A `mission impossible` toward peace in Aceh

Jakarta- When a couple of buddies saw the cover of this book titled To See the Unseen, Scenes behind the Aceh Peace Treaty, they asked, Have you finished reading the book? May I borrow it?"

Like a good appetizer, the cover tempts people to delve into the book.

It is worth reading not only because it brings attention to the Aceh conflict issue, but also because it contains thrills, suspense and real-life experiences of Farid Husain, the chief figure in the book.

Farid, a doctor, did a very good job as a delegate from the Indonesian government in convincing the rebellious Free Aceh Movement (GAM) -- which has fought for independence over the past three decades -- to enter into peace talks with the Indonesian government.

As a deputy coordinating minister for people‘s welfare, he received a direct instruction from his old friend and boss Jusuf Kalla, then coordinating minister for people‘s welfare and currently Vice President, to make unofficial contact with GAM, and maintain it.

This was necessary to support the Indonesian government‘s intention to bring about peace in the war-ridden province of Aceh.

Equipped with previous experiences of building peace in Poso and Ambon, Farid confidently combined Kalla‘s orders with his own approach. Initially, he met Mahyuddin, an Acehnese with good connections with GAM, in a humble place in Central Jakarta: a food stall in Bendungan Hilir.

As his contacts expanded, Farid had to travel from one country to another to meet more GAM leaders. He also made a dangerous trip to the jungle in Aceh to meet a GAM commander Sofyan Dawood. Somehow, however, things did not always go his way. Failure to carry out plans were common, but he remained dedicated to finishing his job.

On Aug. 6, 2003, he was supposed to leave for Sweden to meet GAM leaders, but a day earlier, a bomb exploded at JW Marriot Hotel, paralyzing nearby offices including the Swedish embassy in Jakarta, where he was meant to pick up his visa.

Unable to get a visa in Jakarta, he rushed to catch a flight to Singapore, injuring his foot in the process. He managed to fly to Singapore, but it took two days to process his visa application. The complicated situation made GAM leaders anxious and they finally decided to cancel the meeting. Farid‘s patience was tested.

Building trust
On another occasion, he was given a "200-percent" promise by his colleague Juha Christensen, who is close to GAM leaders in Sweden, to meet with several GAM leaders in Stockholm. As scheduled, Farid was in the same restaurant with GAM leaders Malik Mahmud, Zaini Abdullah and Bachtiar Abdullah, and a GAM secretary.

They saw each other but GAM leaders refused to meet him. Irritated at the situation, Farid responded with the same tactic, showing his unwillingness to meet them. Because the meeting with GAM leaders failed, Farid was irate at Juha, calling him a liar for breaking his word.

His spontaneous reaction in labeling Juha a liar resulted in an unexpected meeting with former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari, who later became an official mediator for Indonesia-GAM peace talks. The meeting with Ahtisaari was arranged by Juha, who felt guilty at breaking his earlier promise.

After a meeting with Ahtisaari, the process for bringing GAM to the negotiation table became smoother than before. The need for peace talks was accelerated following the Dec. 26, 2004, tsunami in Aceh, which claimed more than 160,000 lives in the westernmost province of Indonesia.

There was a moment in the first meeting between the Indonesian government and GAM delegations from Jan. 27 to Jan. 29, 2005, when Farid spoke up after both parties focused on their disagreements; he suggested they concentrate on the points they had agreed upon.

His courage to speak up earned him sympathy from GAM, and salvaged the talks. Negotiations lasted seven months that year before both parties reached an agreement on Aug. 15, 2005, to end the prolonged conflict in Aceh.

This book offers much from which to learn. A unique approach from Farid, an experienced doctor and a family man, worked well in bringing GAM to the negotiating table. It could well have been a different story had the Indonesian negotiator come from a formal institution like the Foreign Affairs Ministry.

Farid treated GAM like a woman he was courting; thus he pursued them with great persistence. He empathasized with their fight, but also told them that the Indonesian government was sincere in its desire to bring peace to Aceh.

Farid tells us, crucially, that an emotional relationship is a key to building trust.

The story in the book could be compared with a secret-agent story such as Mission Impossible due to its top-level difficulty. Being trapped in unexpected incidents and tricky situations, improvising to escape and physical injury during the mission can be found in the book, encouraging readers to follow every chapter closely.

With a little added fantasy, the book could become a novel or a script for a movie.

However, as the English version of an Indonesian-language work, the book contains grammatical errors, misspellings of names and other inconsistencies.

For example, Hamid Awaluddin is identified as Minister of Law and Legislation in one chapter, but in another as Minister of Law and Regulations, and sometimes Minister of Law and Human Rights.

A little more time spent in editing would make the next edition a perfect read.

Source: www.thejakartapost.com (1 Oktober 2007)
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