CHAPTER I – Starting From A Coffee Kiosk
The raging rolling waves swept away not only houses and buildings but also destroyed the virtual walls that had long isolated Aceh. In the blink of an eye, without any preparation or warning, the entire province of Aceh was suddenly laid bare before the eyes of the world. It was a pity that the crumbling of the isolating walls had to be accompanied by the loss of tens of thousands of lives claimed by the killer tsunami.
Along with thousands of journalists and world citizens, I was one of those who gained from the disintegration of Aceh’s isolation. Compared to the period 1988-1999, when Aceh was declared a military operation zone, followed by the imposition of a state of civil emergency between 2002 and 2005, journalistic coverage in this “forbidden region” was relatively much easier now. The opening up of the province was also enjoyed by the local people. One night I invited several friends to have coffeeat a kiosk at Simpang Surabaya, a centre for street vendors in Banda Aceh, the provincial capital. Under a full moon, Sari, 26, a sweet-looking chemistry engineer student from Syiah Kuala University who wore a Muslim headscarf, admitted she felt lucky. “In the past, how could we dare to hang around late into the night? We would have been interrogated by the military,” she remarked as a light, fresh breeze blew.
Coffee kiosks here are more than just places at which to drink coffee. Rek, a popular coffee kiosk site not far from the downtown market, has witnessed countless “encounters” between the Indonesian military (TNI) personnel and members of the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and local figures. They might have traded greetings, exchanged glances, or just inspected each other’s condition and mood. “It can be said that coffee kiosks function as peace zones. In the jungle we could fight each other or exchange fire, but in Rek, we make peace,” said Hakim, a young man who lives in Banda Aceh. Sometimes, though, a few arrests of GAM members by soldiers took place at the coffee kiosks.
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Wartawan Tempo sejak 1998. Menjelajah berbagai desk, antara lain ekonomi, nasional, kesehatan, sains, gaya hidup, dan investigasi. Sejak Januari 2009 ditugasi menjadi Direktur Eksekutif Institut Tempo, sebuah lembaga yang dicita-citakan menjadi pusat pengembangan jurnalistik di Indonesia. Lulusan Fakultas Biologi, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, tahun 1996. Setelah lulus kuliah, bergabung dengan Majalah Warta Ekonomi (1996) sebagai staf riset dan kemudian menjadi reporter di majalah Panji Masyarakat (1997).