I seem to have gone MIA from this blog of mine. Probably been too
lazy. So now that I'm having an unproductive day at work, it's a good
opportunity to add some more bits and pieces.
I'm
knackered today - I have spent the last 7 days in Salang, and it's
tiring! Not just the work but the travelling conditions as well. It's
about 3 hours driving each way on horrible pot-holed roads, and you
arrive at your destination feeling pretty shabby.
Last
weekend, the manager of tsunami operations for Australian Red Cross paid
Simeulue a visit and wanted to see all the projects in Salang over the
weekend. So, somewhat reluctantly, we played tour guide for him; I
wasn't all that keen on spending my weekend 'at work', and two of my
staff - who had already spent the entire week there - were required to
attend. Not surprisingly on Monday they were pretty tired, and then had
to go to Salang again this week (as did I). Lucky it's Christmas soon -
they'll get a break!
Anyway, the weekend turned out to
be quite fun, explaining all of our projects and cruising around Salang.
I learned a lot about the other programs. We spoke to community members
who had been recipients of first aid, hygiene and agriculture training;
toured agricultural plots; traipsed around rice padis; as well as
visiting households where the WatSan team has built dunnies and wells.
On
Monday our Monitoring delegate (and fellow Adelaidean) Marty arrived.
We headed off to Salang to undertake a week of activities to evaluate
our Indonesian Red Cross volunteers, discuss the program with them, and
interview community members about the training program we run with them
as part of the WatSan activities.
Staying in Salang for
a week can be very trying, particularly as the base camp is usually
stuffed to the rafters with ARC Staff and Indo Red Cross volunteers; it
reminds me a lot of school camp in Port Vincent (year 8 for the
record!). Dormitory accommodation; two mandi (bathrooms) to be shared
between around 20 people (I can't believe how long Indonesians spend in
there - considering all you're doing is pouring water over yourself with
a ladle!! Let's just say that you're waiting a long time to get your
morning wash!); the call to prayer by the mosque across the road
at 5am; a noisy fan in the room; phones going off at random times of the
early morning; and having to sleep with the light on: one of my staff
is scared of the dark. NOT good for a decent bout of shut-eye! I'm
always really tired after a week in Salang due to lack of sleep.
Then there's the food issue. The staff here are REALLY stingy when it comes to spending their valued per diem
allowances. They get around 80,000 Rp a day ($10) on top of their
salaries, but only spend around 35,000 (about $4) a week on food in
order to save truckloads of money.
This is the typical contents of my stomach during a week in Salang:
- rice (and shitloads of it)
- fish (often salted to the hilt, and fried)
- fried eggs (or omelete)
- chili
- tomatoes
- cassava leaf (often the only other vegetables you get)
- (sometimes) cabbage, carrots and/or beans
This
week we actually got chicken, but as it's 'expensive' for staff we
usually don't have it. Let's just say the meal consisted of a scungy
chicken in an oily coconut curry-like sauce, with rice. No vegetables,
unless you include chili! Metamucil would probably do a roaring trade in
this place, were it available... hehe!!!
Whatever other
ingredients you provide are at your own cost and end up being shared,
much to the delight of the staff. Marty is a legend in this regard,
because he always brings delicious goodies over from Banda Aceh: cheese
bread, bacon, cheese, capsicum, pasta - things you can't get here on
Simeulue. He even brought ham this time! Both of his recent visits have
involved one night of pure joy food-wise, as well as a carton of beer.
Normally I don't take beer because I don't have anyone to drink with.
The staff love it too - they get the left overs! While the Muslim staff
can't drink alcohol or eat our pasta creations due to the inclusion of
piggy products, the Christian crew think all their Christmases have come
at once.
A lighter moment was provided by our attempt
to consume ham sandwiches for lunch on Thursday; considering we were in a
mosque with almost all Muslim colleagues, we had to be content with
eating outside, but still in the mosque compound (which isn't really
kosher) because it was raining. It was all very secretive.
The
other bad thing about all of this is that unless you go for a run, swim
or regular walk each day, there is no exercise to be had. So you're
sitting around all week, eating lots of rice and oil, and getting a beer
gut. Our main form of exercise so far seems to be playing frisbee with
the local kids. We are in the process of building a badminton court on
the compound, but so far we only have the court itself - no net or poles
yet. Hopefully soon.
Work-wise this week, we sat
through a whole bunch of very similar and often monotonous hygiene
sessions, which while not really 'action packed', were quite taxing. By
Thursday afternoon we'd had enough and decided to go back at the end of
the day; Marty also had to get a flight back to Banda Aceh this morning
(Friday) and considering potential delays in travel time due to the
roads, it was a good idea - just how good we were yet to find out...
All
was going well; we'd begun our bumpy trek back to Sinabang and then we
arrived in the village of Kampung Aie which is notorious for its bridge
being dodgy. They have been building a new bridge there since August,
but it's not even half finished. So the old rickety bridge has to
suffice. No problems if you're on a motorbike, like 75% of the
population; but try driving a truck full of sand or a landcruiser full
of people over it, and you're likely to run into trouble.
So
when we got to the bridge it was already 5pm, and as was expected, a
truck was stuck on the far end of the bridge, it's back tyres firmly
wedged between two planks of wood, where a rotten plank had given way.
It wasn't going anywhere fast, attested by the fact that there were
about ten trucks, pickups and NGO vehicles piled up behind it waiting to
pass, and they'd emptied all the sand out of it. Given the time, and
that we are not supposed to drive in the dark due to security reasons,
we decided to go around the obstacle. This involved driving back into
town and down to the beach, where, according to the driver, the
Landcruiser would be able to go around the river and then back onto the
road.
It was smooth sailing - literally: the beach was
the smoothest section of road in all of Salang! - and we had a great
time dodging the waves. Then we took a tiny little bush track through
palm trees to cut back to the road. Half way through we reached a swamp,
which at first glance looked a bit dodgy - but after ditching his jeans
and shoes and traipsing through the water and mud to check it out, our
driver Sarwin declared it safe to pass, given it was rocky on the bottom
and not too deep. But it was his approach to the mudhole that got us
into trouble.
He roared the Lancruiser right into the
hole, way too fast, which meant the car fully nose-dived straight into
the water, and after smashing up and down a few times and water washing
over the bonnet, we got properly stuck! The exhaust was fully submerged
and bubbling away under the water, and we weren't going ANYWHERE.
So
after a bunch of wheel spinning, trying to chock up the wheels with
rocks, coconut branches and anything else half solid we could find, I
decided I should walk back to the bridge to try and get help. Somehow
the snap cord, shovel and any other items that should have been in the
car for situations like this had mysteriously disappeared, likely sold
by the driver for a bit of cash on the side ...
Our
friends from the NGO CordAid had been waiting at the bridge when we
first arrived there, so I figured we could get them to help. But when I
arrived I couldn't find anyone I knew, let alone was I very able to
communicate my problem! But eventually I tracked down the CordAid driver
and his assistant, and between us we had enough Bahasa
Indonesian/English to work out what to do, and they had a winch on their
car.
In the end, after about 6 of 7 tries, we
eventually pulled the Landcruiser out ... a tough gig considering it was
much bigger than the CordAid Ranger, and most attempts resulted in a
lot of wheel spinning and the Ranger being dragged toward the mudhole! I
was waiting for the winch cord to snap!
So it was
around 7pm by the time all this happened and we got ourselves out. Let's
just say we owe a great debt to CordAid, we need to restock all our
vehicles with emergency equipment, and we were totally knackered when we
got back!
Ahh adventures in the mud, reminds me of Liberia. Makes life interesting though.
So
in our wisdom, after dropping in on the boss to pick up my house keys,
we decided to have a few beers. Paul, the head of office, goes a bit
balmy during the week as he is the only English-speaking staff member
when I'm in Salang, so come Friday he is gagging for an Aussie to speak
to! We finished off Paul's 6 beers and some scotch before cruising to my
house to drink the beers we had left over from Salang and to watch the
Simpsons movie. For the record, it's the 6 time I've seen it! A 1:30am
bed time was the result, not the best idea considering how tired we
were, but a good wind down after a long week. Today has been a bit
tougher due to it, but hey, it seemed like a good idea at the time...!
Bring on the weekend!!!!
Knowing my luck it will be raining the whole time...
Friday, December 14, 2007
Thursday, December 6, 2007
an article on the current situation in Aceh
Far Eastern Economic Review
November 2007
The Rebirth Of Aceh
by Oakley Brooks
Just three years after the tsunami turned much of downtown Banda Aceh, Indonesia into a wasteland, the city has swung to the other extreme. Today it has the feeling of a boom town, thanks to$8 billion in aid from the Indonesian government and foreign donors. The question remains, however, whether this money can jumpstart the province's return to its historical role as one of the key entrepots of the region. After the construction dust settles, Aceh should emerge with the best trading infrastructure in Indonesia. Across the province, foreign-funded work crews are busy upgrading ports, airports and roads. A four-lane, United States-funded highway will run down the devastated west coast. Spread across Aceh's four million inhabitants, the aid is three times larger in per capita, inflation-adjusted terms than that spent in post-World War II France, the largest beneficiary of the American Marshall Plan.
None of this would be possible, of course, without the 2005peace agreement between Jakarta and the Free Aceh Movement. As well as bringing stability, the deal will provide the province with upwards of $3 billion a year in special disbursements from oil and gas fields now controlled by the central government. Also on the plus side of the ledger is Aceh's rich volcanic soil, which should give it an advantage in agricultural exports. And it sits in a strategic trading location at the tip of Sumatra, a maritime crossroads between India, the Middle East and Southeast Asia.
The obstacles to development are considerable, however. The 169,000 lives lost to the tsunami may have captured the international community's attention, and loosened its purse strings, but the 30-year separatist conflict left deeper scars by preventing investment in both infrastructure and human capital. Remedying these long-term deficits will take sustained effort.
Healing the Wounds
Aid money can build infrastructure, but it also creates its ownheadaches. The huge influx of donor cash has led to localizedinflation and a culture of handouts. Educated, English-speaking Acehnese are in high demand at NGOs, and so enjoy generous salaries. Less-skilled workers can also take lucrative posts driving sport-utility vehicles for the NGOs. But these jobs will not last forever. Investors will be watching to see whether the animal spirits of the local economy begin to stir.
The conflict, as it's called in Aceh, killed an estimated 15,000 people, and systematic terror by government and rebel troops after 1999 left large swathes of the province traumatized. The situation sent business people scurrying for Jakarta and Malaysia; in rural areas, workers and small tenant holders fled their land. Some of the best Arabica coffee country in the world, in Aceh's central highlands, went to seed, along with oil palm, rubber and cocoa plantations throughout the province. Oil and natural gas installations serving fields in the eastern part of the province were often under siege. People who stayed tended a subsistence economy; any substantial business moved 500 kilometers east, to the North Sumatra provincial capital of Medan.
One indicator of problems is that Acehnese are not taking up construction jobs, forcing firms to hire migrants from North Sumatra and Java. The unemployment rate in the province has helds teady at 12% during the boom as the workforce expanded by 5%. Analysts worry about long-term worker participation, especially among ex-combatants. In a World Bank survey among veterans of the Free Aceh Movement, most said they preferred "trader" over roles like "laborer."
Others have visions as grand as Aceh's economic planners. "We're waiting for an industrial company to invest here," says Hasan, a former rebel. He and some friends occasionally sell crushed gravel to construction sites in Banda Aceh to make ends meet. But they also spend a lot of time sitting in the local coffee shop.
The 5,000 or so former rebels, along with much of Aceh's youth, remain poorly educated. The former group was living in the jungle, sometimes burning schools to retaliate against the Indonesian government. And as the economy worsened in thep rovince, fewer people could manage fees for schools that were left.
"The priority is definitely how to improve the quality of our human resources," says Rahman Lubis, head of the planning arm of the Aceh government, who ticks off projects to map skills deficits and send students abroad for university. Close to one-third of Aceh's bulging budget is to be dedicated to education.
Whatever their shortcomings of talent and education, Acehnese have a unique pride and resilience, grounded in a strong Islamic faith that came to the fore during a harrowing last few years. There's an ongoing debate in the province and throughout Indonesia about whether conservative Islamic social norms in Aceh (adultery, for instance, is sometimes punished by public lashing) will hurt the business climate. It's impossible to answer definitively, short of some multinational admitting it skipped the province for its Shariah laws.
But so far the Acehnese brand of faith seems to have helped the province more than hurt it. "These are copers," says Sasha Muench, an economic development specialist who spent two and a half years working in Aceh. Today, with the Indonesian army and rebels behaving themselves(under the scrutiny of the aid community) fear has subsided.
But economic dysfunction remains and it presents in myriad ways. A post-tsunami packaging and branding program aimed at rebuilding local products specified that packaging had to come from Medan, the only place a quality wrapper can be sourced.
"There's still so much trouble involved in doing business here,"says Tarmiyus, the principal in Pt. Pontia Agro Pratam, a construction supply firm which he has been operating from Medan since the tsunami.
"The biggest problem is the lack of capital," he continues. "The banks are so tight." Banks in Indonesia have been notoriously stingy since the Asian financial crisis, and in historically volatile Aceh they are even more conservative. The loan-to-deposit ratio, expressed as a percentage, is hovering around 25% in the province (up some since the tsunami), compared to 65% at the national level last year.
In the plantation agriculture sector, which many development and government officials are pegging to lead Aceh back into the export market, growers are at a stand-still because of the credit situation. They suffered wide-scale defaults as workers left plantations in fear. "We're all basically blacklisted by the banks right now," says Sabri Basyah, a palm-oil plantation owner who is the secretary of the estate growers association in Aceh. Other residual realities from the conflict era include extortion by ex-Free Aceh Movement members and armed highway robberies. The local paper, Serambi, tends to amplify their chilling effectby splashing cartoon re-enactments across the front page. Meanwhile, proceeds from Aceh's oil and gas fields - shared by the province and Jakarta - continue to dip as the reserves there are exhausted.
Optimism Returns
Nevertheless, the development community has seeded a broad return of basic family businesses - roadside convenience shops, cafes, farming operations - and helped spawn new service companies, such as automobile rental companies and Internet providers. And in the traditional Islamic spirit, the money has spread through family and friends throughout the city.
Now, herds of brand new buzzing motorbikes clog the streets, where bulldozers once ploughed the piles of post-tsunami debris like huge drifts of snow. The new look and feel of Aceh has some well-placed leaders dreaming of a bright, cosmopolitan future - a 21st century economy to complement Singapore and Malaysia, just across the Straights of Malacca.
"The origins of Aceh are as a trading hub; Acehnese pepper went to Boston," says Said Faisal, the economic chief of the Indonesian government's reconstruction agency in Aceh. An Acehnese by birth and trained in the insurance industry in America, Mr. Faisal recalls the Acehnese glory days before Dutch colonial meddling, when the sultanate was a key locus of IndianOcean trade, and European emissaries curried favor in Banda Aceh. "The roots are there. And I don't see any obstacles to bringing it back. In five years, the Acehnese will build back the ability to make relationships with the international community."
Aceh Governor Irwandi Yusuf, who's had a dizzying two years of his own, rising from imprisoned Free Aceh Movement leader to democratically elected executive, is juggling a bevy of economic initiatives, from stamping out corruption to halting illegal logging to courting international investors. Meetings with him are punctuated by aides seeking his signature on letters ofapproval for myriad causes and ventures.
Talented Acehnese who fled the province are also returning to win reconstruction contracts and provide consulting work. Achmad Fadhiel worked as a consultant with the International Finance Corporation after the tsunami. He's stayed on to be the CFO of government-owned fertilizer firm Iskander Muda.
"I had mixed feelings," says 42-year-old Mr. Fadhiel, who worked as a corporate banker in Jakarta for 18 years. "It was the same airport terminal building in Banda Aceh as when I left [in 1973,at the age of eight]. But it's about social responsibility. After many years in the banking industry I can give people some advice about financing. I'm having a lot of informal chats."
Everybody seems to be watching the movements of the talented and wealthy among the Acehnese diaspora-pegged at around one million people spread from Malaysia and greater Indonesia all the way to an enclave in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The re-entry of expatriates will send a strong signal to international investors about the health of Aceh. And, equally important, it will spur local businesspeople to take the leap into industries like agricultural and seafood processing and packing, a logical first step in adding value to the Aceh economy. "The question is will the spirit of entrepreneurship come back?" says Paul McMahon, a consultant with the Indonesian reconstruction agency who is organizing an Aceh venture fund for small and medium businesses.
The closest thing to a 21st century reality in Aceh is the port of Sabang on the island of Weh, which thrusts out of the ocean15 kilometers northwest of Banda Aceh. It's the best situated harbor in the province, deep, sheltered and facing the open ocean at the mouth of the Malaccas. Established as a free tradeport by the Dutch at the turn of the last century, today a steady stream of container ships cruise to and from Singapore, Malaysia and China, tantalizingly close but still out of reach.
Sabang promoters are looking to change that. Last October, Irish outfit Dublin Ports agreed to spearhead a major upgrade of the port to accommodate container ships. With modern docks, Sabang could theoretically grab a piece of the trans-shipment trade in Asia from the backed-up gateways in Singapore and Penang, Malaysia and Shanghai. Sabang officials, including new Mayor Munawar Lisa, a former Free Aceh Movement official educated in the U.S., would also like to restore the island's free-trade zone status (which led to steady car imports as recently as 2003).
And island leaders want to redevelop Sabang's whitewashed, Dutch-era stucco shops into a brand-name shopping mecca, centered around a new high-rise hotel. That would complement the island's international backpacker tourism at beach bungalows tucked away in some of Weh's sleepier coves. Already, downtown Sabang has a whiff of international flair, the colonial architectural lines melting into a gold-accented mosqueon the hill above town. There's wireless Internet in the central business district. Divers first discovered the island's reefs in the 1980s and with only light damage from the tsunami, Weh has hosted NGO workers and adventure travelers since early 2005.
Aceh's international connections got a further boost this fall with a new direct flight to Kuala Lumpur. But more than a year after the Irish announced they would build the port, they've still not been able to hash out an agreement with local authorities that will allow Dublin Ports to begin work on the international docks.
It's an indicator of the pace of business in Aceh, as the democratically elected government put in place early this year finds its legs. Still, a Dublin Ports official maintains the limbo period is comparable to other international deals he's worked on, and the company is committed to investing in Aceh. "We're prepared to wait," he says. Asking that his name not be used, he says he hopes docks to serve local Acehnese trade will open at the end of 2008.
So far the only notable trade item of late in Sabang has been a late-model, red Ferrari, which mysteriously showed up in August and led to some wild speculation among locals about the owner. Right now, the port still isn't duty free and with the taxes not paid on the car, it sits in hock with customs officials.
It, even more than the hustle of downtown Aceh, is an apt marker of the hopes of a place emerging from a dark period, and the realities it is slowly overcoming.
Mr. Brooks is a free-lance journalist based in Aceh.
November 2007
The Rebirth Of Aceh
by Oakley Brooks
Just three years after the tsunami turned much of downtown Banda Aceh, Indonesia into a wasteland, the city has swung to the other extreme. Today it has the feeling of a boom town, thanks to$8 billion in aid from the Indonesian government and foreign donors. The question remains, however, whether this money can jumpstart the province's return to its historical role as one of the key entrepots of the region. After the construction dust settles, Aceh should emerge with the best trading infrastructure in Indonesia. Across the province, foreign-funded work crews are busy upgrading ports, airports and roads. A four-lane, United States-funded highway will run down the devastated west coast. Spread across Aceh's four million inhabitants, the aid is three times larger in per capita, inflation-adjusted terms than that spent in post-World War II France, the largest beneficiary of the American Marshall Plan.
None of this would be possible, of course, without the 2005peace agreement between Jakarta and the Free Aceh Movement. As well as bringing stability, the deal will provide the province with upwards of $3 billion a year in special disbursements from oil and gas fields now controlled by the central government. Also on the plus side of the ledger is Aceh's rich volcanic soil, which should give it an advantage in agricultural exports. And it sits in a strategic trading location at the tip of Sumatra, a maritime crossroads between India, the Middle East and Southeast Asia.
The obstacles to development are considerable, however. The 169,000 lives lost to the tsunami may have captured the international community's attention, and loosened its purse strings, but the 30-year separatist conflict left deeper scars by preventing investment in both infrastructure and human capital. Remedying these long-term deficits will take sustained effort.
Healing the Wounds
Aid money can build infrastructure, but it also creates its ownheadaches. The huge influx of donor cash has led to localizedinflation and a culture of handouts. Educated, English-speaking Acehnese are in high demand at NGOs, and so enjoy generous salaries. Less-skilled workers can also take lucrative posts driving sport-utility vehicles for the NGOs. But these jobs will not last forever. Investors will be watching to see whether the animal spirits of the local economy begin to stir.
The conflict, as it's called in Aceh, killed an estimated 15,000 people, and systematic terror by government and rebel troops after 1999 left large swathes of the province traumatized. The situation sent business people scurrying for Jakarta and Malaysia; in rural areas, workers and small tenant holders fled their land. Some of the best Arabica coffee country in the world, in Aceh's central highlands, went to seed, along with oil palm, rubber and cocoa plantations throughout the province. Oil and natural gas installations serving fields in the eastern part of the province were often under siege. People who stayed tended a subsistence economy; any substantial business moved 500 kilometers east, to the North Sumatra provincial capital of Medan.
One indicator of problems is that Acehnese are not taking up construction jobs, forcing firms to hire migrants from North Sumatra and Java. The unemployment rate in the province has helds teady at 12% during the boom as the workforce expanded by 5%. Analysts worry about long-term worker participation, especially among ex-combatants. In a World Bank survey among veterans of the Free Aceh Movement, most said they preferred "trader" over roles like "laborer."
Others have visions as grand as Aceh's economic planners. "We're waiting for an industrial company to invest here," says Hasan, a former rebel. He and some friends occasionally sell crushed gravel to construction sites in Banda Aceh to make ends meet. But they also spend a lot of time sitting in the local coffee shop.
The 5,000 or so former rebels, along with much of Aceh's youth, remain poorly educated. The former group was living in the jungle, sometimes burning schools to retaliate against the Indonesian government. And as the economy worsened in thep rovince, fewer people could manage fees for schools that were left.
"The priority is definitely how to improve the quality of our human resources," says Rahman Lubis, head of the planning arm of the Aceh government, who ticks off projects to map skills deficits and send students abroad for university. Close to one-third of Aceh's bulging budget is to be dedicated to education.
Whatever their shortcomings of talent and education, Acehnese have a unique pride and resilience, grounded in a strong Islamic faith that came to the fore during a harrowing last few years. There's an ongoing debate in the province and throughout Indonesia about whether conservative Islamic social norms in Aceh (adultery, for instance, is sometimes punished by public lashing) will hurt the business climate. It's impossible to answer definitively, short of some multinational admitting it skipped the province for its Shariah laws.
But so far the Acehnese brand of faith seems to have helped the province more than hurt it. "These are copers," says Sasha Muench, an economic development specialist who spent two and a half years working in Aceh. Today, with the Indonesian army and rebels behaving themselves(under the scrutiny of the aid community) fear has subsided.
But economic dysfunction remains and it presents in myriad ways. A post-tsunami packaging and branding program aimed at rebuilding local products specified that packaging had to come from Medan, the only place a quality wrapper can be sourced.
"There's still so much trouble involved in doing business here,"says Tarmiyus, the principal in Pt. Pontia Agro Pratam, a construction supply firm which he has been operating from Medan since the tsunami.
"The biggest problem is the lack of capital," he continues. "The banks are so tight." Banks in Indonesia have been notoriously stingy since the Asian financial crisis, and in historically volatile Aceh they are even more conservative. The loan-to-deposit ratio, expressed as a percentage, is hovering around 25% in the province (up some since the tsunami), compared to 65% at the national level last year.
In the plantation agriculture sector, which many development and government officials are pegging to lead Aceh back into the export market, growers are at a stand-still because of the credit situation. They suffered wide-scale defaults as workers left plantations in fear. "We're all basically blacklisted by the banks right now," says Sabri Basyah, a palm-oil plantation owner who is the secretary of the estate growers association in Aceh. Other residual realities from the conflict era include extortion by ex-Free Aceh Movement members and armed highway robberies. The local paper, Serambi, tends to amplify their chilling effectby splashing cartoon re-enactments across the front page. Meanwhile, proceeds from Aceh's oil and gas fields - shared by the province and Jakarta - continue to dip as the reserves there are exhausted.
Optimism Returns
Nevertheless, the development community has seeded a broad return of basic family businesses - roadside convenience shops, cafes, farming operations - and helped spawn new service companies, such as automobile rental companies and Internet providers. And in the traditional Islamic spirit, the money has spread through family and friends throughout the city.
Now, herds of brand new buzzing motorbikes clog the streets, where bulldozers once ploughed the piles of post-tsunami debris like huge drifts of snow. The new look and feel of Aceh has some well-placed leaders dreaming of a bright, cosmopolitan future - a 21st century economy to complement Singapore and Malaysia, just across the Straights of Malacca.
"The origins of Aceh are as a trading hub; Acehnese pepper went to Boston," says Said Faisal, the economic chief of the Indonesian government's reconstruction agency in Aceh. An Acehnese by birth and trained in the insurance industry in America, Mr. Faisal recalls the Acehnese glory days before Dutch colonial meddling, when the sultanate was a key locus of IndianOcean trade, and European emissaries curried favor in Banda Aceh. "The roots are there. And I don't see any obstacles to bringing it back. In five years, the Acehnese will build back the ability to make relationships with the international community."
Aceh Governor Irwandi Yusuf, who's had a dizzying two years of his own, rising from imprisoned Free Aceh Movement leader to democratically elected executive, is juggling a bevy of economic initiatives, from stamping out corruption to halting illegal logging to courting international investors. Meetings with him are punctuated by aides seeking his signature on letters ofapproval for myriad causes and ventures.
Talented Acehnese who fled the province are also returning to win reconstruction contracts and provide consulting work. Achmad Fadhiel worked as a consultant with the International Finance Corporation after the tsunami. He's stayed on to be the CFO of government-owned fertilizer firm Iskander Muda.
"I had mixed feelings," says 42-year-old Mr. Fadhiel, who worked as a corporate banker in Jakarta for 18 years. "It was the same airport terminal building in Banda Aceh as when I left [in 1973,at the age of eight]. But it's about social responsibility. After many years in the banking industry I can give people some advice about financing. I'm having a lot of informal chats."
Everybody seems to be watching the movements of the talented and wealthy among the Acehnese diaspora-pegged at around one million people spread from Malaysia and greater Indonesia all the way to an enclave in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The re-entry of expatriates will send a strong signal to international investors about the health of Aceh. And, equally important, it will spur local businesspeople to take the leap into industries like agricultural and seafood processing and packing, a logical first step in adding value to the Aceh economy. "The question is will the spirit of entrepreneurship come back?" says Paul McMahon, a consultant with the Indonesian reconstruction agency who is organizing an Aceh venture fund for small and medium businesses.
The closest thing to a 21st century reality in Aceh is the port of Sabang on the island of Weh, which thrusts out of the ocean15 kilometers northwest of Banda Aceh. It's the best situated harbor in the province, deep, sheltered and facing the open ocean at the mouth of the Malaccas. Established as a free tradeport by the Dutch at the turn of the last century, today a steady stream of container ships cruise to and from Singapore, Malaysia and China, tantalizingly close but still out of reach.
Sabang promoters are looking to change that. Last October, Irish outfit Dublin Ports agreed to spearhead a major upgrade of the port to accommodate container ships. With modern docks, Sabang could theoretically grab a piece of the trans-shipment trade in Asia from the backed-up gateways in Singapore and Penang, Malaysia and Shanghai. Sabang officials, including new Mayor Munawar Lisa, a former Free Aceh Movement official educated in the U.S., would also like to restore the island's free-trade zone status (which led to steady car imports as recently as 2003).
And island leaders want to redevelop Sabang's whitewashed, Dutch-era stucco shops into a brand-name shopping mecca, centered around a new high-rise hotel. That would complement the island's international backpacker tourism at beach bungalows tucked away in some of Weh's sleepier coves. Already, downtown Sabang has a whiff of international flair, the colonial architectural lines melting into a gold-accented mosqueon the hill above town. There's wireless Internet in the central business district. Divers first discovered the island's reefs in the 1980s and with only light damage from the tsunami, Weh has hosted NGO workers and adventure travelers since early 2005.
Aceh's international connections got a further boost this fall with a new direct flight to Kuala Lumpur. But more than a year after the Irish announced they would build the port, they've still not been able to hash out an agreement with local authorities that will allow Dublin Ports to begin work on the international docks.
It's an indicator of the pace of business in Aceh, as the democratically elected government put in place early this year finds its legs. Still, a Dublin Ports official maintains the limbo period is comparable to other international deals he's worked on, and the company is committed to investing in Aceh. "We're prepared to wait," he says. Asking that his name not be used, he says he hopes docks to serve local Acehnese trade will open at the end of 2008.
So far the only notable trade item of late in Sabang has been a late-model, red Ferrari, which mysteriously showed up in August and led to some wild speculation among locals about the owner. Right now, the port still isn't duty free and with the taxes not paid on the car, it sits in hock with customs officials.
It, even more than the hustle of downtown Aceh, is an apt marker of the hopes of a place emerging from a dark period, and the realities it is slowly overcoming.
Mr. Brooks is a free-lance journalist based in Aceh.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
A weekend in ... Bali. yay!
I just spent the best weekend in Bali - nothing like escaping one
beautiful, little under-developed tropical island for another beautiful,
bigger, overdeveloped one.
My mate Rob, from Adelaide, told me a month or two ago that he was attending a wedding in Bali for his friend Greg, who was marrying an Indonesian girl. So I invited myself along as his hot date and was the official gatecrasher for the day.
I arrived Fri night and went to a gorgeous little resort in the rice paddies around Legian, where we had some nice food and drinks with the group of Aussie friends and family. Spent half of the night in the pool, which was wicked :)
Saturday morning Rob and I headed for a lovely spa resort and got ourselves a Balinese special spa and scrub treatment, to relax ourselves for the celebrations of the afternoon ... while the massage and scrub were relaxing, we arrived late back at the hotel and had a mad rush to get ready (in about 15 mins) to leave for the wedding. But made it in time, and from the hotel we caught a bus up the hill to the wedding venue.
The venue was somewhere north of Kuta, on a hill top overlooking the sea. You could see down to the beach over the top of beautiful pink and orange beauganvilleas. It was an amazing traditional West Javan wedding, and the wedding costumes were beautiful. Greg works in the oil industry in Kuala Lumpur, and his bride Vita is from an Indonesian oil industry family, so there were plenty of important people there, not to mention that the wedding was totally lavish]. At the entrance to the venue were about ten large, gaudy signs from a range of oil companies, wishing the couple a happy wedding. Crazy!
Being traditional, Greg had to convert to Islam and go through quite a lengthy preparation process. The ceremony went for quite some time - about 3 hours - and involved a number of important religious and family figures. There was even explicit statements of the wedding 'contract' that Greg had to agree to before signing along the dotted line. It was really interesting to witness.
The reception celebrations were great. What I liked about them were the traditions that symbolise different things in a marriage, that are missed out of a typical western wedding. There were also lots of fun things, like the couple and their parents throwing lollies and gifts over their heads to the crowd, which ensured a mad scramble!
The logistics of the wedding were perfect, with the arrival of the bride and groom (in a new costume, #349302) time perfectly with the beautiful sunset. Once they were seated on stage (it really felt like watching royalty, and the wedding seemed like it was mostly for show and status - but I think this is normal in Indonesian culture!), there was a traditional dancing and drumming show which was great as well.
...and the wedding was alcohol free... which for us Aussies was a bit difficult to handle given that the wedding was at 2pm and didn't finish til 6:30. So by the time the food came out we were starving and really in need of a beer... I was just happy with the food - so many things I can't get here in Simeulue: mushrooms (4 types), capsicum (all colours), lasagne, red meat, not to mention ICECREAM (4 flavours, fudge sauce and SPRINKLES!). The only alcohol we had was the rum in the rum 'n' raisin icecream!
Afterwards we headed out on the town in Legian, we were a group of about 10 people. Hit up a couple of bars before the remaining crew (which was only 6 of us by the time we left the bar at 1am) cruised to one of the biggest clubs in Bali - the Karma Sutra. Classic name. There was a quite dodgy cover band on stage, and drinks were expensive but it was good fun getting out on the dance floor and we were a bit of a novelty for the locals! After getting home around 3:30 we jumped in the pool and had a few more beers before turning in around 5.
Unfortunately the fun had to end Sunday afternoon, and the day disappeared due to sleep and a late breakfast!
Bali was ok, but just as I expected. If I ever go back there I'm getting right out of Kuta and Legian and all that crappy touristy stuff. The reason I haven't been to Bali is because there are so many Aussies there, and I can drink in a pub with Aussies back at home. The other side of it is that many of them are old (50+) and gross and picking up hot 20 year old Indonesian girls. Yuck! What surprised me though was how empty the place seemed - I guess it's still a hangover from the bombings, plus it's not quite peak season yet - that's in December. The club we went to was probably only about 1/4 full. Still, I was happy with that - the less drunk Australians the better.
So anyway Rob, if you're reading this, thanks a bunch for a great weekend and letting me gatecrash Greg's wedding. Next time you'll have to make it to Simeulue.
My mate Rob, from Adelaide, told me a month or two ago that he was attending a wedding in Bali for his friend Greg, who was marrying an Indonesian girl. So I invited myself along as his hot date and was the official gatecrasher for the day.
I arrived Fri night and went to a gorgeous little resort in the rice paddies around Legian, where we had some nice food and drinks with the group of Aussie friends and family. Spent half of the night in the pool, which was wicked :)
Saturday morning Rob and I headed for a lovely spa resort and got ourselves a Balinese special spa and scrub treatment, to relax ourselves for the celebrations of the afternoon ... while the massage and scrub were relaxing, we arrived late back at the hotel and had a mad rush to get ready (in about 15 mins) to leave for the wedding. But made it in time, and from the hotel we caught a bus up the hill to the wedding venue.
The venue was somewhere north of Kuta, on a hill top overlooking the sea. You could see down to the beach over the top of beautiful pink and orange beauganvilleas. It was an amazing traditional West Javan wedding, and the wedding costumes were beautiful. Greg works in the oil industry in Kuala Lumpur, and his bride Vita is from an Indonesian oil industry family, so there were plenty of important people there, not to mention that the wedding was totally lavish]. At the entrance to the venue were about ten large, gaudy signs from a range of oil companies, wishing the couple a happy wedding. Crazy!
Being traditional, Greg had to convert to Islam and go through quite a lengthy preparation process. The ceremony went for quite some time - about 3 hours - and involved a number of important religious and family figures. There was even explicit statements of the wedding 'contract' that Greg had to agree to before signing along the dotted line. It was really interesting to witness.
The reception celebrations were great. What I liked about them were the traditions that symbolise different things in a marriage, that are missed out of a typical western wedding. There were also lots of fun things, like the couple and their parents throwing lollies and gifts over their heads to the crowd, which ensured a mad scramble!
The logistics of the wedding were perfect, with the arrival of the bride and groom (in a new costume, #349302) time perfectly with the beautiful sunset. Once they were seated on stage (it really felt like watching royalty, and the wedding seemed like it was mostly for show and status - but I think this is normal in Indonesian culture!), there was a traditional dancing and drumming show which was great as well.
...and the wedding was alcohol free... which for us Aussies was a bit difficult to handle given that the wedding was at 2pm and didn't finish til 6:30. So by the time the food came out we were starving and really in need of a beer... I was just happy with the food - so many things I can't get here in Simeulue: mushrooms (4 types), capsicum (all colours), lasagne, red meat, not to mention ICECREAM (4 flavours, fudge sauce and SPRINKLES!). The only alcohol we had was the rum in the rum 'n' raisin icecream!
Afterwards we headed out on the town in Legian, we were a group of about 10 people. Hit up a couple of bars before the remaining crew (which was only 6 of us by the time we left the bar at 1am) cruised to one of the biggest clubs in Bali - the Karma Sutra. Classic name. There was a quite dodgy cover band on stage, and drinks were expensive but it was good fun getting out on the dance floor and we were a bit of a novelty for the locals! After getting home around 3:30 we jumped in the pool and had a few more beers before turning in around 5.
Unfortunately the fun had to end Sunday afternoon, and the day disappeared due to sleep and a late breakfast!
Bali was ok, but just as I expected. If I ever go back there I'm getting right out of Kuta and Legian and all that crappy touristy stuff. The reason I haven't been to Bali is because there are so many Aussies there, and I can drink in a pub with Aussies back at home. The other side of it is that many of them are old (50+) and gross and picking up hot 20 year old Indonesian girls. Yuck! What surprised me though was how empty the place seemed - I guess it's still a hangover from the bombings, plus it's not quite peak season yet - that's in December. The club we went to was probably only about 1/4 full. Still, I was happy with that - the less drunk Australians the better.
So anyway Rob, if you're reading this, thanks a bunch for a great weekend and letting me gatecrash Greg's wedding. Next time you'll have to make it to Simeulue.
f*@$#(g indonesian airlines, again!
If you thought I'd had enough stuffing around in airports, here's another tale.
I spent another 5 hours on Sunday coming back from Bali... first I had to fly from Denpasar to Jakarta, then Jakarta to Medan before a short flight on Monday morning back to Simeulue (a lot of travelling considering it's not actually that far. About 4 1/2 hours flying).
Surprisingly I made it to Jakarta without incident. But then...
My flight from Jakarta to Medan was delayed by 2 hours, so I paid $40 to change my ticket to another airline and earlier flight. Then when I went to the boarding gate, they told me THAT flight was delayed by 2 hours due to mechanical problems, and wouldn't leave til 10pm - an hour after my original flight. Talk about pissed off! I was ready to swing a punch...
Then, to top it off, considering I had so much time on my hands and didn't want to sit in the boring, dark lounge for another two hours (well, had already been waiting for ages), I went for a wander for a while - and almost missed my plane! In the meantime they had rectified the mechanical problem early, called the flight (in the lounge only) and the plane left an hour early... I had to sprint to the plane, and was the last to board... bloody hell!
I'm sure there will be plenty more tales like this to come!
I spent another 5 hours on Sunday coming back from Bali... first I had to fly from Denpasar to Jakarta, then Jakarta to Medan before a short flight on Monday morning back to Simeulue (a lot of travelling considering it's not actually that far. About 4 1/2 hours flying).
Surprisingly I made it to Jakarta without incident. But then...
My flight from Jakarta to Medan was delayed by 2 hours, so I paid $40 to change my ticket to another airline and earlier flight. Then when I went to the boarding gate, they told me THAT flight was delayed by 2 hours due to mechanical problems, and wouldn't leave til 10pm - an hour after my original flight. Talk about pissed off! I was ready to swing a punch...
Then, to top it off, considering I had so much time on my hands and didn't want to sit in the boring, dark lounge for another two hours (well, had already been waiting for ages), I went for a wander for a while - and almost missed my plane! In the meantime they had rectified the mechanical problem early, called the flight (in the lounge only) and the plane left an hour early... I had to sprint to the plane, and was the last to board... bloody hell!
I'm sure there will be plenty more tales like this to come!
Good weather for ducks.
Ahhh it's just started PISSING down again, welcome to my life!
It's always raining here, and it doesn't just rain, it buckets down. Good thing is they are intermittent showers most of the time... although it's the rainy season now, so it can set in and rain heavily for a good hour or even a whole morning.
There is so much water lying around, the island has a really high water table and not very good drainage, so it's sodden all the time. Amazing. Some of the houses that have been built for people are constantly surrounded by water.
Not surprisingly, malaria and dengue are a problem in this place.
It's always raining here, and it doesn't just rain, it buckets down. Good thing is they are intermittent showers most of the time... although it's the rainy season now, so it can set in and rain heavily for a good hour or even a whole morning.
There is so much water lying around, the island has a really high water table and not very good drainage, so it's sodden all the time. Amazing. Some of the houses that have been built for people are constantly surrounded by water.
Not surprisingly, malaria and dengue are a problem in this place.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
My usual ramblings
Well thank god it's not raining today. It has been pouring down in
this place almost all of last week and the entire weekend, making it
very difficult to get outside and do things.
I spent last week in Salang doing a monitoring and evaluation of our WatSan program. Marty (our Monitoring and Evaluation delegate) came over from Banda Aceh and we had a week-long program of beneficiary surveys, GPS-ing of the location of our latrines, meetings with field staff and compiling information. It was good fun, especially going around to the households and interviewing people in the pouring rain, and teaching the field officers how to use the GPS. And playing frisbee with the local kids on the road. In a few weeks we'll compile all our info and make a pretty report for the big wigs.
This week we've properly kickstarted a revamp of how we procure, warehouse and deliver all our WatSan materials, in conjunction with our Logistics and Finance people. The reason behind it is to be more efficient, in order to meet our December 08 finishing deadline. Currently we're only building about 15 latrines a month; to finish on time we have to build close to 60. So lots of work to do.
So in logistics terms, instead of sending over septic tanks and cement and other goodies by the very unreliable Sinabang ferry, and getting a lot of other materials locally (either through suppliers here in Sinabang, or supplied by the community which is cheap but really slow), we're going to get everything from Medan in much larger quantities and stick it on a landing barge that can deliver it directly to our field site, where we'll build a big new warehouse. Then we don't have to truck everything from Sinabang on crappy roads, which takes forever. We only have to truck it from the port to the warehouse and to each household. Should be much faster and more cost efficient. I'm pretty excited at the prospect of it actually, hoping to have it up and running by January.
But what I'm more excited about is going to Bali on Friday - yay! I am gatecrashing the wedding of my friend Rob, well it's not his wedding but he's going, so I'm gonna be his hot date. Should be great fun. I've had lots of fun and games getting tickets back though, because my original return flights were cancelled, bastards... so it's ended up costing me a lot more! Still, it will be worth it for all the good fun we're gonna have, plus getting off this island is always a good idea, and I'm also looking forward to wearing shorts, and just bathers to swim in. Hoorah!
Not much else to add really. Bye.
I spent last week in Salang doing a monitoring and evaluation of our WatSan program. Marty (our Monitoring and Evaluation delegate) came over from Banda Aceh and we had a week-long program of beneficiary surveys, GPS-ing of the location of our latrines, meetings with field staff and compiling information. It was good fun, especially going around to the households and interviewing people in the pouring rain, and teaching the field officers how to use the GPS. And playing frisbee with the local kids on the road. In a few weeks we'll compile all our info and make a pretty report for the big wigs.
This week we've properly kickstarted a revamp of how we procure, warehouse and deliver all our WatSan materials, in conjunction with our Logistics and Finance people. The reason behind it is to be more efficient, in order to meet our December 08 finishing deadline. Currently we're only building about 15 latrines a month; to finish on time we have to build close to 60. So lots of work to do.
So in logistics terms, instead of sending over septic tanks and cement and other goodies by the very unreliable Sinabang ferry, and getting a lot of other materials locally (either through suppliers here in Sinabang, or supplied by the community which is cheap but really slow), we're going to get everything from Medan in much larger quantities and stick it on a landing barge that can deliver it directly to our field site, where we'll build a big new warehouse. Then we don't have to truck everything from Sinabang on crappy roads, which takes forever. We only have to truck it from the port to the warehouse and to each household. Should be much faster and more cost efficient. I'm pretty excited at the prospect of it actually, hoping to have it up and running by January.
But what I'm more excited about is going to Bali on Friday - yay! I am gatecrashing the wedding of my friend Rob, well it's not his wedding but he's going, so I'm gonna be his hot date. Should be great fun. I've had lots of fun and games getting tickets back though, because my original return flights were cancelled, bastards... so it's ended up costing me a lot more! Still, it will be worth it for all the good fun we're gonna have, plus getting off this island is always a good idea, and I'm also looking forward to wearing shorts, and just bathers to swim in. Hoorah!
Not much else to add really. Bye.
Friday, November 2, 2007
2nd Nov ramblings :)
I came back from a day trip to Salang last night. Japanese Red Cross
organised a big handing over ceremony for their housing and health
centre projects, which are now finished there. They invited all the big
wigs from JRC, the Federation (or IFRC, which coordinates all of the RC
societies), the local construction authority BRR and even the governor
of Aceh. The NGOs on Sim were also invited, as well as the locals.
They set up stalls with activities for kids, food to sell, beautiful crafts from Salang to buy and even a stage for local dancing and a singing contest at the end of the afternoon! It was a good day and it went really well. Chigusa, the Japanese delegate who organised all the festivities, has been stressed for the last month, and was looking pretty tired yesterday by the end! But I think she was generally happy with the result.
Unforutnately the govt also organised the official opening of the new Lasikin airport terminal (a very fancy building for such a little island with hardly any visitors!), which meant that all the important people didn't arrive until 4pm (was supposed to start at 2), so a late start meant a late finish.
We are not supposed to travel at night here, becaues the roads are so dodgy, but I just wanted to get home - and I'm glad I did because we have a teleconference with Melbourne office this morning that was organised yesterday! - and by the time we left, which was 6:45 - it had already started to get dark. Luckily we made it back in under 2 hours - which is a record, our driver Misbah went a bit faster than normal!
The head of IFRC is a New Zealand bloke based in Banda Aceh, and he and his daughter (who was visiting on holiday) came to dinner with us Wed night at my boss' place. So it was good to meet them and have some nice Indonesian food and a few bevvies.
We have a week-long Monitoring and Evaluation of our WatSan program next week, which will really help us to know exactly where we're at and how things are going. We have an M&E delegate, Marty, coming here specifically for this purpose. He's a champ too, he's from Adelaide and I did my Red Cross training with him back in 2005. There will be G&T!
In terms of my health and well-being (as you're all very concerned), I'm feeling fine. Not overly tired or anything, just back to normal I think. I've been out and about in the field, active on the weekends, and so far it's all good. Everyone is BA is getting sick though - when I was there this week people were sounding terrble and half of them were working from home (or just trying to sleep it off!). I really hope I haven't picked up something from them, as I've gotta be here next week for this visit to Salang.
Rah! that's all.
They set up stalls with activities for kids, food to sell, beautiful crafts from Salang to buy and even a stage for local dancing and a singing contest at the end of the afternoon! It was a good day and it went really well. Chigusa, the Japanese delegate who organised all the festivities, has been stressed for the last month, and was looking pretty tired yesterday by the end! But I think she was generally happy with the result.
Unforutnately the govt also organised the official opening of the new Lasikin airport terminal (a very fancy building for such a little island with hardly any visitors!), which meant that all the important people didn't arrive until 4pm (was supposed to start at 2), so a late start meant a late finish.
We are not supposed to travel at night here, becaues the roads are so dodgy, but I just wanted to get home - and I'm glad I did because we have a teleconference with Melbourne office this morning that was organised yesterday! - and by the time we left, which was 6:45 - it had already started to get dark. Luckily we made it back in under 2 hours - which is a record, our driver Misbah went a bit faster than normal!
The head of IFRC is a New Zealand bloke based in Banda Aceh, and he and his daughter (who was visiting on holiday) came to dinner with us Wed night at my boss' place. So it was good to meet them and have some nice Indonesian food and a few bevvies.
We have a week-long Monitoring and Evaluation of our WatSan program next week, which will really help us to know exactly where we're at and how things are going. We have an M&E delegate, Marty, coming here specifically for this purpose. He's a champ too, he's from Adelaide and I did my Red Cross training with him back in 2005. There will be G&T!
In terms of my health and well-being (as you're all very concerned), I'm feeling fine. Not overly tired or anything, just back to normal I think. I've been out and about in the field, active on the weekends, and so far it's all good. Everyone is BA is getting sick though - when I was there this week people were sounding terrble and half of them were working from home (or just trying to sleep it off!). I really hope I haven't picked up something from them, as I've gotta be here next week for this visit to Salang.
Rah! that's all.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)