Aceh hopes elections bring new lease on life
Source: Reuters
By Achmad Sukarsono MEUNASAH BAK'U, Indonesia, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Teungku Sobirin lost seven children and his home to the tsunami that devastated Indonesia's Aceh province two years ago, but he believes there was a lesson in it for the war-weary province. "God gave us the tsunami to show the conflict was petty and force us to make peace," said the 48-year old village chief on the eve of a landmark election, seen as a key step towards cementing a peace deal. The Dec. 26, 2004 tsunami left 170,000 dead or missing and 500,000 homeless but put pressure on the Indonesian government and the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels to end a conflict that has killed more than 15,000 since 1976. The two sides signed a truce in August 2005 under Finnish mediation and it ushered the province of 4 million people to its first ever direct vote for top executive posts in which former separatists are allowed to run as independent candidates. More than 2.6 million people can vote on Monday at around 8,400 polling stations across the province on the northern tip of Sumatra island with an expected turnout of over 80 percent. As chief of the Meunasah Bak'u village, Sobirin had turned a plot where a women's mosque once stood into an open-air polling station with metal ballot boxes on wooden tables. "People are enthusiastic to vote. We want a new lease on life. We want a leader who will not forget he has reached this stage because of the tsunami," the bearded Muslim man said. Although campaigning ended on Friday across Aceh, many posters and banners still deck houses and trees on the road along its tsunami-hit west coast with slogans such as "Advance the peace process" and "Peace is beautiful". JOBS, HOUSES People said social and political issues like new sharia elements in local laws or Aceh's relations with Jakarta were not their topmost priorities. "We want houses. We want rebuilding. We want jobs. And we want a leader who will not rob funds," said displaced Ibnu Mulia who still lives in a barrack. Eight candidates are running for governor including a former GAM prisoner Irwandi Yusuf who escaped from his cell after waves flooded the jail and ex-caretaker governor Azwar Abubakar who admitted graft has plagued Aceh. "Corruption has existed for years from planning to procurement. The way to tackle it is by fixing the system and giving officials worthy remuneration," Abubakar said. Some experts say GAM's Irwandi could top the count in Monday's gubernatorial race but the latest poll in Aceh's main newspaper on Sunday showed member of the Indonesian parliament Ghazali Abbas leading the pack. Some observers say the race is extremely tight and nobody is likely to grab 25 percent of the vote, the least for one to win the post outright. If that happens, the top two will compete in a run-off which may be held in March 2007. But youths at a roadside said they were not interested in internal political rivalries. "During the war, people were stuck in the middle of two warring elephants, GAM and the army," said a sun-baked Muhammad Helmi, a tsunami survivor. "Now, we have a say and I don't care whether the governor is GAM or not as long as he brings us peace and food."
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