Towards New Aceh, Building an Open Society in Nangroe Aceh Darussalam

A NEW ACEH Building an Open Society in Nangroe Aceh Darussalam

EDITORS ANDI ACHDIAN SRI ARYANI HERMAINI PERMATA SURI HERYADI BASILISA DENGEN

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Introduction from TIFA Foundation

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2009 GENERAL ELECTION HAVE BEEN CONDUCTED PEACEFULLY IN Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam. The Democratic Party who nominated elected President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono won the elections in the post-conflict region. Meanwhile, the Aceh Party –a local party which is currently only allowed in the Special Territory of Aceh—controls the majority of seats in the Aceh Legislative Council. The Aceh Party, which was formed by former combatants –with its red party flag similar to the symbol and flag of the Aceh Freedom Movement—have obtained full authority to implement the Helsinki Peace Accord signed on August 15, 2005. Armed conflicts have turned to political battles, and set off by the devastating tsunami, is a series of lessons learned essential to humanity and for the honorable efforts for peace.

This little publication narrates the various approaches, programs and acts performed by civil society, through collaboration with the Tifa Foundation, to promote peace in the Aceh, a region stricken with conflict for the past 30 years. It is a peace effort throughout military emergency situations, post-tsunami years, and after the Helsinki peace agreeHE

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ment, through constant promotions of the values and principles of human rights, democracy, and good governance. This is a record of the efforts of the Tifa Foundation and its partners for Aceh.

The Tifa Foundation would like to express our gratitude to the Royal Danish Embassy and the Embassy of Finland, for their trust in supporting the civil society cooperation in Aceh after the Helsinki agreement. We also would like to thank the many contributors in Aceh, especially Tifa's partners for working together to push for critical initiatives toward a peaceful, democratic, prosperous, and cosmopolitan Aceh. A promising New Aceh n December 2009

TRI NUGROHO E X E C U T I V E D I R E C TO R

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Table of Content

Introduction from TIFA Foundation iii Prologue 1 War, Human Rights Violation and Aceh’s Civil Society 7 Civil Society Movement and Lasting Peace in Aceh 13 Building Transitional Justice in Aceh 21 Good Governance dan Post-Conflict Aceh’s Reconstruction 31 Women, War and Lasting Peace in Aceh 37 Trauma Healing 43 Epilogue: Future Aceh Scenario 49 Partners Gallery 56

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Prologue

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NEW PAGE WAS WRITTEN IN INDONESIAN POLITICAL HISTORY IN

2009.

It was the participation of local political parties in the legislative election in Aceh. National political parties like Golkar Party, National Mandate Party and Reform Star Party –which dominated the political life of Aceh's legislative body—had to face a challenge from activists of Aceh’s People Party (PRA), SIRA Party and Aceh Party during the election of local councilors. The political momentum, which took place in April 2009, undeniably became an important indicator of political progress in the westernmost province of Indonesia after several decades of armed conflicts between the government of Republic of Indonesia (RI) and Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

The New Aceh slogan –which has been around since the Helsinki agreement on August 2005—has finally obtained a real form. Armed conflicts evolved into political battles. The Aceh Freedom Movement has transformed itself into a political party. Violence and wars deep in villages and forests became arguments in the parliament. In the four years of implementing and maintaining peace, the Indonesian govern-

2 | A New Aceh Prologue

ment and the Acehnese people have proved themselves successful in creating a new history in regulating the region's future social, economic, cultural and political lives. How can we understand this achievement today?

This book records the moments and tries to provide answers by looking at the past decade of Aceh’s history to find the trails leading to the region’s current political situation. This exploration effort leads to further questions: What new issues arose from the long-lasting conflict in Aceh? How did this “new” element surface and how is it shaping Aceh's contemporary social, political, economic and cultural lives? Who

Prologue A New Aceh

are involved in this process? What are the thoughts going through their minds? And what are they contributing to the lives of the Acehnese, both in and outside of Indonesia?

To answer these questions, this book focuses on the shaping of a significant power which continues to form this “evolution” to this very day: the Acehnese youth –students and intellectuals as well as Islamic pupils (santri dayah)—who have contributed their part since the Indonesian political reformation on May 1998. Sociologically, their beginnings can be traced to campuses and Islamic boarding schools, or pesantren, in Aceh of the late 1990s. At the time when the political sit-

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4 | A New Aceh Prologue

uation forced people side either with the central government in Jakarta –represented by the technocrats formed since the late 1970s—or the battle fought by the Aceh Freedom Movement (Gerakan Aceh Merdeka or GAM), the Acehnese youth successfully ended the deadlock.

Rather than being trapped between supporting the sovereignty of the Republic of Indonesia and the freedom voiced by GAM, this educated generation brought new ideas to the public, such as the respect for human rights, democracy in the political system, clean governance and community empowerment (especially for women). Here, a new vision was formed and is continuing to take shape. If in the past, military operations by the Indonesian National Army were legitimized by the doctrine of maintaining the nation’s sovereignty –which provided the excuse for civilian victims and violence toward women—then the new idea of human rights is the stumbling block for the arbitrary military operations. It is the result of the actions and ideas of such intellectual groups, and not GAM, that the Acehnese civilian victims can report

Prologue A New Aceh

their issues and gain their voices.

The name for this generation, and by which they identify themselves, is the Acehnese civil society group. The term’s usage among academics is rather problematic. However, this is not how we can understand the term’s meaning. The term was developed in the situation that the group experienced. It was not a concept that popped up later on –and far from the situation—for the academic world to argue the term’s validity. Instead, it is through this name in which the group builds their relationship with movements, which supported their hopes and goals, occurring in and outside of Indonesia.

Although the book was first written as the lessons learned by the Tifa Foundation, since its involvement to attain peace in Aceh from 2002 to 2008, this book became a story the acts and ideas of a civil society group in Aceh and their contributions to the “renewal” of today's Acehnese community. The book does not portray donors “interventions” to the conflict in Aceh and their “achievements” as the standard indicators for success, but instead it is a chronicle of what stirred in Aceh and the situations that gave rise to it all. It is in this spirit that this little book is hoped to give an insight of the current conditions in Aceh and the hopes –which are never absolute in nature—of a new Aceh n

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War, Human Rights Violation and Aceh’s Civil Society

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ACEH EMERGE INTO A NEW FORCE THAT could shift the political configuration –from separatism issue and maintaining nation’s sovereignty—to one that was related to human rights violation in Aceh? In what kind of momentum did their effort succeed? Most literatures about Aceh spoke about tsunami in December 2004 as a turning point for progress in Aceh. In several aspects, the perspective was not entirely wrong. The condition after tsunami drew great international attention to Aceh, thus giving way to the willingness to negotiate between Indonesian government and GAM representatives to create peace in Aceh through the Helsinki agreement on August 15, 2005. Moreover, the flow of resources in relief funds and various infrastructure projects proved to be the foundation for the extraordinary emergence of Aceh’s civil society, which was represented by the mushrooming of non-government organizations (NGOs).

However, considering the form of aspiration and the characters of those who are actively involved in Aceh’s contemporary political dynamics, it seems that we need to look a decade back to have a clear OW DID CIVIL SOCIETY IN

8 | A New Aceh War, Human Rights and Civil Society

understanding about the civil society. A decade ago on November 8, 1999, thousands of Acehnese took to the street during the General Assem-bly of Referendum Supporters or Referendum Parade. Aceh’s historian Sulaiman Isa called the event “civil disobedience.” Historian Sulaiman Isa narrated the event as followed: The peak of the mass mobilization for the Referendum Parade took place at the front yard of Baiturrahman Great Mosque... The parade, where about 200,000 people joined, was spearheaded by SIRA’s Presidium with Fashal Ridha as the leader. The ceremony, which lasted from 9 a.m. to 12:45 p.m., presented speeches in Acehnese by , SIRA's coordinator M., Tgk. H. Bulqani from Rabithah Taliban Aceh, Tgk. H. Nururuzzahiri Yahya from HUDA, Cut Nur Asikin from SPURA (Women Solidarity for Aceh's Referendum), Farji M. Kasem, a student, and Drs. M. Nasir Jamil, the speaker of Aceh provincial council... The ceremony was capped with the unveiling of the referendum metal billboard's cover and the hoisting of a white flag with the word “Referendum” written on it.1

Sulaiman’s narration depicts how the new elements of Aceh’s civil society gained momentum as the Referendum Parade unfolded. From then on, Aceh saw the beginning of organizations like SIRA, HUDA, Rabithah Taliban Aceh, SPURA as well as student activists, which currently hold the key role in local political dynamics while shaping the new element within Aceh’s society.

The situation also gives way to the spread of human rights issue as an increasingly popular political language at both national and local levels, replacing secession, separatism and sovereignty jargons, which were the inseparable terms in the previous political era.

The emergence of human rights issue in Aceh’s political realm is not

1.

Dr. M. Isa Sulaiman. Aceh Merdeka. Ideologi, Kepemimpinan dan Gerakan. Pustaka Al Kautsar, Jakarta. 2000. pp. 141-14.

War, Human Rights and Civil Society A New Aceh

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without a strong ground. Since Nangroe Aceh Darussalam province was declared as Military Operations Area (DOM) in 1989, the region became an arena of various acts that fell into the category of gross violation of human rights in Indonesia. A conservative estimation, issued officially by Aceh’s administration, said there were approximately 870 people killed during Indonesian Military’s operations, in which 378 were declared missing (and later dead), while another 500 were still declared missing.

Another estimation from an independent research said that during the conflict period from 1976 to 2002, which saw 11 military operations by the Indonesian Military (TNI), the death toll reached 12,000 people; 1,000 died during the DOM period (1989-1992) and 4,500 during military emergency period from 1999 to 2002. The rest, about 6,500 people, were killed during seven years of conflict from 1992 to 1999.2 The figures have yet to include those who got tortured, raped and arbitrarily detained in military camps during the DOM period. Women and children dominated the vic-tims of the conflict.

In July 1998, Aceh’s NGOs gave a report to the House of Representatives’ fact-finding team about 600 Acehnese women who were raped by members of TNI in the seven years of DOM. The investigation of National Commission for Human Rights (Komnas HAM) also unveiled that between 1989 and 1998 there were 3,000 Acehnese women who became widows. This confirmed the statistics that showed 12.3 percents of breadwinners of Acehnese families were women, well above the national average of 8.3 percent.

The prolonged war had also put Aceh behind other provinces in social and economic development. Compared to other provinces, Aceh is not a poor region thanks to its rich natural resources like oil, natural gas, woods and agriculture and plantation fields. One fifth of the country’s oil and gas export came from Aceh, which reached a value of 2.

Tamara Rhenee Shie. “Disarming for Peace and Development for Aceh”, Unpublished Paper, December 2004. p. 17 & Laporan Monitoring Aceh Judicial Monitoring Institute (AJMI).

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US$1.3 billion.3 However, 1999-2000 statistics showed that about 10 percent of urban and 16.3 percent of rural inhabitants of Aceh lived under the national poverty line.4 Within such context, Acehnese civil society came forward, opening and filling a new political sphere in the region. Through various investigations comprising victims’ reports and the cases’ advocacy process, Aceh’s civil society had become a tenacious voice, internationally and nationally, of what really happened in the series of military operations in Aceh. The “civil disobedience” has become a foundation for the strengthening of civil society groups in Aceh's social and political realms since 1999.

On the heels of the issuance of Aceh-related national policies after the civil disobedience, Aceh saw a period where civil society groups grew rapidly. This happened especially since the implementation of the Humanitarian Pause during President Abdurrahman Wahid’s administration, in October 1999 and the signing of the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement (COHA)between Indonesian Military and GAM in Geneva on Dec. 9, 2002. This particular period did not last long, however.

President Megawati Soekarnoputri’s administration issued a policy which allowed the return of the Military Emergency in Aceh on May 9, 2003. The status changed into Civil Emergency in 2004. Through these emergency periods, human rights groups in Aceh reported a finding of 290 human rights violations comprising 26 deaths, five people injured due to shootings, 90 arbitrary arrests and abductions, 96 torture cases, six sexual harassment cases and 12 cases of appropriation of civilians' properties.

Despite the situation and high pressure during both emergency periods, Aceh’s civil society groups managed to strengthen their position. It was shown through several events like a formation of a commit3.

4.

World Bank, “Promoting Peaceful Development in Aceh: An Informal Background Paper Prepared for the Preparatory Conference on Peace and Reconstruction in Aceh,” 3 December 2002.

Lenard Milich, “Civil Society Breakdown: Food Security in the ‘New’ Indonesia,” Development 44, 4 (2001), p. 96.

Perang, HAM, dan Masyarakat Sipil Menuju Aceh Baru

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Military Emergency and Vanishing Justice The military emergency implementation has paved the way to the dysfunctional legal system and vanishing justice in Aceh. Arbitrary arrests, torture and vanishing justice has been part of Aceh’s history.

As reported by Aceh Judicial Monitoring Institute (AJMI), the violations comprised negligence to provide lawyer for suspects, investigation officers intimidating suspects, the absence of witnesses during trial and super fast trial for suspect.

Such unfair trial has been the mark of the military emergency period in Aceh. AJMI recorded that during the emergency period, there were 1,242 people arrested for alleged subversion.

Source: Aceh Judicial Monitoring Institute (AJMI)

tee, Support Committee for Human Rights in Aceh (SCHRA), which became the umbrella organization of groups that promoted peace in Aceh, not long after the Referendum Parade.

This committee, which had NGOs based in Asia, America, Europe and Australia as members, later became the hub for international campaigns on human rights violations in Aceh.

The formation of the organization was a response to Wahid administration’s Humanitarian Pause and COHA, which could happen at the time when Indonesia began to embrace democracy n

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Civil Society Movement and Lasting Peace in Aceh

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HE PREVIOUS PART SHOWED HOW THE CIVIL SOCIETY GROUPS EMERGED

during the prolonged war. Now, this part will explain what the groups, which had been an important influence, did after Aceh referendum.

DISMANTLING ISOLATION Isolation of Aceh from outside attention was an effective way for the Indonesian Mili-tary to carry out their acts in their war against GAM. The acts included terrors, abduc-tion, murders and sexual abuses to women.

The acts got justification in Soekarnoputri administration's policy No. 43/2003, issued on June 16, on rules on activities of foreign citizens, NGOs and journalists in Aceh. The policy showed how Indonesian government systemically tried to isolate Aceh from outside attention. In response to this situation, we found that initiatives to open Aceh to national and international public attention were strategic.

A series of programs done by Aceh's civil society groups that were

14 | A New Aceh Civil Society and Lasting Peace

Breaking the Isolation To break Aceh’s isolation from the outside world, civil society groups worked together forming the Acehnese Civil Society Task Force (ACSTF) in 2002. ACSTF is a network connecting activists who worked for peace with journalists, aiming at wider dissemination of conflicts in Aceh. The media the groups worked with was Voice of Human Rights (VHR).

The task force also worked on advocacy and campaigns at national and international level through activities like international conference on Aceh in Kuala Lumpur in 2002; campaigns and public discussions at campuses and other public spaces in Jakarta, which involved organizations like Ungu Institute, Civil Alliance for Peace in Aceh; and cultural events that attracted wider public on Aceh problems in 2002 to 2004.

One important agenda in breaking the isolation was the establishment of a legal aid representing office in Jakarta, which connected human rights activists in Aceh with legal aid institutes in Jakarta like PBHI.

supported by Tifa were conducted since the failed peace pact in 2002 to the end of military and civil emergency periods in 2004.

EMPOWERING THE PEOPLE Civil society groups' effort to open outside access to what really happened in Aceh would not succeed without the support of the Acehnese people who fought for justice and tried to uphold their dignity. Since 2003, Tifa Foundation has supported the de-velopment of Human Rights Aid Post (PB HAM) in Aceh, which began in East Aceh, which suffered the most violence and conflicts.

The main task of PB HAM was to help the people who were victims of violence and human rights violations to get legal advocacy quickly and easily as well as medical treatments and counseling.

Moreover, PB HAM also collected data on violent acts and human

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rights violations. In general, PB HAM's activities were related to litigation and non-litigation of violent cases in East Aceh and Tamiang regencies. PB HAM also formed networks of locals who volunteered to monitor human rights violations.

All these were done by PB HAM, in cooperation with local government institution, to push measures to stop human rights violations.

MONITORING OF HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS AND THE LEGAL PROCESS IN ACEH The conflicts in Aceh have led to a situation where the citizens were denied of their civil rights. The indication could be measured by looking at how the citizens get access to legal service.

Therefore, Tifa Foundation gave support to the Aceh Judicial Monitoring Institute (AJMI), which monitored Aceh’s legal system.

The establishment of representing office in Jakarta In a bid to support the peace process and human rights advocacy in Aceh, in 2003 Tifa Foundation helped Imparsial, an organization that worked on human rights issue at the national level, to establish a representing office for Aceh in Jakarta. Imparsial worked in cooperation with Aceh’s NGOs Alliances (Alorac) to have the office which, among others, aimed to support Aceh’s campaigns and advocacy in the capital by procuring preliminary data on Aceh’s situation. Some of the office’s activities were data collection, diplomat briefing, meetings with government officials, writing brief papers, and press conferences. The initiative later developed into Aceh Working Group (AWG), which later became the vehicle for human rights violations advocacy programs. AWG members included Imparsial, Kontras, Elsam, HRWG, AJMI, Koalisi NGO HAM.

16 | A New Aceh Civil Society and Lasting Peace

AJMI monitored detention centers like at TNI’s and police’s posts, state penitentiaries and GAM member rehabilitation centers, which also kept people who were accused of being GAM members. AJMI also monitored the courts. The areas of monitoring covered Banda Aceh, Jantho (Aceh Besar), Sigli (Pidie), Bireun (Aceh Jeumpa), Lhok Seumawe (North Aceh) and Langsa (East Aceh). AJMI chose to focus on these places because of the high number of peo-ple who were accused of subversion and later arrested and taken into court.

East Aceh, North Aceh, Pidie and Aceh Besar were regions with rel-

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Unfair Trial in Aceh AJMI works in monitoring trial process in Aceh unveiled some important information on the variety of violations. In the first period, the investigation and monitoring of alleged subversion cases revealed there were 195 cases of unfair trial in East Aceh, Lhokseumawe, Bireuen, Pidie, Aceh Besar and Banda Aceh.

The monitoring of tor-ture cases led to advocacy for 22 victims, who got injured from stray bullets, beating, shooting, torture, bombed and arbitrary arrests.

The next period until August 2004 there were an increase in the number of unfair trial on subversion cases to 213 cases in the same areas. Torture cases increased to 69 cases. From this we could see how serious was the problem in the legal system during the conflict period in Aceh before the peace agreement in 2005.

atively high violence rate compared to other regions.

DEVELOPMENT OF HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION INFORMATION SYSTEM IN ACEH Accurate and reliable information is key to the civil society groups agendas to promote peace and human rights in Aceh. Tifa Foundation has assisted Aceh Support Group (ASG) to investigate and verify information related to human rights violations during civil and military

18 | A New Aceh Civil Society and Lasting Peace

Types of Acts in Unfair Trial 1.

2.

3.

4.

The deprivation of suspect’s rights to a lawyer AJMI reported that 60 percent of the subversion cases defendants did not get any legal assistance during the investigation process. Some even did not have defense lawyer in the trial, others did get legal help, but AJMI questioned the quality of the defense.

Legal apparatus pressed the defendant to not ask for a defense lawyer The police and the prosecutors intentionally intimidated the subversion defendants to not request legal assistance throughout the investigation, questioning and trial. The judges also let that happen in the courts. Due to the absence of lawyers, suspects often times got abused and intimidated by the police.

The absence of witnesses.

Public prosecutors rarely presented witnesses related to subversion cases. The excuses included that the witnesses could not be located or were not at their presumed location. Usually, the witnesses testimonies were read by the prosecutors during the trial. This practice hampered the defendants from crossing or denying the testimonies. If there was any witness, the police or the prosecutors would present one who would concur the indictment.

Quick trial.

The justification for quick trial was time limit. Often times, the trial was completed in three sessions and the verdict was delivered. In one occasion the panel of judges even delivered the verdict on the first and only session. Trial did not go in compliance with the laws. In the Criminal Code Procedures (KUHAP), a trial must go through at least 10 steps from the reading of indictment to verdict.

This practice clearly make defendants victims of the failure of the legal system during the conflict period.

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emergency periods. ASG findings showed that during the 100-day of civil emergency period there were 290 violations: 26 were dead, five injured due to shootings, 90 got arrested or kidnapped, 96 got tortured, six were sexually abused and 12 got their property appropriated.

According to ASG, the data still had to be verified especially by Komnas HAM because while doing the investigation, many ASG’s volunteers faced difficulty in the fields due to tight surveillance from the military and the militia n

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Building Transitional Justice in Aceh

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AUG. 15, 2005, THE GOVERNMENT OF REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA and GAM representatives signed a peace pact in Helsinki, Finland. This paved the way to a new era for the civil society groups to run their initiatives. In this period, they ran their activities in a more open and democratic space, in line with the points in the Helsinki pact.

Nevertheless, the post-Helsinki time is not without problems. Old prejudice, unclear peace agenda along with new ideas for the New Aceh all emerged in this period. The focus on the road to New Aceh was the building of the institutions of new rules and guidelines that are expected to become the foundation of the democratic, just and prosperous New Aceh. From 2005 to 2007, Tifa Foundation has done a series of initiatives with Aceh’s civil society groups with peace and sustainable development as the spirit.

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LEGAL REFORM Tifa Foundation and AJMI have helped monitor Aceh’s court system

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during post-Helsinki period as an effort in encouraging legal reform.

The main goal is to build a basic knowledge about whether the legal system had worked and protected the citizens’ rights or not and how the system was run.

An initiative related to legal reform was discussions on developing customary laws which would allow the creation of a new legal mechanism that could serve the people justice.

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Another issue was how to open access to justice for the people who could not afford the legal cost and prolonged legal process. An effort to address the problem was monitoring trials after the peace pact. The important aspect to monitor was related to the implementation of sharia law in Aceh based on Law No. 44/1999 on Aceh Special Autonomy. Following the law, Aceh issued a bylaw, locally called qanun from Arabic word, in 2000 on Sharia Law Implementation, which later

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replaced the positive laws in Aceh.

AJMI did monitoring and data verifying on Sharia Court, which included four bylaws on aqidah (moral values), ibadah (worship) and syiar Islam (proselytization of Islam), on khalwat (unchaperoned dating), on maisir (gambling) and on khamar (drinking). The activity covered Banda Aceh, Aceh Besar, East Aceh and North Aceh.

THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION (KKR) An important mandate from the peace pact was an establishment of a truth and reconciliation institution. Civil society groups in Aceh tried to give suggestions to the newly established administration about how

Book Publication: Menengok Sikap Intelektual Aceh (Glancing at Aceh's Intellectual Attitude) Aceh has fought tyrannical powers since the colonial times to this global era. Today, peace has arrived. The Helsinki agreement strengthened peace in Aceh.

However, Aceh's road to peace has not been an easy one.

Otto Syamsudin Ishak has written four books: Dari Maaf ke Panik Aceh 1, Dari Maaf ke Panik Aceh 2, Dari Maaf ke Panik Aceh 3, and Percakapan dengan Aceh, published by the Tifa Foundation in collaboration with LSPP, which capture an important part of Aceh’s history of its journey for peace. Written by an author close to the context documented, this book presents the views of an Acehnese intellect on Aceh's condition from the years 2002 to 2005.

In this book, readers can see how the interests of global businesses and national politics can join together in Aceh against the community's interests.

The book also depicts how cosmopolitan influences — open attitudes and open minds willing to involve various groups to find resolutions can advance for peace in Aceh, against the narrow mindedness of the domestic side which would rather shut away all problems and resorted to the way of violence.

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the transitional justice mechanism should be done, including the formation of the institution.

As the first step, the groups gave a proposal for KKR, based on people'’s suggestions collected in the public consultations in various Aceh’s towns. The consultations invited the participation of the people and political and social organizations.

ACEH'S ULEMAS AND THE CIVIL SOCIETY MOVEMENT Throughout the history, Aceh which had a strong Islamic culture, put ulemas in a highly respected position. During the Aceh Darussalam Kingdom era, the ulemas did not only proselytize but also acted as the sultans’ advisors and assistants. They were the ones the kings turned to when it came to discussions, advices and considerations and when the kings wanted to sign something. The kingdom’s glory relied on the wisdom of the ulemas. Tifa Foundation saw ulemas as a strategic part of the process of changes. The foundation also saw it was important to cre-

Media, Arts, Culture and Changes Besides seeking help from the ulemas as a bridge to the grass root communities, Tifa Foundation also reached out to Acehnese cultural community to promote the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (KKR) to the grassroot communities. Tifa supported Tikar Pandan Community during the second semester of 2007 to disseminate information on KKR through discussions, movie screenings, arts and cultural exhibition and a people festival titled “Voices from Victims' Bodies,” held in Banda Aceh and attracted thousands.

The festival presented testimonies and art performances from victims of human rights violations. At the national level, Tifa Foundation supported KONTRAS to raise public awareness of Aceh’s problems through national mass media. KKR theme was published on Tempo Magazine and a series of discussion at radio station 68H. Information on KKR was also distributed through book publication and bilingual information package.

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Empowerment of Human Rights Violation Victims Organization for Lasting Peace As part of the effort in building new structure in the postconflict era, people’s empowerment remained the priority for Aceh's civil society.

To do this, Tifa Foundation supported Aceh Human Rights NGOs Coalition, which had encouraged truth disclosure like mandated by the Helsinki MoU through two points: the establishment of Truth and Reconciliation Commission (KKR) and Human Rights Tribunal.

To support the realization of truth disclosure, the Coalition organized activities like the empowerment of victims organizations and campaigns on human rights violations in Aceh lest the people forgot about the dark history of Aceh. Coalition also push for the investigation and disclosure of why did it happen and who were the perpetrators.

The empowerment was done in 10 areas in Aceh: Pidie, North Aceh, East Aceh, Bireun, Central Aceh, Aceh Besar, Nagan Raya, West Aceh, Southwest Aceh and South Aceh.

The result was the establishment of 10 victims organizations in 10 regencies/municipalities in Nangroe Aceh Darussalam and the establishment of a victims organization at the provincial level called SPKP HAM. SPKP organized congress of victims, gathering all human rights violation victims in Aceh to make a declaration in July 2007. In the congress the victims pushed for truth disclosure and trial on human rights violations in Aceh. The initiative got support from the governor of Nangroe Aceh Darussalam.

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ate a network between them and the civil society groups that were driven by urban, educated citizens of Aceh.

Ulemas and Peace in Aceh The first step to achieve the idea was to consolidate the civil society with the ulemas. Tifa in cooperation with Rabithah Taliban Aceh (RTA), an organization of students of Islamic schools for adults (dayah), held a gathering called Ulama Dayah Nangroe Aceh Darussalam.

Lasted for two days from April 8 to 9, 2005, at Syiah Kuala University’s campus, the forum became the vehicle for Aceh’s ulemas to contribute their thoughts and involve in new Aceh’s development process after the tsunami and prolonged conflict. The forum aimed at criticizing the blueprint of new Aceh as well as pushing peace endeavors between RI and GAM. Aceh’s ulemas recommended for RI’s President to implement the People's Consultative Assembly’s (MPR) decree on Aceh’s conflict resolution done with peace and dignity and to implement a 1999 law and 2001 law consistently and responsibly.

HURIDOCS Development They also demanded As part of the transitional process the national assembly, towards the New Aceh, Tifa Foundation supported the establishment of a system comprising the Regional of human rights violation information in Representatives Council Aceh in compliance with HURIDOCS and the House of standard. Tifa gave technical assistance Representatives, to reguand in house training for Koalisi NGO larly and earnestly moniHAM staffers so they could process data on violation cases. tor the implementation of Koalisi managed to collect 5,000 both laws. The ulemas also human rights violation cases, of which asked the province’s 1,200 had been verified and would be regents and mayors to do improved. Currently, Koalisi is focusing a reform on regional on data collecting during civil emergency period. budgets, making them work in favor of the peo-

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Ulemas and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Along with the civil society groups in Aceh, Tifa Foundation had supported the initiatives from Association of Dayah Ulemas (HUDA) to disseminate information on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (KKR) among ulemas. First information dissemination was in September 2007, before the fasting month Ramadan. It was a tradition in Aceh that every Ramadan ulemas would reach to wider public to preach among the people, hence the timing. The result of the training was a program for the ulemas to go to villages during Ramadan to disseminate information on KKR in December 2007.

The attempt managed to spread information on KKR to grass root communities. On the heel of the success of the first attempt, Tifa again supported HUDA in December 2007 to disseminate information to 80 ulemas of HUDA's network members in 16 regencies/municipalities in Aceh, which had not yet been touched in the first program.

The training invited speakers from NGOs in Banda Aceh, Komnas HAM from Jakarta and representatives of legal affairs directorate general at the Minister of Justice and Human Rights.

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ple. They also called on the public to help realize the New Aceh while asking the central and the provincial governments to draw up a development plan that put people’s interests as the priority.

The ulemas also said they wanted a government that upholds the principles of good governance.

Tifa Foundation supported the collaboration between the ulemas and other civil society groups to achieve peace. The collaboration was conveyed in a conclusion of the ulemas’ meeting. The conclusion was delivered to the then Vice President Jusuf Kalla in Jakarta, when Abu Panthon, the head of Aceh’s Ulama Dayah, with four other ulemas, went to Jakarta. The conclusion was also brought to GAM’s representatives in Penang, Malaysia.

When the Helsinki’s memorandum of understanding was signed, the collaboration between the ulemas and the civil society groups grew into an effort to build together the institution for transitional justice through KKR establishment n

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Good Governance and Post-Conflict Aceh’s Reconstruction

A

LTHOUGH HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION WAS THE MOST PROMINENT

problem in Aceh, how to build a clean government had also become a focus for Aceh’s civil society groups since the military and civil emergency periods. Later were born a series of initiatives that aimed to build a government that was efficient, corruption-free and reliable to the public.

ANTI-CORRUPTION MOVEMENT IN ACEH The civil society groups pushed for a clean and reliable government, basing their argument that the autonomy of Aceh needed a clean and transparent government that invited public participation. The groups believed that policies should give the people prosperity, protect human rights, and uphold justice. From 2002 to 2004, the groups started with capacity building for Aceh people, monitoring the Aceh Legislative Council, and public campaigns on clean government.

They helped to put corruption cases like that of Governor

32 | A New Aceh Good Governance and Reconstruction

Abdullah Puteh and those in the legislative council on the headlines of local and national media. The cases man-aged to get attention from the country's top officials and national anti-corruption activists. The media coverage was successful with all major national newspapers, magazines and national TV stations published the issue. Acehnese activist from SAMAK, J. Kamal Farza, was invited to do talk shows on major TV stations like TVRI and MetroTV. Local newspapers also ran issues on corruption in the council and the local government, which later helped develop critical thinking among the people.

Several local anti-corruption activists like Kamal Farza emerged as public figures. The anti-corruption movement was part of an NGOs

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network with WALHI, Koalisi NGO HAM, YASMA, YAB, SORAK, CCDE dan JARI Indonesia as members.

The anti-corruption stance was not only popular among university students. Teachers Communication Forum also questioned budget allocation for teachers, saying that it should aim to enhance the quality of education. Another group, Acehnese Students Forum also criticized the practice of giving out money to councillors.

Such critical thinking spread, in a form of demonstration and protest rallies against foreign debts, which they said might pave the way to corruption.

The groups also raised issues on alleged corruption in government projects in 2002 and money politics in top officials’ replacement process.

34 | A New Aceh Good Governance and Reconstruction

Several prominent corruption cases like the one involving Governor Abdullah Puteh made headlines on local and national newspapers. Among Puteh’s news were demands for the Public Servants' Wealth Audit Commission (KPKPN), Home Affairs Ministry's Inspectorate General, Attorney General's Office, Supreme Audit, and Development Finance Comptroller to audit Abdullah Puteh.

Against this backdrop, SAMAK made a petition for President Megawati to dismiss Puteh as the governor. For this purpose, SAMAK worked in cooperation with GERAK Indonesia, the anti-corruption movement network with 38 organizations as members. They put forward cases like money politics in governor election in 2002; graft in provincial budget in 2000 to 2001, which amounted to Rp 19 billion (US$1.9 million); embezzlement of humanitarian funds for Aceh in 2001, amounting to Rp 1.1 trillion (US$110 million), markups in bullet-proof helicopters purchase, amounting to Rp Rp 12.6 billion

Legislative Council Monitoring Network Another important agenda related to people empowerment was campaign on budget awareness by the civil society groups. The results of the program included: 1. The establishment of a legislative council monitoring organization at provincial level in Banda Aceh.

2. The establishment of legislative council monitoring communities in six regencies/municipalities (Banda Aceh, Singkil, Simeuleu, North Aceh and East Aceh). Each was located at SAMAK’s office, with members from various backgrounds like activists and journalists as well as volunteering public.

3. Monitoring results in reports on legislative sessions and the behavior of the councilors.

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(US$1.3 million); the concealing of Puteh's wealth in three companies; and provincial administration's contribution to an NGO that was managed by Puteh's wife, Linda Poernomo.

PUBLIC PARTICIPATION AND BUDGET POLICY MONITORING The civil society groups saw that corruption issue in Aceh went beyond inefficient budget, so they tried to do campaigns on two issues related to budget politics. First, Aceh's huge budget did not translate to about a million of Aceh's poor people welfare improvement, not in education nor in health. Second, there was no political will to develop a transparent budget management and financial reporting.

Reports have shown that corruption within the administration body was related to conflicts in the province. We believe that when the budget reached the people, the violence rate could be contained n

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Women, War and Lasting Peace in Aceh

A

CEHNESE WOMEN WERE THE FIRST VICTIM IN THE CONFLICTS BETWEEN

Indonesian government and GAM. Therefore, Tifa Foundation prioritized women involvement in its programs and activities with the civil society groups. The programs covered gender awareness education, support for opening women’s access to politics and women’s role in peace process in Aceh.

WOMEN EMPOWERMENT AND POLITICAL ROLE Tifa, in cooperation with MISPI, did gender-sensitive education and organizing in women Koran reading groups in four regencies: Banda Aceh, Aceh Besar, Pidie and Sabang.

The program was held in eight months from August 2006 to April 2007. Besides gender-sensitive awareness, the program also aimed to encourage the leadership among women at the community level. The program expected the female leaders would continue organizing so the communities could develop even when the program was completed.

38 | A New Aceh Women, War and Lasting Peace

MISPI started the program by composing a training module, which became the guidelines in providing training to the Koran reading groups. Titled Pearls of Knowledge, the module dealt with matters from domestic violence to gender equality. Besides the module, MISPI also published a pocket book on gender issue. The gender pocket book was attached to a popular prayer book called yasin book, which the women always brought and read.

Two thousands books went like hot cakes that MISPI had to print another 1,800 to be distributed to 36 Koran reading groups and Tifa’s partners and libraries. The Koran reading groups welcomed the gender perspective; under they own initiatives they included gender issues in the Koran discussions.

At the end of the first year, there were 400 women in the Koran groups who got intensive training. They learnt about many things like violence, equality, children protection and peace values in Islamic teachings. At the end of the program, there were at least 30 groups that started to have gender issue and Islam in their discussion materials.

In 2007, Tifa worked in cooperation with MISPI again. In seven months, a shorter period of time compared to the first program, the second one focused more on Koran reading groups in five districts in Banda Aceh and Aceh Besar. To make sure the ideas continued even after the program was completed, MISPI focused on training the local community organizers. They were women who got leadership potentials in three districts in Banda Aceh and Aceh Besar.

New development saw that several women figures from Koran reading groups were members of tuhapeut/tuhadelapan, a customary forum that had a lot of say at village level. The members of the forum were directly elected by the residents, thus the women had a strong legal stance.

In a similar vein, MISPI ran a program called “Political Education for Women Koran Reading Groups.” The program, held before the national general election in 2004, lasted for six months from November 2003 to April 2004. Through a series of training for trainers titled

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Women Political Participation by MISPI, the figures in the Koran reading groups learned about the meaning of general election and the consequences on women. The materials given comprised women political participation, Indonesia's general elections and introduction to 2004 general election system, which was different from the previous election.

We hoped that the knowledge could be spread to other groups and would increase women participation in politics. At least, women could be knowledgeable voters and could encourage the birth of new female leaders in Aceh. This program educated at least 300 women from five regencies and municipalities: Pidie, Aceh Barat, Banda Aceh, Aceh Besar and Aceh Singkil.

A feedback survey conducted by MISPI showed that at least 90 percent of program participants said they understood what general elections were and how to channel women participation in the elections and the importance of women participation in decision making.

Participants even volunteered to join the training titled “Political Education and Women Leadership.”

ENCOURAGING GENDER-SENSITIVE CIVIL SOCIETY GROUPS Tifa found it important to promote gender-sensitive agenda among the civil society groups. By doing so, Tifa expected that NGOs’ programs would not only empower men but also women. To push for gender mainstreaming among NGOs, Tifa worked in cooperation with KKTGA (Aceh’s Gender Transformation Working Group). The first program lasted for six months (October 2006 to February 2007), while the second for eight months (May to December 2007).

KKTGA’s first task was to build the capacity of local NGOs’ activists and decision makers by introducing gender equality issue. In the first year, this step was done by recomposing the gender training module of KKTGA, which had been the guideline for gender mainstreaming among NGO activists. Gender mainstreaming was important

40 | A New Aceh Women, War and Lasting Peace

as the need assessment reported that gender knowledge in the organization was limited.

With this new module, KKTGA trained 85 participants. In the second year, KKTGA composed a more advanced module on gender analysis and encourage a more gender-sensitive organizational structure. The training was focused on members of KKTGA and Tifa’s partners.

TRAUMA HEALING AND LASTING PEACE This program started with training residents to become community facilitators. Those who were deemed potentials and had been following community discussion by RPUK intensively, were directly elected by other residents to become the community facilitators.

They, who worked on voluntary basis, got the residents’ full sup-

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port. Not only they were reliable but they were also committed to their tasks. Many of the community facilitators, who were already knowledgeable about peace process, could get access to Aceh’s tuhapeut/tuhadelapan, an influential formal institution at the village and district levels.

The facilitators had also learned about pycho-social trauma healing, so with the help of their peers, they could address psycho-social cases in their communities. Government officials at district level, in the TNI, police force and Aceh Reintegration Body (BRA), also participated in the program. Dialog between communities and each authority have been done although unfortunately they unanimously agreed not to make MoU for the communities. They all said that Helsinki MoU was already enough to keep peace. There were also concerns about people got a wrong impression about such MoU on top of avoiding overlapping of peace agreements n

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Trauma Healing

T

HE ARMED CONFLICTS IN ACEH FROM 1999 TO

2005 HAD LEFT A TRAUMA among the people. A joint survey by World Health Organization and Nangroe Aceh Darussalam's Health Agency in 11 regencies showed that 25.7 percent of Aceh people suffered episodic depression, 10.9 percent had recurring depression, 18.4 percent had panic disorder and 51.1 percent had mental disorder. The condition got worse after the earthquake and the tsunami hit Aceh in December 2004. There were 128,803 people died, 37,066 were declared missing and 529,219 were displaced after the disasters. Some of the disaster victims had already been victims of conflicts or lived in conflict-rife areas. This condition made residents fail to behave normally, channelling emotion, feelings and thoughts, which caused them to fall short in their daily lives.

Against the backdrop, what we called cycle of violence occurred.

The victims would become the perpetrators someday. Here we witnessed the consequences of the prolonged conflict: fear, terror, and trauma, especially in villages where military operations took place.

Violence lead to violence.

44 | A New Aceh Trauma Healing

Peace at Village Level One model of trauma healing at the community level was to create a mechanism where trust between conflicting community groups could thrive. Such experience happened Alue Mirah village in East Aceh, where Women Volunteers Team for Hu-manity (RPUK) worked. The village was once a violence and terror arena during the conflict period.

When the trauma healing program started in 2001, RPUK activists found that public buildings were in half damaged condition due to war.

The majority of the residents there were women and children because the men retreated to the forest to join GAM. Equipped with power generator, RPUK volunteers entered the village. Bit by bit they encouraged healing and peace there. The healing endeavor was supported by psycho-social referral system in cooperation with many stakeholders from the police to hospi-tals.

With the signing of Helsinki peace agreement, RPUK later initiated to replicate the Helsinki MoU ideas at the local level.

Through numerous dialogues, Alue Mirah residents managed to formulate their own peace MoU, signed by the Indonesian Military (TNI), Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and village officials. The content of the memorandum was simple: Obligation to keep peace and prohibition to do things that could trigger conflicts.

The peace agreement of the villagers had become an effective means to build life again after the conflicts. Points of agreement written on a piece of paper became the foundation for the residents to feel safe in doing activities as well as become alert of possible provocation.

Thanks to the alertness, several provocation attempts were foiled by the residents.

Government officials, TNI and GAM respected the MoU as well.

For the next program, RPUK planned to educate the residents to become peace facilitators, who were expected to have skills on detecting conflict potentials and become a support group for psychosocial healing within trauma healing agenda.

Trauma Healing A New Aceh

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The biggest challenge in post-conflict situation was how to heal the trauma and wounds caused by terrors and violence? Trauma Healing program for Aceh’s victims were one of the solutions. The program ran with support from Tifa, which cooperated with Women Volunteers for Humanity (RPUK) from 2001 to 2008.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF TRAUMA HEALING REFERRAL SYSTEM RPUK developed an innovation in trauma healing, which was a referral system for psycho-social healing. The endeavor was based on a principle that social healing from the conflicts had to be holistic. The treatment should start from adequate understanding of mental health knowledge among the medical workers from psychiatric nurses at Community Health Centers, psychiatrists in regional general hospitals and at Mental Illness Facility (BPKJ) to the development of trauma healing centers at general hospitals and health community centers.

The healing process involved a lot of aspects. At the community level, trauma healing activists and facilitators would identify and accompany the victims. Next, the facilitators would refer the victims based on their needs, whether they needed intensive treatment available at general hospitals or less intensive one available in health centers at regency or provincial levels. It could be the case was not severe that the facilitators themselves could help victims towards healing.

Here, the trauma healing system became important to stop the cycle of violence on top of healing individuals. It also helped ease the real post-conflict reconciliation process at community level. Healing process had to involve the people not only because the number of medical workers were not enough for such large number of victims but also because the conflict was a collective event thus such collective steps should be taken.

People’s involvement would allow for the program to be integrated to the local wisdom and tradition and would help the communities

46 | A New Aceh Trauma Healing

handle the grieving to move on together and make a mark in history.

Besides self-recovery, community-recovery was also necessary as a support system for the trauma healing process. Besides professional trauma healing facilitators, the people also needed those who worked at the community level who would formed support groups for the victims, which would be the first place to go for victims to get counseling.

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The support groups helped not only in healing the individual victims but also in organizing them to be more active in community activities like discussions, Koran reading, traditional arts, sports and craftsmanship like embroidering or knitting. By doing this, a holistic trauma healing could be achieved n

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Epilogue Future Aceh Scenario

P

ACEH. PEACE AGREEMENT between RI’s government and GAM in Helsinki on Aug. 15, 2005, was not the end but rather a gate to a new ways to achieve the ideal of how to build a new society that had been caught in prolonged conflict for decades.

Hence, peace was the beginning. The beginning of initiatives and policies RI’s government must implement based on Aceh's people hopes and endeavors to the new social, political, economic, cultural dynamics of Aceh.

Peace in Aceh was a national capital in building a new framework for New Indonesia in the future. In a bigger scale, it was wrong to limit Aceh’s peace process to an isolated event. With the peace process, Indonesian government has done a successful experiment that could be an exemplar of what should be done for other conflict areas.

Helsinki peace agreement in 2005 had laid a foundation of the New Aceh, but should also be seen as the success of building the New Indonesia and a national asset in building Indonesian society that was EACE WAS THE TURNING POINT OF A NEW

50 | A New Aceh Epilogue

democratic, tolerant, prosperous and just.

This report had explained that after Helsinki peace pact, Aceh still had to deal with the cases of human rights violations in the past through the establishment of KKR. This situation had inspired Tifa Foundation to cooperate with the partners in Aceh (Human Rights NGO Coalition, Aceh Judicial Monitoring Institute, Women Volunteers for Humanity).

Tifa Foundation also cooperated with Aceh Dayah Ulemas Association, Rabithah Taliban Aceh and Tikar Pandan to run a series of programs from information dissemination on KKR programs, formulation of an alternative draft for KKR legal status, documentation and human rights violation database system development training to cultural activities aiming to raise awareness of the people and the Aceh government about the importance of the implementation of KKR programs as mandated in Helsinki MoU. Tifa also supported the efforts to strengthen women’s roles and do gender mainstreaming at the community level as well as Aceh’s decision makers. The programs were done by Indonesian Women’s True Partners (MISPI) and Aceh Gender Transformation Working Group (KKTGA). As for the campaigns for the transparency and accountability of the new Aceh’s government, Tifa cooperated with SORAK and GERAK, which monitored and educated the society about good governance, especially on monitoring reconstruction and rehabilitation funds allocation in Aceh.

A lesson learned from all the programs done by Tifa Foundation demonstrated how the civil society groups, both during the conflict and peace periods, played a strategic role in promoting and maintaining peace. Addressing human rights violations, the importance of women’s role and good governance, as stipulated in Helsinki peace agreement points, have influenced the civil society groups movement in the peace process.

However, the program agendas had yet to suffice everything Aceh needed to build a new society in transition. In this regard, Tifa

Epilogue A New Aceh

ACEH IN THE PAST

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52 | A New Aceh Epilogue

ACEH IN THE PAST

Epilogue A New Aceh

ACEH IN THE MIDST OF DISASTER

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54 | A New Aceh Epilogue

A NEW ACEH

Epilogue A New Aceh

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Foundation proposed an agenda to develop scenario for Aceh’s future.

The scenario was a result of discussion among civil society groups, academicians and Aceh’s government officials, who had tried to for-mulate their ideas since November 2007, which later got disseminated among people at the provincial and regional levels. Tifa Foundation was committed to keeping the civil society groups to become active “political community” as an agent of change towards Aceh, which was tolerant, fair, respecting women and democratic, in line with Tifa Foundation's mission to build an open society in Indonesia.

Nevertheless, the initiative to have Aceh’s future scenario building discussed in public would not help much without supports from various stakeholders who could push Aceh’s future building to become wider society's agenda for the New Aceh.

The hope was for the Nangroe Aceh Darussalam’s government to shoulder the task, to make ideas for the New Aceh as part of the government programs with the final goal: prosperous, democratic and fair Aceh.

Outside Aceh, we hoped such initiative could work as a reference of other civil society groups in Indonesia to started a reform in a society torn by prolonged conflict and violence. From Aceh, we hope we could achieve open society in other places. n

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Gerakan Anti Korupsi (GeRAK) Aceh

Address

Phone E-mail

Jalan Desa Lamgugob, Lorong Durian No 7 Lamgugob, Kecamatan Syiah Kuala Kota Banda Aceh 23111 +62 651 7412967 antikorupsiaceh@yahoo.com

GeRAK Aceh was established on Nov. 29, 2003 but got its legal status on Dec. 3, 2004. GeRAK focuses on: a. Public participation increase in anti-corruption, collusion and nepotism advocacy programs and transparent and accountable use of Aceh’s budget. b. Accelerate the establishment of good governance in Aceh. c. Budget analysis to encourage public participation in regional budget management. d. The birth of Budget Watch communities among the people.

Staff Coordinator Akhiruddin Mahjuddin, SE.Ak Program and Evaluation Manager Arman Fauzi Administration and Finance Manager Hemma Marlenny, SE.Ak Head of Monitoring and Investigation Division Abdillah SHI Head of Advocacy and Campaign Division Bambang Antariksa, SH Head of Research and Data Analysis Division Abdullah Abdul Muthaleb Research and Analysis Division staffer Elly Musliyati, SH Advocacy and Campaign Division staffer Maria Ulfa, SHI Askhalani, SHI Monitoring and Investigation Division staffer Rizalihadi, A.Md Administration and Finance staffer Riwandi Cashier staffer Aldilla Andiana Umri, SE. Ak Office Manager Evan Nanda

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Mitra Sejati Perempuan Indonesia (MiSPI)

Address

Jl. Tgk. Daud Beureueh No. 3, Simpang Lima Banda Aceh 23122

58 | A New Aceh Partners Gallery

Phone E-mail

+62 651 7411503 mispi@telkom.net

MISPI was established on Aug. 20, 1998 in Banda Aceh. It aims to empower women in the context of just, equal and humane relationship between people.

MISPI main focuses: a. Objective studies on development policies that could contain injustice against women. b. Women empowerment through training and critical education. c. Constituents empowerment.

Staff Executive Director Syarifah Rahmatillah Institutional Development Coordinator Zainora Administration, Information and Documentation staffer Suryani Finance Coordinator Dewi Sulastri Finance staffer Samsidar Constituent Empowerment Division Hasni Policy Research and Study Division Siti Murni Legal and Information Division Melta Variza, SH Legal Consultant/Attorney Marlianita Dahlia Farida Paralegals 14 people

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Aceh Judicial Monitoring Institute

Address Jln. Ateuk Jawo/27 - Kampong Ateuk, Banda Aceh Phone/Fax +62 651 27432 Aceh Judicial Monitoring Institute (AJMI) was established in July 2003, two months after the implementation of Military Emergency status in Aceh, when a hunt for people who were suspected to be involved in GAM started to escalate.

Vision To push for a legal system which takes justice side in favor of the people in line

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with human rights principles and democratization.

Strategic Programs a. Legal System Monitoring to ensure that trial process ran properly and that the people get access to justice. b. Judiciary Sector Reform - studies on legal policies, whether they convey human rights and justice perspectives or not.

- strengthening public control on trial process.

- encourage transformation on judiciary reform, human rights, politics and democracy. c. Legal Library Development AJMI collected data on politics, laws, human rights and democracy including on peace process, social changes and Legal Reconstruction process during post-disaster and post-conflict period. The data could serve as a reference for those who wanted to do legal studies. d. Publishing Study reports, concept and researches done by academicians working with AJMI were published into books and scholars’ papers outside AJMI were also published as long as they were in line with AJMI's mission.

Staff Director Rufriadi, SH Deputy Director Hendra Budian Operational Manager Mulyadi Syarif Finance Manager Jamaliah Mahmud Administration Rahma, Amd Head of Investigation and Monitoring Division Agusta, MT Head of Research Division Alfi Syahrin, SH Head of Research Division Sufriadi, Amd Program Support Staff Yusmanidar, Musliadi Office Manager Al Imran

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Kelompok Kerja Transformasi Gender Aceh (KKTGA) (Aceh Gender Transformation Working Group)

Address Phone

Jl. Malaya No.1 (Samping Hotel Aceh Barat) Peunayong, Banda Aceh (0651)7408922

Founded on Oct. 15, 1995, KKTGA is a network focusing on gender issues.

KKTGA members are NGOs and individuals who committed to gender equality. KKTGA’s main activities aim to achieve gender equality, which we believe a social construction that regulates rights, obligations, roles, responsibilities and hopes between women and men. We try to: - Build capacity of members in achieving gender equality.

- Campaigning on gender equality.

- Expand the network with more partners to support gender equality.

- Attempt to change policies that are not for gender equality.

Staff Board of Staff Nursiti, S.H Sumiati Khairiah Atini Nurul Executive Secretary Tasmiati Emsa, S.H Executive Staff Bungsu Nurbaiti, M.Pd Syukriah Fahdriani, S.P Dwi Satria Pratama Zaini Surya, S.Pd

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Erlita Zahara Putri Nofriza, S.Si Leni Agustia Munira, S.Pd. Munawir Abdul Azis

Koalisi NGO HAM Aceh (Aceh Human Rights NGOs Coalition)

Koalisi NGO HAM Aceh was established on Aug. 7, 1998. It is a non-profit, non-partisan organization that has a mandate to build an alliance with regional, national and international NGOs. Koalisi NGO HAM is a network of Aceh's NGOs that care about human

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rights in Aceh. Formed by 13 NGOs in Aceh, Koalisi has 27 members including the founding organizations.

Each organization works on different issues like environment, women, children, economic empowerment and legal aid. In spite of the differences, we all determine to build Koalisi as a human rights advocacy movement. In spite of the differences, we all determine to build Koalisi as a human rights advocacy movement, by helping victims of violence.

Goals - To be a support system for human rights advocacy works in Aceh.

- To become a pressure group for human rights and social and political changes in Aceh.

- Build an alliance nationally and internationally - To decide on the major agendas of human rights advocacy in Aceh.

Staff Executive Director Faisal Hadi Deputy Director/Program Manager Jehalim Bangun Campaign Manager Kurdinar Information and Data Manager Muhammad Isa Policy Analysis Staffer Mashudi Publication and Networking/Website Staffer Aryos Investigation and Emergency Staffer Jumiran Information and Data Staffer Musliadi Library and Documentation Putri Finance Manager Surna Lastri Accounting Staffer Devi Surita Cashier Amyas Administration and Secretary Nana Daryana Office Boy Muji Siswanto

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Lembaga Bantuan Hukum (LBH) Banda Aceh (Banda Aceh Legal Aid Institute)

Address

Jln. Elang Timur Lr. Teuku Lampoh Bungong No. 12A Desa Blang Cut, Kecamatan Lueng Bata, Banda Aceh

62 | A New Aceh Partners Gallery

LBH Banda Aceh (Banda Aceh Legal Aid) was formed in September 1995 with a name Project Base Aceh Legal Aid based on a mandate from Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation’s (YLBHI) Board of Staff. LBH Banda Aceh was formed to answer the political condition that developed during the Military Emergency (DOM) period, when there were a lot of illegal arrests, kidnaps and murders of people who were suspected of supporting separatism.

YLBHI, which was involved in dealing with the reports at that time, had to send law-yers from Legal Aid Institutions from outside Aceh, which was not efficient for a long time advocacy agenda. Later, YLBHI formed LBH Project Base Aceh to do YLBHI's programs in Aceh, which focuses on civil and political rights.

Staff Director Afridal Darmi, SH, LL.M Deputy Director of Internal Division Kamaruddin S.H Deputy Director of Operational Division M. Jully Fuady S.H Finance Manager Nurul Maulida, A.Md Data and Documentation Unit Head Ari Aseandi Documentation Staffer Asri Rahayu Administration and Secretariat Leli Susanti Volunteers 11 people

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Tim Relawan Perempuan untuk Kemanusiaan (RPUK) (Women Volunteers Team for Humanity)

Address Phone E-mail

Jl. Perada I no. 40, Perada Banda Aceh +62 651 7410624 tim_rpuk@yahoo.co.id

RPUK was established on June 2, 1999 when the number of internally displaced people was increasing in Aceh. RPUK's focus on facilitating displaced women and children throughout Aceh who were victims of disaster or conflict.

Working Programs Economic Recovery for Women Program Alternative Education for Children Program

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Psychosocial Healing for Children Program Emergency Response for Children and Women Program RPUK is a forum whose members are women who care about humanitarian issue. We have 48 members and Khairani Arifin is the General Secretary.

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Rabithah Thaliban Aceh (Nangroe Aceh Darussalam Santri Dayah Association)

The secretariat of RTA's board of staff is located in Banda Aceh. It has branches in 20 regencies in NAD, which are Banda Aceh, Aceh Besar, Pidie, Bireun, North Aceh, Lhokseumawe, East Aceh, Langsa, Central Aceh, Bener Meriah, Singkil, South Aceh, West Aceh, Aceh Jaya, Southwest Aceh, Nagan Raya, Tamiang, Gayo Lues, Southeast Aceh, Sabang. Each branch reaches students at Islamic schools for adults as its main constituents.

RTA is a mass organization established on April 7, 1999 by a number of students who had Islamic education as background. The birth of RTA was imbued by an ambition to develop the role of dayah (Islamic school for adults) in social religious movement in NAD. Islamic values of Ahlus Sunah Waljama’ah school of thought is believed to be a socio-cultural power that shapes Aceh’s people characters which are conveyed through the Islamic schools., which are spread throughout NAD. RTA believes that Ahlus Sunah Waljama’ah is always relevant to respond life’s changes.

RTA’s activities before the earthquake were, among others, listing dayah (Islamic schools for adults) throughout Aceh, preaching about Islam in the society or through Islamic organizations and training of Islamic leaders in Aceh, assistance for education improvement in the dayah, establishing dayah, encourage students to write academic articles, relief aid for the orphans and conflict resolution.

Before the earthquake and the tsunami, the members of the dayah association reached 75,000 students, mostly were senior students in 500 dayah in Aceh. Others were alumni of dayah. Our extensive membership helped a lot in emergency activities as well as children rehabilitation.

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Solidaritas Masyarakat Anti Korupsi (SAMAK) (Anti-Corruption Solidarity Society)

Address Phone

Jl. HM. Daud Beureu'eh 86 Jambotape, Banda Aceh +62 651 7410134

SAMAK was established on Nov. 3, 1999. Its main aim was to push for anticorruption movement at the grass root level in areas where corruption is rampant. SAMAK also presses for the realization of good governance.

Staff Muhammad Saefudin

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Solidaritas Gerakan Anti Korupsi (SoRAK) Aceh (Anti-Corruption Movement Solidarity)

Address Phone Website

Jl. Belibis, Lorong Kamboja No. 2-A, Labui, Ateuk Pahlawan - BANDA ACEH 23241 +62 651 637383 www.sorak-aceh.or.id

Solidaritas Gerakan Anti Korupsi (SoRAK) Aceh was established by people from different professional backgrounds like academic and accounting.

Officialy, SoRAK got its legal status in March 2001 and later changed its status into a foundation in November 2003.

Vision The establishment of a society with anti-corruption culture that has a clean, fair, and democratic bureaucracy.

Missions - To strengthen social control on corruption - To promote clean and efficient bureaucracy - To push for law enforcement - To enhance transparency and accountability of public funds management

Partners Gallery A New Aceh

Staff Coordinator Miswar Fuady Administration and Finance Manager Salwa Nida Program Manager Firdaus D. Nyak Idin Head of Investigation and Advocacy Division T. Anwarsyah Head of Campaign and Public Education Liza Dayani Head of Data and Documentation Division T. Wildansyah Office Secretary Mahrizazuhri Cashier Kemalahayati Web Master Hendra Lesmana Staffers Cut Hendra Irawan Vera Suzanna Samsiar Meliani Dumma Office Manager Darmansyah Putra

BOOK DESIGN: RONNY AGUSTINUS

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