25 March 2005

My old house on the beach was occupied by Indonesians and the women survived but lost two children. My friend from England and his Acehnese wife had their own house and this was completely destroyed together with all their possessions. I did not lose mine as I had moved to Medan long before the waves came. There were also a few other ex-pats up there (not at the time of the tsunamis) and Cement Andalas lost about 200 employees out of a total of 625.

We were all thrown out of the province when the civil war began - and Aceh became a no-go area. When I lived up there in the early/mid nineties there were the occasional killings and tensions were mounting around the many villages. Indonesian soldiers are often cruel and many are into illegal businesses like drugs, illegal logging and questionable security jobs. My writing consists of two books which have not yet been published. One is on Indonesia and events that have occurred over the past 6 years and the other one is on Indonesian elections from 1992 until today and ongoing. I don't want people to think I am any different from others. I just happened to be in that place at that time. Nothing exceptional and just spent a lot of time with local people in a very simple fishing/beach life.

I took an interest in politics after retiring in 1999 and, of course, Indonesia offers anyone a real opportunity to see the largest Muslim population and try to come to terms with democracy and freedom. All the views that I have written are, of course, my own thoughts and one has to be careful here in what you say and especially what you write.

I will be returning to Aceh on Monday as we have collected Rp 100 million (just over US$ 10,000) from a tsunami hash run. The idea of this trip is to decide what to buy like sewing machines, fishing nets, things for the wooden barracks like cupboards and curtains for privacy. Perhaps you could circulate this summary to your friends as there are many people like me trying to do some good on a small scale - don't want people to think my actions are exceptional.

The tent life was not so bad - a bit hot but plenty of food. Toilet facilities were not good and privacy difficult. I'm taking an American doctor (never met him before) to Aceh on Monday (he flies in from Australia on Sunday) and he will stay a week and do some work round the camp sites. This is just another example of people giving their time to this cause in Aceh. Again thanks for the write up but I'm just an ordinary guy who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, but I guess that is life. Will stay in Aceh for a week or two and I understand that email up there is difficult to find at the moment. Someone stole the wheels off the car in Banda Aceh and so an alternative needs to be found. But many things are getting back to semi-normal, like traditional markets and shops and fishing etc. Like all things in life, time will heal the scars. I hope you both are well and enjoying life as best you can - take good care and thanks again.

26 March 2005

Aceh Province, Indonesia. It is extremely hard to describe the human suffering from an area devastated by a tsunami, but it most certainly helps to visit the region so to gain a better idea. Aceh's coastline was almost totally destroyed, and I would doubt if many people saw the wave coming until it was too late. Most of the coastal area has little or no high ground, for that is the only place to run to, if you have time. Talking of time, there is a danger that this disaster will disappear off the radar screen worldwide – a normal and I think understandable occurrence as weeks go by – for we all have our own lives and problems.

For the people affected, this tragedy will linger on for months and even for years as they try to rebuild lives that have been totally destroyed. However, life goes on and now traditional markets are back up and running and shops are in the main open for business. Fishing is returning and land ownership problems are being sorted out, so progress is being made in areas which three months ago you would have thought were beyond human endeavour. It is quite amazing what people have done since December 26th 2004, and those that took on the body-hunting/burial exercise deserve special mention, for this was an awful job and one that is unfortunately ongoing. In Aceh Province, there are still over 100,000 people unaccounted for (now presumed dead), some washed out to sea and others still buried beneath the rubble.

When you actually view the devastation it is easy to understand why bodies remain buried, as the clean-up exercise was, and still is, a mammoth task that will take months/years to complete. There are something like 1800 foreign aid workers of all kinds in Aceh Province; many of those have been there since early January 2005. My interest, apart from a humanitarian one, is that I worked and lived in Aceh Province for some years and in doing so became attached to the region and to the people. This is not a very easy place to live, as conflicts have been going on since 1976 between the Aceh Free Movement (GAM) and the various Indonesian governments – even to a state of war and, of late, martial law.

The province is riddled with historic hatreds of Jakarta rule, which over the years has dominated Aceh by using the Indonesian Military (TNI) to control the region. Rather than go into the history, it would be fair to say that the Acehnese people have been subjected to all forms of human rights abuses and violations for decades and have never (and will probably never) receive any justice for the atrocities carried out by the military over the years. Now at least there is some hope for a peaceful future, as talks are in motion in Helsinki that are aimed at finding a sustainable solution to the many long-standing disagreements.

As a private individual (rather forcefully retired and now living in Medan) I would like the opportunity to repay in some way the kindness and friendship afforded to me by the Acehnese people since my visit there in 1992. It has been 6 years since I worked and during that time I have launched myself into trying to write two books. One on Indonesian events of all kinds since 1999, and another one on Democracy and Indonesian elections since 1992. Both are ongoing, as now the tsunamis have again turned Aceh upside down at a time when they were already in great difficulty. We recently ran a hash (jungle run on paper) in Medan and raised Rp 100 million (about US$ 10,000) and this we propose to spend on individual needs as identified on my trips to the region. This I hope will be ongoing, as we would like to do the giving on a loan basis, such that the repayments will come back into the fund and so on. That may not always be possible as many people have lost everything, and in those cases we will simply give them some money to start again.

If people do decide to donate towards this cause then I can personally assure them that every penny will be doing something good for people, who through no fault of their own have had their lives almost totally destroyed. I get back to the opening statement and in trying to get one's mind around this disaster – it is not so easy if you haven't witnessed it. I have decided to spend at least one or two years trying to help these people, and to travel up there on a regular basis to check progress and to identify new needs as time goes on. It is clear to most people that aid agencies and governments are either unable (or unwilling) to coordinate with each other, such that efforts are often disjointed or slow in coming. There is also the danger of duplication or gaps, and there is also a shortfall of something like USD 4 billion in pledges. In saying that, the job of rehabilitation and rebuilding is awesome, especially when you understand the history of Aceh and the problems that include so many different agendas (some hidden and purposely destructive).

Aceh is a minefield, a labyrinth of historic events that makes the tsunami rebuilding even more difficult. That is why I have decided to 'go it alone' although there are a great number of people worldwide who are helping in a similar fashion. I hope this will give the reader a better idea of where I am coming from, and any support, no matter what it is, would be more than appreciated.
A box of kiddies' toys arrived today from Australia - this took about two months to get here but better than not arriving. I also met with the Australian Rotary Club earlier this week and was surprised when they came to my house today. They are also looking to support a project or two and hopefully my one, which is very small in comparison to what they were talking about - just might get on their agenda next month in Sydney. Barry, you may remember we also talked about Mother Theresa in the back streets of India and 'self interest'. Well I guess this project is somewhat similar, although I hope modest. I will enjoy to do it for a year or two. I've almost given up on the golf and women - one too expensive and the other too time-consuming - you can work out which applies to which.