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Viewing cable 07JAKARTA588, Peace Concert Shows that the Acehnese are Putting the Past

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
07JAKARTA588 2007-03-01 10:01 2011-08-24 01:00 UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Embassy Jakarta
VZCZCXRO1539
OO RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHJA #0588 0601001
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 011001Z MAR 07
FM AMEMBASSY JAKARTA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3550
INFO RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 0485
RUEHTC/AMEMBASSY THE HAGUE 3311
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 0268
RUEHWL/AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON 1373
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RHHJJPI/USPACOM HONOLULU HI
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
UNCLAS JAKARTA 000588 
 
SIPDIS 
 
Sensitive 
SIPDIS 
AIDAC 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PINS SOCI KDEM ASEC ID
SUBJECT: Peace Concert Shows that the Acehnese are Putting the Past 
Behind Them 
 
 
1. (U) Summary: In Central Aceh, a remote district which was 
formerly the scene of some of the Aceh conflict's worst violence and 
which is still sees relatively little NGO activity, the people have 
put the past behind them and are looking to agriculture for 
prosperity.  Syariah Islam and the religious police are also playing 
less of a role here than in some of Aceh's other regions. End 
Summary. 
 
2. (U) Thousands of Acehnese attended an IOM and USAID -sponsored 
evening peace concert in Takengon on February 17.  Several dangdut 
(an indigenous style of music) bands and singers from around Aceh 
and Jakarta performed to an appreciative audience. 
 
3. (U) Rain before the scheduled start time of the concert made the 
field muddy, but did not dampen the entrepreneurial hopes of the 
many hawkers who had set up stalls around the field.  The concert 
had been well advertised, and everyone expected a large turnout.  By 
concert time, several thousand people, including families with small 
children, had gathered on the field.  The rain, however, pooled 
dangerously on the tenting over the stage and delayed the start of 
the concert as workers struggled to dislodge the collected 
rainwater. 
 
4. (U)  Once the music started the crowd began to jostle for 
position and groups of youths started to dance.  No Syariah police 
were in evidence and the crowd of men and women were allowed to mix 
freely.  Although some of the young men in the audience appeared to 
be military, none seemed to be there in any official capacity and 
were enjoying the music along with everyone else.  The only apparent 
security presence was uniformed police directing traffic and 
providing crowd control at the end of the concert. 
 
5. (U) In discussions with attendees before and during the concert, 
optimism was expressed at the recent elections and hope that Aceh 
Governor Irawani Yosef would succeed rebuilding Aceh.  Although 
Tekengon was at the center of much anti-independence militia 
activity before the 2004 Helsinki MOU, nobody expressed any 
dissatisfaction with Free Aceh Movement's (GAM) victories in the 
elections.  Several people engaged us in spirited conversations 
about Central Aceh's agricultural potential and the possibility of 
selling to American markets. 
 
6.(SBU) During a separate visit to Takengon in early February, we 
met with the Muslim cleric who heads the local Syariah office and 
Central Aceh's branch of the Council of Ulamas (Majelis Pimpinan 
Ulama).  When asked about implementation of Syariah law, he pointed 
to a poster distributed by his office which said "Syariah Law Comes 
from Within" (Syariah Berasal Dari Diri Sendiri) and said his 
responsibility was to ensure that people understood Islam, not force 
it on people who were not ready. Attempts to do so, he said, were 
misguided and could even be damaging. 
 
7. (U) Comment:  The peace concert is the latest evidence that 
conditions within Aceh have changed dramatically since the signing 
of the MOU.  Large crowds can now freely assemble in remote towns 
and not cause security concerns - something that was unimaginable 18 
months ago - and people are more interested in talking about 
agricultural markets than independence or the peace process, clear 
signs that even in Aceh's remote corners, far from the presence of 
large numbers of foreigners and NGO, Aceh is putting its violent 
past behind it and looking to the future. 
Heffern