Word: irwandi
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...through the roof and got away. We know the rest: nearly 170,000 people dead in Aceh, a gargantuan relief effort, and-amid the tragedy-a historic peace deal between G.A.M. and the Indonesian government. But Iskander's story didn't end there. In fact, it's just beginning. Irwandi Yusuf-his real name-was last week sworn in as the first directly elected governor of Aceh province...
...Irwandi, as I can now call him, won nearly 40% of the vote, twice that of his nearest challenger. But he insists he was a reluctant candidate. "Being a governor is like being in prison-I will lose my freedom," he recently told reporters. His reluctance is understandable: 4 million Acehnese now pin their hopes on Irwandi Yusuf as he starts one of the toughest jobs in Indonesia...
...Guerrilla movements tend to form shaky governments; just look at the other end of the Indonesian archipelago, where East Timor is still mired in poverty and violence years after its hard-won independence. Yet Irwandi was never a gun-toting guerrilla. A veterinarian by training and a university lecturer by profession, he led a double life as an underground G.A.M. campaigner based in Banda Aceh. That, hopefully, has equipped him with the wiles to navigate Aceh's complex political and religious scene...
...Improving the welfare of his people is Irwandi's top priority, of course. In theory he has the financial wherewithal to achieve this: Aceh is rich in natural resources, particularly oil and gas. So far, though, these riches have mainly profited the national treasury or the oil Goliath ExxonMobil, or simply lined the pockets of corrupt officials. Keeping Aceh's wealth in Aceh, and then directing it to where it's desperately needed-housing, infrastructure, job creation-will be Irwandi's biggest test...
...succeed, he must mediate between an Aceh not yet prepared to trust its old oppressors-the central government and the military-and a Jakarta still unconvinced of the new governor's loyalty to the nation. (At his inauguration inside the parliament building in Banda Aceh, Irwandi stood politely as the Indonesian anthem played, while Acehnese watching via screens outside jeered.) In return for G.A.M. abandoning its claim for independence, Jakarta has promised Aceh greater autonomy over its own affairs. But Irwandi must still win over a local legislature packed with pro-Jakarta nationalists and reform a dysfunctional bureaucracy which, with...