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Antony Loewenstein: Life in Aceh, Indonesia
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Tapol
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Oct 22, 2009 00:51 PDT
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From Joyo
JoyoNews note: See also his other piece sent yesterday in New
Mathilda: Introducing... Miss Aceh
The Huffington Post (USA)
October 21, 2009
Life in Aceh, Indonesia
By Antony Loewenstein Bestselling Author, Journalist
In a collection of just released work by Acehnese writer Azhari,
Nutmeg Woman, we are brought into a world before the devastating
2004 tsunami that killed over 220,000 Indonesians. Civil war
wracked the province. Indonesian occupation was brutal and
fought against the Free Aceh Movement (GAM). Like the Papuans
and East Timorese, the Acehnese wanted to be an independent
nation.
Azhari -- who wore a t-shirt with the word "iBoobs' under the
Apple logo when I saw him -- often writes in riddles, demanding
the reader understand the struggles of a people that no colonial
power has ever controlled. Outsiders and eccentrics are treated
with suspicion. Strong women counter the absence of men, many of
whom have disappeared after generations of fighting. Jakarta
still refuses to fully investigate this legacy.
During my recent visit to the area -- as a guest of the Ubud
Writers and Readers Festival -- I found unconventional
attributes of an Islamic state and fierce resistance to orthodox
interpretations of the Koran. Aceh is not Saudi Arabia, Iran or
Gaza, all places I have witnessed creeping Islamization and
brave men and women challenging its implementation.
Aceh remains a traumatized province despite a 2005 peace deal
that ended the decades-old, violent conflict. Sharia law is now
implemented with homosexuality and adultery punishable by
stoning. Poverty is rife -- the smell of rubbish is everywhere
and dirty water runs across some streets -- while women mostly
wear headscarves and sit separately from men at public events.
There are no cinemas. Entertainment options are limited.
Religion often fills the breach, but I met many young people who
thrived on satellite television and the Internet. Facebook was a
common thread, an obsession and window to the world. Everybody
under the age of 30 asked if I had a Facebook account and if I'd
accept their friend request.
Nindy Silvie, Raisa Kamila and Mifta Sugesty, three schoolgirls
who were my translators, regularly watch The Simpsons, Family
Guy, BBC and CNN. Nindy spoke with an American accent, had a
South Park tune as her ring-tone, didn't wear a veil and read
Noam Chomsky, Edward Said and Christopher Hitchens. I couldn't
believe my ears. Here I was in Aceh, talking about the
"fundamentalist atheism" of Hitchens and his hatred of religion.
She thought he went too far, though she was hardly a devout
Muslim.
Although Aceh is no longer under occupation, tourism is
virtually non-existent. International NGOs invaded after the
2004 tsunami and huge re-development dots the landscape. A new
airport, large German-backed hospital and tsunami museum are
tangible signs of modernity.
It was surreal seeing Jewish gravestones, in Hebrew, in the
Dutch-era cemetery in the shadow of the tsunami museum. Writer
Fozan Santa, with black, greasy shoulder-length hair, told me
that there was no hatred towards these monuments and generations
of Acehnese had protected them. "People here don't hate Jews",
he said, "they hate the Israeli occupation of Palestine."
I met many young men under 20 who said they had wanted to fight
against Israel during its bombardment of Gaza in December and
January. "For our fellow Muslims", one said. Many had never met
a Jew before and were amazed that I expressed deep disquiet
towards Israeli behaviour in Palestine.
Fozan showed me the bookshop he ran near the heart of Banda
Aceh, the capital. Most books were in the local language,
including titles about Marx, Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad, Che Guevara, Fidel Castro, Hitler's Mein Kampf and
the power of the Israel lobby in America.
Politics flowed through the veins of many activists, a leftist
perspective on the world. During a public forum, I was asked
what I thought about the "real terrorism...the issue of
globalization and free trade. How do we overcome that?" I
replied, slightly unsure what angle to take, that the post-1945
world order was in desperate need of reform and the Muslim
world's time would surely come. Indonesia, the world's biggest
Muslim country, is talking about assuming a more powerful
position on the global stage, not least towards the
Israel/Palestine conflict.
The election of US President Barack Obama was welcomed warmly
across the province. People like his rhetoric and his apparent
change in attitude towards the Muslim world, but their patience
is limited. Wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and Palestine
continue with no signs of closure. The relationship to American
power is contradictory. Washington's influence on their lives is
minimal but its ability to bring peace doubtful. The idea of a
benevolent America was appealing but images on satellite
television from the Arab world dispelled those myths very
quickly.
Acehnese identity is intimately related to Indonesia's wish for
integration and historical desires for independence. Many craved
true freedom but realized it was impossible at the present time.
The cataclysmic tsunami wiped out entire families and
communities but brought a desperately needed resolution to civil
strife.
History can have a cruel sense of humor.
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