth of the calf, as Suci, 20, had not been displaying any signs of labor.
“Yesterday, when the CRU team woke up, they were surprised to see Suci already gave birth,” Wahdi said
He added that the team thought Suci was 44 weeks pregnant, and elephants generally have a gestation period of 88 weeks, or 22 months, the longest of any land mammal.
The baby elephant, which weighs about 70 kilograms and stands 80 centimeters in height, is in good condition, according to Wahdi. She has been named Ayu Rosalina.
According to Wahdi, Suci began mating with a wild elephant that lived in the forest area around CRU Sampoiniet’s Camp 21 months ago.
CRU is a program collaboration between the local Natural Resources Conservation Agency, Aceh Jaya Forestry Agency, Aceh Protection and Monitoring Program of Flora and Fauna International and a local community ranger institute.
“The program, which has been running since 2009, is aimed at building community-based forestry security mechanisms and mitigating conflict between the community and wild animals,” Wahdi said.
The CRU Sampoiniet team has five trained elephants used as rides during forest patrols, but the elephants are also an important tool to raise awareness and provide conservation education.
The Sumatran elephant has been declared critically endangered, with its population in Aceh estimated at only 500.
The number of Sumatran elephants in the wild has dropped dramatically in the past four years. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has said the species is now one step away from extinction.
Wahdi Azmi, field manager for the Aceh branch of Flora & Fauna International, a conservation group, said that Suci gave birth to a female calf early on Tuesday morning.
CRU staffers were not there to witness the birth of the calf, as Suci, 20, had not been displaying any signs of labor.
“Yesterday, when the CRU team woke up, they were surprised to see Suci already gave birth,” Wahdi said
He added that the team thought Suci was 44 weeks pregnant, and elephants generally have a gestation period of 88 weeks, or 22 months, the longest of any land mammal.
The baby elephant, which weighs about 70 kilograms and stands 80 centimeters in height, is in good condition, according to Wahdi. She has been named Ayu Rosalina.
According to Wahdi, Suci began mating with a wild elephant that lived in the forest area around CRU Sampoiniet’s Camp 21 months ago.
CRU is a program collaboration between the local Natural Resources Conservation Agency, Aceh Jaya Forestry Agency, Aceh Protection and Monitoring Program of Flora and Fauna International and a local community ranger institute.
“The program, which has been running since 2009, is aimed at building community-based forestry security mechanisms and mitigating conflict between the community and wild animals,” Wahdi said.
The CRU Sampoiniet team has five trained elephants used as rides during forest patrols, but the elephants are also an important tool to raise awareness and provide conservation education.
The Sumatran elephant has been declared critically endangered, with its population in Aceh estimated at only 500.
The number of Sumatran elephants in the wild has dropped dramatically in the past four years. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has said the species is now one step away from extinction.
Police Admit Aceh Officers’ Role in Drug Trafficking | The Jakarta Globe
Banda Aceh. Police in Aceh destroyed more than 2,000 kilograms of marijuana on Wednesday and admitted the involvement of their own personnel in the high-volume trafficking of the drug in the province.
Insp. Gen. Iskandar Hasan, the Aceh Police chief, oversaw the incineration of the 2,361 kilograms of marijuana, 1.79 kilograms of heroin and 6,000 pot plants at the provincial police headquarters.
He said the drugs, with an estimated street value of Rp 11 billion, were seized throughout the course of the year by police and by customs officers from five suspects, two of whom remain at large.
Iskandar said the marijuana represented just a fraction of the more than 15,500 kilograms seized from around 700 suspects since the start of the year.
He blamed the high volume of the drug on the involvement of police, citing the arrest last week of an officer in Medan, North Sumatra, for alleged drug trafficking.
“The marijuana bosses are exploiting our officers to ensure the smooth flow of their operations,” he said.
However, he did not say whether his office planned to charge any officers for complicity in trafficking or whether any preventive programs would be put in place.
The police chief was speaking next to the bales of marijuana, which in keeping with standard police procedure for the destruction of narcotics had been set on fire.
Last December, Iskandar revealed that up to 1,000 of the Aceh Police’s 13,000 officers had tested positive for drug use, but no charges were ever pressed against them.
Instead, they were sent on a monthlong reform program.
The National Narcotics Agency (BNN) lists Aceh as the province with the highest rates of marijuana trafficking and use, and fourth nationwide for all drug trafficking based on estimated street value.
Basri Ali, head of the BNNP, the provincial office of the BNN, said the situation was “growing dangerous.”
“What makes it worrying is that marijuana is no longer just being sold in big cities here, but is also available in kampungs,” he said, adding that dealers were increasingly targeting non-traditional users such as schoolchildren and office workers.
“If this isn’t addressed urgently, the younger generation will be ruined.”
Suara Pembaruan
Insp. Gen. Iskandar Hasan, the Aceh Police chief, oversaw the incineration of the 2,361 kilograms of marijuana, 1.79 kilograms of heroin and 6,000 pot plants at the provincial police headquarters.
He said the drugs, with an estimated street value of Rp 11 billion, were seized throughout the course of the year by police and by customs officers from five suspects, two of whom remain at large.
Iskandar said the marijuana represented just a fraction of the more than 15,500 kilograms seized from around 700 suspects since the start of the year.
He blamed the high volume of the drug on the involvement of police, citing the arrest last week of an officer in Medan, North Sumatra, for alleged drug trafficking.
“The marijuana bosses are exploiting our officers to ensure the smooth flow of their operations,” he said.
However, he did not say whether his office planned to charge any officers for complicity in trafficking or whether any preventive programs would be put in place.
The police chief was speaking next to the bales of marijuana, which in keeping with standard police procedure for the destruction of narcotics had been set on fire.
Last December, Iskandar revealed that up to 1,000 of the Aceh Police’s 13,000 officers had tested positive for drug use, but no charges were ever pressed against them.
Instead, they were sent on a monthlong reform program.
The National Narcotics Agency (BNN) lists Aceh as the province with the highest rates of marijuana trafficking and use, and fourth nationwide for all drug trafficking based on estimated street value.
Basri Ali, head of the BNNP, the provincial office of the BNN, said the situation was “growing dangerous.”
“What makes it worrying is that marijuana is no longer just being sold in big cities here, but is also available in kampungs,” he said, adding that dealers were increasingly targeting non-traditional users such as schoolchildren and office workers.
“If this isn’t addressed urgently, the younger generation will be ruined.”
Suara Pembaruan
Indonesian utility seeks $200m to construct gas-fired plant in Aceh - Energy Business Review
Indonesian utility Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) announced it was seeking funding to build a $200m gas-fired power plant in Arun of Aceh region in the country.
PLN planning and risk management director Murtaqi Syamsuddin was quoted by the JakartaGlobe as saying that the opportunity has been made available to interested bidders.
"The winner will be announced by early next year, so that the construction can start," Syamsuddin said.
PNL will supervise the construction of the 200MW power plant, while the winner will provide the funding for the engineering, procurement and construction.
Syamsuddin said this project comes amid plans to convert Arun liquefied natural gas plant into a receiving terminal and regasification facility.
In May, the company has signed a memorandum of understanding with oil major BP under which daily 230m standard cubic feet of natural gas will be allocated to PLN.
After completion of the project in 2014, the utility intends to close down the operation of a 150MW diesel-fuel power plant in Aceh.
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Aceh’s Delay in Establishing Truth Body a Setback: Amnesty | The Jakarta Globe
The Aceh provincial legislature’s decision to further delay the setting up of a truth and reconciliation commission is a major setback to end impunity in the region, a leading human rights group says.
Amnesty International has been urging the Aceh parliament and central government to deliver on their promises made in 2005 and commit to ensuring truth, justice and full reparation for victims and their families during the era in which the province was militarized.
“There has been little progress in ensuring accountability for crimes committed during the armed conflict in Aceh, including murders, rape and other crimes of sexual violence, disappearances, torture and other ill-treatment,” Josef Roy Benedict, Amnesty International’s campaigner for Indonesia, said in a statement on Saturday.
The organization said that the 2005 Helsinki Peace Agreement and the 2006 Law on Governing Aceh contained provisions for the establishment of a Human Rights Court and an Acehnese branch of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
“However both have yet to be established,” Benedict said.
Last week, Abdullah Saleh, a member of Commission A of the Aceh provincial council, said that the council would have to wait for the passing of the national truth and reconciliation commission law.
“We have to delay setting up the commission while we wait for Jakarta to pass the law first,” he said.
Amnesty said that the establishment of truth commissions did not relieve states of their obligation to bring those suspected of criminal behavior under international law to trial.
He added that an important step is to understand the circumstances that led to past violations, claiming that learning from the past will ensure that such crimes will not reoccur.
“All victims of gross human rights violations, crimes against humanity and other crimes under international law have a right to know the truth,” the statement read.
More than 15,000 people were killed and thousands more disappeared during Aceh’s pro-independence movement from the 1970s to early 2000s.
The Indonesian Military (TNI) launched a crackdown on separatists until the state of emergency in the province was lifted briefly between early 2000 and 2003.
In 2003, the TNI again declared Aceh a military emergency zone and moved to quash the pro-independence Free Aceh Movement (GAM). Though fighting flared up again after that, a devastating tsunami in 2004 refocused the country’s efforts toward rehabilitation and eventually led to a peace agreement.
Amnesty said it met with victims’ groups from Aceh who told the organization they continue to demand to know the truth about the harm they suffered. They want to know the causes, facts and circumstances in which such violations took place.
The organization also met family members, particularly of those who were killed or disappeared, who wanted to establish the fate and whereabouts of their loved ones.
“They expressed disappointment that they continue to be ignored by the authorities,” Benedict said.
Amnesty International has been urging the Aceh parliament and central government to deliver on their promises made in 2005 and commit to ensuring truth, justice and full reparation for victims and their families during the era in which the province was militarized.
“There has been little progress in ensuring accountability for crimes committed during the armed conflict in Aceh, including murders, rape and other crimes of sexual violence, disappearances, torture and other ill-treatment,” Josef Roy Benedict, Amnesty International’s campaigner for Indonesia, said in a statement on Saturday.
The organization said that the 2005 Helsinki Peace Agreement and the 2006 Law on Governing Aceh contained provisions for the establishment of a Human Rights Court and an Acehnese branch of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
“However both have yet to be established,” Benedict said.
Last week, Abdullah Saleh, a member of Commission A of the Aceh provincial council, said that the council would have to wait for the passing of the national truth and reconciliation commission law.
“We have to delay setting up the commission while we wait for Jakarta to pass the law first,” he said.
Amnesty said that the establishment of truth commissions did not relieve states of their obligation to bring those suspected of criminal behavior under international law to trial.
He added that an important step is to understand the circumstances that led to past violations, claiming that learning from the past will ensure that such crimes will not reoccur.
“All victims of gross human rights violations, crimes against humanity and other crimes under international law have a right to know the truth,” the statement read.
More than 15,000 people were killed and thousands more disappeared during Aceh’s pro-independence movement from the 1970s to early 2000s.
The Indonesian Military (TNI) launched a crackdown on separatists until the state of emergency in the province was lifted briefly between early 2000 and 2003.
In 2003, the TNI again declared Aceh a military emergency zone and moved to quash the pro-independence Free Aceh Movement (GAM). Though fighting flared up again after that, a devastating tsunami in 2004 refocused the country’s efforts toward rehabilitation and eventually led to a peace agreement.
Amnesty said it met with victims’ groups from Aceh who told the organization they continue to demand to know the truth about the harm they suffered. They want to know the causes, facts and circumstances in which such violations took place.
The organization also met family members, particularly of those who were killed or disappeared, who wanted to establish the fate and whereabouts of their loved ones.
“They expressed disappointment that they continue to be ignored by the authorities,” Benedict said.
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Former RI VP joins Myanmar peace process | The Jakarta Post
Chairman of the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI), former vice president Jusuf Kalla traveled to Naypyitaw, the capital of Myanmar, on Monday, to join talks on finding peaceful solutions to long-standing civil conflict in the country.
Kalla said that in the forum he shared some of the best practices from Indonesian experience in striking a peace deal in Aceh.
“We told the Myanmarese government that the most important issue in negotiations with insurgent groups is that the groups need to leave the past behind and start talking about future plans. A peace negotiation is about building a future and not history,” Kalla said after the meeting.
Kalla said that in order for the peace talks to be successful, the Myanmarese government needed to address the problem of injustice among minority groups in the country.
He also said that conflict settlement and peacemaking needed political stability, economic stability and socioeconomic
development.
Kalla represents an Indonesian delegation invited to join the meeting by the Geneva-based Center for Humanitarian Dialogue. A team sent by the Philippine government to talk about its experience in dealing with the insurgent groups in its restive southern province of Mindanao also attended.
Joining Kalla in the meeting were former law and human rights minister Hamid Awaluddin, who led the government’s negotiating team in the Helsinki peace talks with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and former Indonesian Military (TNI) commander Gen. (ret.) Endriartono Sutarto.
Representing the Myanmarese government is U Aung Min, the chief negotiator in the peace talks with the insurgent groups in the country.
As part of the government-initiated reforms in Myanmar, the military junta has taken a bold peace initiative to talk with insurgent groups in the country that it had engaged in a devastating 60-year long civil war.
President Thein Sein has made resolving ethnic conflict a key component of the reform agenda.
Myanmar has 11 major armed ethnic groups spread across seven states, and many more smaller groups and militias. Over the past year, cease-fires have been agreed upon or renewed with 10 out of the 11 groups. An agreement has not yet been reached with the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO).
Soe Thein said that Myanmar could learn from the experiences of other countries.
He also said that the Myanmarese government was in critical need of international support and assistance for the peace process.
Serving as vice president, Kalla has been credited as the prime mover behind the Helsinki peace agreement in August 2005, a deal that brought an end to more than 30 years of violence in Aceh, which had killed more than 15,000 people. Due to his position, and the sensitivities of the negotiations, Kalla often had to play a very subtle, behind-the-scenes role.
Prior to his work in the Helsinki talks, Kalla served as coordinating people’s welfare minister under president Megawati
Soekarnoputri, where he took a lead role in mediating talks between conflicting parties during the Malino I and Malino II peace agreements that formally ended the conflicts in Poso and Maluku in 2001 and 2002, respectively.
Kalla said that in the forum he shared some of the best practices from Indonesian experience in striking a peace deal in Aceh.
“We told the Myanmarese government that the most important issue in negotiations with insurgent groups is that the groups need to leave the past behind and start talking about future plans. A peace negotiation is about building a future and not history,” Kalla said after the meeting.
Kalla said that in order for the peace talks to be successful, the Myanmarese government needed to address the problem of injustice among minority groups in the country.
He also said that conflict settlement and peacemaking needed political stability, economic stability and socioeconomic
development.
Kalla represents an Indonesian delegation invited to join the meeting by the Geneva-based Center for Humanitarian Dialogue. A team sent by the Philippine government to talk about its experience in dealing with the insurgent groups in its restive southern province of Mindanao also attended.
Joining Kalla in the meeting were former law and human rights minister Hamid Awaluddin, who led the government’s negotiating team in the Helsinki peace talks with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and former Indonesian Military (TNI) commander Gen. (ret.) Endriartono Sutarto.
Representing the Myanmarese government is U Aung Min, the chief negotiator in the peace talks with the insurgent groups in the country.
As part of the government-initiated reforms in Myanmar, the military junta has taken a bold peace initiative to talk with insurgent groups in the country that it had engaged in a devastating 60-year long civil war.
President Thein Sein has made resolving ethnic conflict a key component of the reform agenda.
Myanmar has 11 major armed ethnic groups spread across seven states, and many more smaller groups and militias. Over the past year, cease-fires have been agreed upon or renewed with 10 out of the 11 groups. An agreement has not yet been reached with the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO).
Soe Thein said that Myanmar could learn from the experiences of other countries.
He also said that the Myanmarese government was in critical need of international support and assistance for the peace process.
Serving as vice president, Kalla has been credited as the prime mover behind the Helsinki peace agreement in August 2005, a deal that brought an end to more than 30 years of violence in Aceh, which had killed more than 15,000 people. Due to his position, and the sensitivities of the negotiations, Kalla often had to play a very subtle, behind-the-scenes role.
Prior to his work in the Helsinki talks, Kalla served as coordinating people’s welfare minister under president Megawati
Soekarnoputri, where he took a lead role in mediating talks between conflicting parties during the Malino I and Malino II peace agreements that formally ended the conflicts in Poso and Maluku in 2001 and 2002, respectively.
Security in Aceh still fragile, experts say - khabarsoutheastasia.com
Aceh's new governor is urged to co-operate fully with national, local security forces, and to calm lingering political tensions.
By Wella Sherlita for Khabar Southeast Asia in Jakarta
September 06, 2012
The new leadership in Aceh must remain vigilant about security in the province, where a militant training camp was uncovered in 2010, officials and experts agree.
![Zaini Abdullah, former foreign minister of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), casts his ballot in the Pidie district of Aceh Province on April 9th. Zaini won the election and has served as Aceh's new governor since June 25th. [Stringer/Reuters]](http://khabarsoutheastasia.com/shared/images/2012/09/06/120906_WELLA_ID_ACEHTERRORI.jpg)
![Indonesian police officers gather after a raid on an Islamic militant training camp in Aceh Besar on March 6th, 2010. Officials and experts say Aceh's new leadership must remain vigilant about the threat of terrorism in the province. [Stringer/Reuters]](http://khabarsoutheastasia.com/shared/images/2012/09/06/120906_WELLA2_ID_ACEHTERROR.jpg)
The province is still considered a potential haven and training place for armed terrorists, and Aceh's new governor and deputy governor have been asked to boost co-operation with police and public order forces, according to the head of the State Intelligence Agency (Badan Intelijen Negara/BIN), Lieutenant General Marciano Norman.
"We don't see signs of anything that is going to threaten the new leadership in Aceh. There was a terrorist group that set up a military training camp there, but we have confirmed that the group was not part of the Free Aceh Movement (Gerakan Aceh Merdeka, or GAM)," Marciano told Khabar Southeast Asia recently in Jakarta.
"But the new government in Aceh must carry out surveillance that is better, more careful than before," he added.
Marciano said he met with new Governor Zaini Abdullah – who served as GAM's foreign minister -- and Deputy Governor Muzakir Manaf , ex-commander-in-chief of GAM's armed forces, shortly after their June 25th inauguration.
He told them that henceforth all security activities must be conducted within the structure of the provincial government. If they have activities or need a security escort, they must use established police or public order personnel.
"There will be no more party task forces with the connotation of ex-combatants. I hope the process in Aceh improves, that the elected governor and deputy governor are now leaders of all the people of Aceh. No more 'my group', 'your group', or 'their group'," Marciano said.
He admitted there was euphoria among their followers after Zaini and Muzakir assumed power, unseatinganother former GAM leader, Irwandi Yusuf, after a campaign season marred by violence and allegations of voter intimidation.
"But I asked for this to be defused immediately. The tension has to be quickly calmed and they must merge with other social groups immediately," he said.
Undetected militant camps
Conditions in Aceh are still conducive for terrorism, because the region has not achieved stability and some areas are not yet monitored by the government, according to Al Chaidar, a professor and terrorism expert at Malikussaleh University in Lhokseumawe, North Aceh.
In 2010, the Indonesian military (Tentara National Indonesia/TNI) and national police discovered a militant training camp in Jantho, Aceh, dealing a major blow to terror networks in the region. But the work is far from over, according to Al.
"Outside Jantho, they are still in North Aceh and Central Aceh. Between Nagan Raya (West Aceh) and North Aceh, there are still two more militant camps that have gone undetected by the National Police Agency and even TNI," he told Khabar in a phone interview.
He said Zaini and Muzakir have already put forward good effort in co-operating with the National Counter-Terrorism Agency (BNPT) as it combs suspected terrorist havens.
Of the 71 people arrested at the terror camp in Aceh, 13 were Acehnese, and four had links to the province's former fight against the central government that ended in 2005, he said.
"Strong collaboration with TNI and the national police is needed to address this serious potential threat. It isn't only threatening the Republic of Indonesia, but also the existence of the Free Aceh Movement," said Al, a longtime specialist on Aceh.
Any potenial link between GAM and terrorists threatens the validity of former GAM members now serving in government, analysts say. The Indonesian government and GAM now have a shared interest in keeping Aceh safe from terrorism.
Impunity for election violence?
Local journalists say the real security problem in Aceh is the pre-election violence that terrorised civil society, just as in the old days when civilians were caught between warring parties of the separatist rebellion.
"Security disturbances began in the lead-up to the election and afterwards, and there is no decision yet on sentences for the suspects, former combatants who carried out shootings, bombings, and terror," said Maimun Saleh, chairman of the Aceh branch of the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI).
Maimun noted that Jakarta, the local government, the military and society as a whole should increase their awareness to maintain security around the region.
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