Tiro hailed as peace hero, while Martti enjoying prize for Aceh peace
Written by Writer on Tuesday, October 14th, 2008
Tiro hailed as peace hero, while Martti enjoying prize for Aceh peace
By Eliswan Azly
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The world seems to be small in the eyes of the God. Who can predict that a person in the past regarded as a separatist who had to abandon this world largest archipelagic country from the military crackdown is then hailed as a hero of peace upon his homecoming in his place of origin, Aceh.
In the meantime, a man like former Finnish President Martti Ahtasaari who had facilitated the peace talks is now able to enjoy a US$1.4 million Nobel Peace prize without taking much time to the road of a success. It sounds rather unusual, but it is a fact.
Having lived in self-exile for over 30 years in Sweden, Hasan Tiro, top leader of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), was greeted as a hero of peace upon his return to Aceh, while Martti Ahtisaari who had mediated the peace talks between the Indonesian government Indonesia and GAM several years ago was awarded a Nobel Prize for Peace in Aceh.
“Anything beyond our fancy can happen in the world if Almight Allah SWT fulfilled the intention of those wishing for peace among them,” Dahlan Ahmad of the Islamic Propagation Council here said on Sunday.
Deafening shouts of `Allahu Akbar! and `Long live Wali Nanggroe` greeted the long-awaited senior Aceh figure, Hasan Tiro, who arrived in the capital of Nanggroe Aceh Darusalam (NAD) on Saturday after being away in Stockholm for almost 30 years.
The “Wali” or “inheritor” of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, and the leader of the former Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in self-exile, was in tears as he saw the crowds in every inch of the field of the Baiturrahman Mosque, witnesses said.
Tiro, 83, who landed at 11 a.m. on a chartered flight from Kuala Lumpur along with an entourage, immediately kneeled and kissed the ground on arrival. He had been so impatient to come, he kept looking out the window of the plane, said Malik Mahmood, GAM`s former prime minister in its shadow cabinet, at an afternoon press conference.
Throngs greeted Tiro, now a Swedish citizen, along the road from the airport to downtown. The meeting at the mosque with thousands of Acehnese who had been streaming into the capital for days was the peak of Saturday`s welcome of the leader who had fled his homeland in self-exile in 1979. He had briefly led GAM combatants in the late 1970s and was among those who had been hunted down by the Indonesian military.
His reputation had continued to grow “from mouth to mouth” and from one generation to the next, locals say, despite his long absence. “We missed him so much, that`s why we`ve come all this way to meet him,” said a young well-wisher from Pasai in North Aceh.
But on Saturday, after mounting a podium erected in front of the mosque, his only words were, “I am happy to have arrived in Aceh (Lon ka troeh u tanoeh Aceh), Allahu akbar!”
He then sat down as Mahmood read out Tiro`s statement which invoked for the Acehnese shared losses and unprecedented achievements of peace.
Some voiced disappointment loudly at Tiro`s brief address, an anti-climax after days of anticipation, but there were shouts and claps again as they heard the statement.
Dispelling lingering doubts of peace in Aceh, especially among Acehnese themselves, Tiro said in the speech that, “The freedom and peace across Aceh today is a precious gift given by Allah to Aceh. Never before in Aceh`s history of colonialism and occupation by foreign nations, have the people gained freedom and peace in general as today.”
Nobel prize for Aceh peace
Amidst high honor Tiro had received upon his homecoming, former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari was either honored as peace broker for having helped end the decade-long civil war or a lucky prize winner of a sum of money from the Nobel Prize organizing committee.
Honored for efforts to resolve conflicts in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East, Martti helped bring together the Indonesian government and leaders of Aceh`s separatist guerrilla movement.
The two sides signed an agreement to end fighting in 2005. Martti helped bring an end to fighting .. it`s now up to us to secure the peace, he said.
Aceh, an oil- and gas-rich province of 4 million people on Sumatra island`s northern tip, had known almost constant warfare for more than 140 years, with at least 15,000 people killed in the last round of fighting, which broke out in 1976.
Many of those who died were civilians caught up in army sweeps of remote villages.
As part of the Helsinki deal, the rebels gave up their long-held demand for independence and handed over all their arms. In exchange, the government allowed them to participate in local politics.
Umar Abduh, 44, as quoted by the Jakarta Post, said he and others were proud and happy to learn that the prize had gone to Martti.
“He played a great role in bringing peace to Aceh,” the local government worker said. “We can now enjoy our life, instead of living in fear.”
The Dec. 26, 2004 tsunami that claimed more than 170,000 lives in Aceh alone also helped speed an end to the fighting, with the government and separatists both saying they did not want to add to the suffering.
“In a meeting with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Martti said it was uncommon to see the implementation of a peace agreement run smoother than the road to the agreement itself. He also expects that the political process in Aceh will progress smoothly as well,” Presidential spokesman Dino Patti Djalal told the media.
“Martti said he was impressed by the development in the province, especially on how the education system in the province has managed to match graduates with requirements in the work force. He said it showed good progress after the Helsinki MOU,” State Secretary/Minister Hatta Rajasa said in a press conference.
In the meeting President Yudhoyono briefed Martti on all the progress made in the province, including a former Free Aceh Movement (GAM) official becoming the province`s governor in the first direct elections last year.
Hence, all parties engaged in the peace talks could be put in the category of fortunate peace loving persons. What President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Vice President Yusuf Kalla have received was certainly peace as dreamt of by the people in Aceh and undoubtful blessing of Almighty Allah SWT upon efforts to create peace on earth, Dahlan said in his capacity as Chairman of Islamic Rulings of the Islamic Propagation Council.
