Jakarta - There has been a controversy swirling over recent reports that Aceh-Nias Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Agency (BRR) chairman Kuntoro Mangkusubroto said the implementation of sharia in Aceh was hindering development. To help clear the air, The Jakarta Post`s Riyadi Suparno and Alvin Darlanika Soedarjo interviewed Kuntoro about this issue, the agency`s work and the future of Aceh following the BRR`s scheduled departure in 2009. The following are excerpts.
Question: There have been protests over your recent statements about sharia and development in Aceh. Can you explain your stance on this issue?
Answer: I never said that sharia hindered development in Aceh. That is a profound statement. Also, as the chairman of the BRR, I am not in a position to judge. As a Muslim, I`m also bound by sharia. These are three important things that should be underlined.
In the past 30 months I have been visited a lot of times by foreign guests, such as prime ministers, ministers, delegations from the Red Cross, the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank, other donors and businessmen.
Almost all of them have asked me about sharia. So I think we need to explain to them how sharia is being implemented.
What most foreigners perceive of sharia is the lashing punishment, such as those broadcast and published widely by the CNN and BBC.
The perception that sharia is lashing needs to be wiped out. So it is the challenge for us to explain sharia in as comprehensive a manner as possible in about five to 10 minutes. The visitors only have a small amount of time here.
We have to straighten this as soon as possible. Religious leaders, academics, the State Islamic University and people from the Sharia Council need to put this on their agenda.
You are also facing corruption charges inside the BRR. How do you respond to such allegations?
International people know that our country is not really a clean country.
Inside the BRR itself, I can`t say that there is no corruption. We have 5,000 projects so far. I know that there is corruption in the fishing vessel procurement scheme.
We are in the position that if we find out about graft, then we report it to the law enforcers. But we also do a follow-up in studying why it occurred in the first place.
We set up certain systems inside the BRR to prevent this, such as identity checkers, anti-corruption team, monitoring council and a financial information system from Ernst and Young. If we find anything suspicious, then we will ask for a further audit and investigation.
How is the agency`s reconstruction and rehabilitation work in Aceh progressing?
By next month we will have completed the construction of 100,000 houses. There hasn`t been another project besides us that has successfully built 100,000 houses in 30 months. Compared to (projects done) in Honduras following Hurricane Mitch, Gujarat in India, Bam in Iran or Kobe in Japan, we have made a record.
In April next year, we are going to stop all construction for housing because it is already adequate.
Also for health clinics, we have a total that is higher than the national average.
We are also progressing well in the construction of infrastructure such as roads, seaports and airports.
Overall, US$6.4 billion out $7 billion, or Rp 65 trillion, has been spent or committed. The remaining will be spent through 2009.
Rarely has there been a project in the world that received the disbursement of more than 30 percent of the promised aid.
So, from the reconstruction and rehabilitation side, we have made significant progress.
What has been the biggest challenge for your work in Aceh?
Parallel working. For example, we have had to build housing where there were no roads or infrastructure whatsoever. So we built them altogether. There is a chance for excessive materials and incompatible output.
Logistics is also a problem. Shipping materials to an island which has a damaged seaport requires extraordinary procedures.
As for non-technical aspects, the development planning in those areas needed the involvement of local communities. After a natural disaster like an earthquake, the boundary between people`s houses can still be visible. However, the tsunami wiped out all the lines that separated one house from another. So the involvement of the people was important. They decided on how large their houses and yards were going to be.
The plan should also strive to make villages much better than before. So far, the decisions made by communities have been good. But this is a time-consuming process.
Those who survived the disaster are traumatized. But we approach them in a good way and this is also a way to heal them psychologically.
BRR will finish its work in April 2009. What will happen next?
We will leave Aceh in April 2009. If we stay there longer development in Aceh could be hampered. Our on-time exit from Aceh will be good for all sides.
Sustainability after we leave for good can only be reached by developing the economy, which is tightly linked with investment.
We are happy to see a lot of interest from overseas and local companies to invest. However, overall investment is very limited. How can we expand employment if investment is still limited? This is our challenge.
About 15,000 former Free Aceh Movement (GAM) members are now looking for jobs. They have very specific skills (fighting) and we have to transform those skills into useful skills, such as construction, trade and others.
Unfortunately, we haven`t seen much of this.
After living in Aceh for a while, how do you see the prospect for peace in Aceh?
The prospect for peace is very good. But don`t assume that peace will be sustained without our continued efforts to maintain it. Efforts to maintain (peace) should start from providing employment, eradicating poverty, reducing inter-regional gaps and addressing problems related to lack of development.
This is key. Conflicts can flare up again if we don`t address these problems. Differences and gaps can cause envy and bring conflict. Unemployment, if not addressed, can also cause unrest.
So, peace is not only about the memorandum of understanding that has already been signed. Peace is about how we maintain it. If we really want to keep it, we have to deal with these things, i.e. eliminating poverty, reducing unemployment and inter-regional gaps, as well as envy among social groups.
Source: blog.tv2.dk (22 November 2007)
