You can feel the difference between a peaceful society and a post-conflict one... there is no such thing as social peace and order here... and for once, let's get out of Banda Aceh to get a real sense of what's going on here.. I don't know if some of you remember pictures and stories from Lhokseumawe, a town six hours from Banda where we have a field office... I was down there to conduct field surveys...
Well, my collegue is currently down there to close our office there.. Our programs are finished. Late last night, a group of twenty men from the "village" (actually just a bunch of violent idiots who probably came from all over town) showed up at the office where the moving truck was and started threatening our staff. They wanted to be hired to "move" us (meaning filling in the truck) for 1 million 500 thousand rupiah. We already had someone doing it for 500 thousand. They became violent and angry when our staff told them that off course they would not pay three times the price. This morning, they came back, and stopped all activities in the office. They went up towards our drivers and other staff carrying things and threatened to beat them up if they did not stop immediately. Our staff closed the gates and locked themselves in the office and called the police... The "police" came, meaning two officers who started negotiating the amount instead of immediately telling the people to leave. This group of men have NO rights whatsoever... But they are putting pressure on other people and getting what they want from it.. In the end, one of our staffs agreed to give 200 thousand rupiah more and therefore paying them 700 thousand roupiahs. It was accepted, and that group carried the office furniture into the truck, not forgetting to steal several things on the way.
It's scary how groups of people can have such a power on others.. The threats are still very much taken seriously, probably as much as during conflict times. Of all people present, even the police, nobody reminded these people they had no business being in our office and that they had no revendications to bring.
The wounds of a post-conflict society are hard to heal. And actually, after the blissful immediate post-peace agreement period, I'm scared Aceh is getting back on the wrong tracks.. Only time will set that record straight.
Let's end on a much more positive note: here are some of my GTZ colleagues!
Intant, Nanda and HaniMatthias, far right, Hani, center, and another Matthias behind the camera...
