Strategy, Ideology, and Suicide Bombs

This past Saturday, I left Aceh and am now at a relative's home in Jakarta for the time being.  After the interview that I had with Al Chaidar, he told me that he had some contacts in Jemmah Islamiyah who would possibly let me interview them.  When I arrived in Jakarta, I got a hold of Al Chaidar again to try and make this go through, and he gave me the number of this one man named Mr. Asep.  So, I called him up to see if we could arrange to do an interview, and we ended up meeting today at a traditional style restaurant/cafe in the central Jakarta district. I arrived a little bit early and got a table, and as I waited for him to come, I couldn't help but wonder more about him.  Who is he?  How did he get involved with JI?  The concern that he would be as unhelpful as Mr. Attahiri also crossed my mind as I began thinking of ways I could elicit more information from him in the event that he didn't give me what I wanted.  I was really unsure of what to expect beforehand - what did he look like?  Did he have a beard?  Wear traditional Muslim attire?  Or was he just a run-of-the-mill, average looking fellow?  As reality would have it, when he arrived, he resembled the latter in his jeans and sandals.

After ordering our drinks and starting off with the standard, polite conversation about family, school, etc., we eased into a far more interesting conversation.  Asep began by telling me how he got involved with this organization.  His family are actually Darul Islam members, and he himself is a Darul Islam activist.  He started becoming more heavily involved in high school, but his family were the main influences for him to join in the first place.  When he got older, he did military and combat training in Moro, where many participants ended up fighting in Afghanistan.  Asep did not go to Afghanistan, but instead went to college to study how to become an electrician.  He also emphasized that he wasn't a Jemmah Islamiyah member, but Darul Islam.  However, he did say that he helped JI out whenever he could, in terms of logistics, surveying, and getting information for them. 

I asked him about the ideologies of Jemmah Islamiyah - the fatwa they follow, and in general why they do what they do.  Asep used the Bali blasts as an example in his response.  He said that it's no secret that Indonesia is a Muslim country, and that in Bali, a lot of westerners come and think that they can act however they do in their own countries, and even the Balinese start to take on their habits and customs.

"This behavior is inappropriate...even when you go to the American embassy, if you're wearing jeans and flip flops they will ask you to leave...foreigners need to respect that we are a Muslim country and conduct themselves with proper etiquette when they are here...the Bali blasts were to serve as a reminder to the world what we are and to not act inappropriately in Indonesia."

Their enemies, he told me, are not  just western nations.  Jemmah Islamiyah is also at war with the Indonesian government because they see it as a tool of the west - he used the term "hand and foot".  Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY), although he is a Muslim, is JI's enemy because he is aiding the west in their "war against Islam".

"When the Dutch occupied Indonesia, everyone hated them.  But Indonesians didn't just hate the Dutch, they also hated those who helped the Dutch.  This is like that."

I asked him about the bombings - Bali, the Marriott, and then the Ritz-Carlton/Marriott twin bombings.  Were those final alternatives?  What were the motivations behind them?  Well, apparently there are a lot of motivations to set off bombs - it's the only way the enemy will listen.

So how do they decide who to bomb, and when?  They do their research beforehand.  They have to survey before acting, and in the meantime, they gain access to whatever building(s) they target.  Posing as cleaning service, security, etc., they find out more about their location:  who goes there, what they do, and whether or not they pose a threat.  They know all the clubs, hotels, and apartments and survey their targets for at least 3 months, their longest surveying period being 7 months. If they feel that the place is a breeding ground for enemies of Islam, they may deem it appropriate to bomb.  They look at the places that a lot of foreigners frequent, but this isn't to say that they'll bomb any old hotel that a lot of white tourists happen to be at.  But for instance they find out that someone from the CIA or other government intelligence is staying there or using that spot, it could be a likely candidate for destruction.  According to Asep, they get to know the foreigners and conduct in-depth interviews on them without them even knowing it. 

And then, of course, who does it?  Who are the people that actually carry out the missions?  Well, they have a team of people who do this work for them.  Surveyors, logistics, and of course, the bombers; a group of seemingly limitless volunteers who answer the request JI sends out for people to carry the deed out.  However, they don't use the term suicide bomb; suicide is forbidden in Islam.  The volunteers go through a rigorous screening process in order for planners and officials to know who wants to do it for the right reasons.  They are interviewed and watched, and if it seems that they've lost hope in their lives and want to end it by detonating a bomb on themselves, JI officials won't allow them to carry through.  They actually don't use the term "suicide bomb"; instead, they say "bom sahid", which translates to "martyrdom bomb".  Because this is done for the "right" reasons (fighting the "enemies" of Islam), they will be rewarded in the afterlife.  Asep never mentioned the infamous 40 virgins story, but instead told me that martyrs will possibly be able to spare 70 loved ones from hell; their family, friends, and whoever else they feel should escape the wrath of Hades (er, Satan).  Asep mentioned that there was some type of law in the Qur'an that justifies this, but he didn't specify where.  He did say though, that bom sahid were a way to give people motivation to strengthen Islam so that they can destroy Islam's enemies.

What about now?  It may have been a little forward and pretentious of me to have vocalized this, but I asked him who JI plans to target now.  He chuckled and said that he had no clue, but knows that they are in the stages of surveying; apparently they've already rejected 10 potential locations.  It may be months before they strike again, but who knows?  Asep said that since he's not an actual member of Jemmah Islamiyah that they don't entrust him with all their information.  However, they trust him enough to let him in on some stuff, and since Darul Islam gives JI a lot of protection, they are on pretty good terms to say the least. They have very similar ideologies although they may disagree on things such as tactics and strategy.

"They're a bit too ambitious; their target is too big...What Jemmah Islamiyah needs to do is focus on fighting the enemy one at a time, on a smaller level.  If they're going the rate that they are with these big goals, they could fail.  But if they joined with us [Darul Islam], we could succeed.  The trick is to start small and then expand...Islam has a lot of enemies, we can't take them all at once."

As of now, there are more or less 10,000 Jemmah Islamiyah members in Indonesia, and as they are actively recruiting, that number is growing.  JI has had some influence on a number of pesantren in Indonesia, although that number is quite small compared to the vast majority of pesantren which produce decent, law abiding citizens.  They tend to have more of an impact among young, college-aged individuals and from doing dawa and giving speeches in local mosques. 

Things are far from over for Jemmah Islamiyah.  Although at times they may keep quiet, they are most certainly active and conducting their activities.  From what I gathered from Asep, JI is a force to be reckoned with, and they have the potential to be even stronger if they joined forces completely with Darul Islam.

Pesantren Interview - Denying Jemmah Islamiyah

On Friday I had my last interview in Lhoksemawe with Muslim Attahiri, the head of Dayah Darul Mujahidin.  I'm still trying to process how this all went, but one thing's for sure - it wasn't as good as the interview I had with Al Chaidar.

When I got to the pesantren, I was instantly able to meet with Attahiri despite my lack of appointment.  He invited me into his house, where we sat in his living room to do the interview.  Maybe ten minutes into the conversation, I got sick.  I was a hot mess.  I think it was the fish curry I ate for lunch.  I got sick twice during our talk.  It was extremely embarrassing.  That might have set the mood for the rest of the interview, as I was clearly not feeling well and not on top of my game.  After my second wave of sickness finished, Attahiri had to leave - he had a class to teach.  He told me not to worry, that I could stay in his home until he came back, and introduced me to his wife.  "You can interview her," he told me. 
Talking with his wife was pretty interesting.  She told me a lot about the pesantren - she's in charge of the girls' division.  She seemed tired though, and said that she was up all night tending to a "sick" girl who was apparently possessed.  She told me that three girls have gotten possessed there within the past week and that they had to control them and make sure they didn't hurt themselves.  We heard screaming and the sound of someone hitting a tin wall outside, and I was told that the noises I heard were of one of the possessed girls. She told me

"When you're close to God, the devil likes to try and torment you.  When you're weak in faith, that's when they enter."

 Apparently this kind of thing happens fairly often, so they weren't too worried about handling the situation.
There are about 60 boys and 15 girls at the pesantren.  It's a small place, and not very well developed or nice like the other ones I went to.  They rely on donations and tend to take in boys and girls from broken homes, whose parents have passed away, or who are troublemakers.  The age range of the kids there are from middle school to some college. 
When Attahiri finally came back, I began to ask him more questions about the pesantren, their religious views, and what distinguished them from other pesantren, both modern and traditional.  These questions, I felt, were pretty standard and could get interesting answers.  But when Attahiri answered them, I felt that he wasn't really answering them at all - I couldn't get anything straight from him.  So you can imagine that when I asked more questions about Jemmah Islamiyah and FPI (Islamic Defenders Front), it got a little confusing.

Back in February, some Jemmah Islamiyah members came to Aceh to try and establish a training camp here and went to Attahiri's pesantren to ask for his support.  However, they were turned down.  Attahiri said that when they came, he saw them as "stupid kids" and made it clear that he disagreed with their method of thinking.

I had also heard that he had been affiliated with FPI, which I had seen listed as a terrorist organization.  Attahiri told me that he was the secretary for the Aceh division of this organization, and that it in fact is not a terrorist organization.  He said that they concentrate on dawa and try to make sure that people are being good Muslims and acting appropriately.  I asked my friend Cut later about FPI, and she confirmed what Attahiri said about it not being a terrorist organization, so it seems that I was wrong in thinking that it was.

I wish I could have stayed longer at Darul Mujahidin.  I feel that if I had gotten to know them better over a longer period of time, that I would have better results in my interview.  Cut even told me that once, when she was interviewing someone, it took 7 interviews over a span of 3 months to finally break through and get good information.  I got a lot of political answers from Attahiri.  I wonder how long I would have had to stay to break down the barrier and get better results.  

After the interview, something weird happened:  Attahiri took a couple of pictures of me on his cell phone...but without asking.  It's pretty obvious when someone takes a picture of you on their cell phone, especially when it's done right in front of you.  Plus, I heard the camera click.  Also, after I had gotten out of his house, I was taking pictures of the pesantren and I saw him standing in front of his door, cell phone in hand, taking a picture.  I wasn't sure how to handle this, so I didn't say anything at all.  Cut told me that it was nothing to worry about, so I guess I won't worry about it - but it was still weird.

The pesantren

Terrorism Interview - A Look Into Jemmah Islamiyah

I am currently in Lhoksemawe, about 6 hours away from Banda Aceh.  I left yesterday morning on an L300 - basically, a minivan that people hire out to take them places.  It works like a bus would, with a ticket and everything.  I was thinking about hiring a car, but that would be way too expensive.  The L300 was only about $6.  The driver was an angry looking fellow named Akbar who had a strong taste for Nuu Milds and would honk at things for no apparent reason.  We did stop for lunch, and during that hour, I got to chat with a high school girl who was another passenger on the L300.  She wasn't wearing a jilbab and was wearing short sleeves, and I asked her why.  She evaded the question by talking how good Sharia law is, but finally let me know that since she was traveling and it was hot that it wasn't such a big deal.  I learned an important cultural lesson from her though - to always give and accept with your right hand.  I felt stupid, because this was something that I had always known but often forgot.  I paid the lady at the warung with my left hand without even thinking, and the girl told me not to do that.  "That's very rude!" she said.  Needless to say, I was very embarrassed and have been good about remembering to do exchanges with my right hand since yesterday.  I don't think it will be something that slips my mind again, either.

Rahma, who is one of the researchers at ARTI that was on Jesse's team that interviewed the pesantren, gave me the contact details of a friend of hers who lives here - Cut.  So I don't have to pay for a hotel either, thank God.  Cut is a very nice lady.  She's pretty, young, and extremely forward in her thinking.  She is currently a professor here in Lhoksemawe and used to do research for ARTI.  I am very grateful that she is letting me stay in her home for a few days.  We've arranged for her nephew Noval, an endearingly awkward 14 year old, to help take me around to wherever I need to be.  I'll be paying him about Rp.200,000 (about $20) for renting him out.  Glad it's vacation time for high school students.

Today I scheduled my interview with Pak Al Chaidar to be at 2.00.  In the morning, Noval took me around Lhoksemawe and we saw the beach.  Lhoksemawe isn't too different from Banda Aceh, the only major differences are that it's smaller, and instead of cows crowding the streets it's goats.  When we were coming back from the beach, we had to take a pretty hefty detour into the kampung because we saw that they were having razia operations on the street that we needed to go down.  Not to worry, I was dressed completely appropriately, but wasn't wearing a helmet.  It was nice going through the kampung though, despite the super rocky dirt roads (I almost fell off the motorcycle).  The scenery was beautiful - palm trees and rice paddies as far as the eye could see.

My interview with Pak Al Chaidar later was very interesting.  He is a fascinating man.  He has been following Jemmah Islamiyah since 1991 - before they became a terrorist organizations and were still a Darul Islam group.  He's seen how they train, understands their ideologies, and still keeps in contact with them.  He's been able to do very extensive interviews and research on them, it's crazy.  He obviously does not agree with them whatsoever, but has very thorough research on them.  He knows how they operate, to say the least.  I mentioned reading a couple of articles that say that since Jemmah Islamiyah has factioned off into 2 groups - one that wants to commit acts of terrorism, the other that just wants to do dawa - that they aren't a big threat anymore.  I asked Al Chaidar his opinion on this, and he disagrees.  He seems to think that they do remain a very big threat.  He said that despite factioning off, if the leaders say to do something (like set off a bomb), they will follow their leader's orders.

I then asked him about the strategies of Jemmah Islamiyah.  I learned that terrorist organizations are very strategic in their actions, and that they won't bomb a building "just because".  There will always be some kind of political motivation behind it.  I found his response on this to be pretty funny.  He said that those in JI "aren't very smart", and lack an intelligence division.  "They are still naive".  He also mentioned that those who join JI come from modest economic backgrounds, and are at the wealthiest, middle class.  This is very interesting to me, since I learned that in terrorist organizations, participants tend to be wealthy and highly educated.  However, in Jemmah Islamiyah's case, this doesn't seem to hold up.

When I asked him why terrorism can exist in Java (where much of JI is based) but not in Aceh, he said that it was a cultural difference.

"There are cultural differences in Aceh and Java...the character of Aceh is unique.  The Acehnese are very proud people, egalitarian, somewhat xenophobic, and don't like to take orders from anybody else.  It was the Acehnese who brought Islam to Java, so when Javanese came to Aceh and tried to recruit people into Jemmah Islamiyah, it wasn't accepted.  People thought of them as 'those stupid Arab people'..Islam in Aceh is very different from that in Java.  In Java, there are strong geneological and family ties that people are loyal to.  In Aceh, people are more critical and don't just act upon something that an ulammah says to do."

  He made an amusing comparison of these two cultures, saying:

"Islam in Java is like a Molotov cocktail; it's easy to set off and very explosive.  Islam in Aceh is more like a petroleum bomb; there is a very long process it has to go through before it can explode."

Jemmah Islamiyah had been in Aceh since 2005, doing charity work to help tsunami victims.  But from 2005-2009, they were only able to recruit 20 people.  I think that this is incredible data, especially considering how easily they were able to recruit in Java.  But 20 members in 4 years?  Wow.  I love this, because it just goes to further show how the vast majority of Muslims do not condone terrorism.  They thought that because Aceh operates under Sharia law that the people would be sympathetic to them and want to join arms with them.  What they didn't prepare for was assimilating into Acehnese society and becoming people that the Acehnese could easily trust.  Al Chaidar said that their biggest downfall was appearing so foreign, with their long beards and Javanese customs.  The Acehnese simply refused to accept it.  

After the interview, Al Chaidar said that he may be able to get me in touch with current Jemmah Islamiyah members in Jakarta.  I would love to take this opportunity if they agree to see me.  He said that it might be interesting to talk with the wives of these fellows, and I agree.  He isn't able to because of the fact that he is a man, but because of our gender, he thinks that I might be able to learn some interesting information from them.  Hopefully it goes through, this would be an incredible opportunity.  Al Chaidar said that it would be completely safe and that there would be nothing to worry about.  Since I am Muslim and half Indonesian, he said that they would be fine with the fact that I am also an American.  He just advised me not to badtalk Osama bin Laden in front of them.

I will be going to Pesantren Darul Mujahiddin tomorrow after jumatan (Friday prayers).  Al Chaidar said that it's no problem that I'm going without an appointment and that the Acehnese are very gracious and accepting of guests.  I was able to record our interview today, so that will definitely be something interesting to listen over later.  I probably won't be posting it because it was about an hour and a half long, but I'm glad to have had this opportunity to talk with him.  It was a great interview, he really didn't hold anything back.

Winding down

This week has been the first down week I've had since I've gotten here.  I didn't really do that much at all, so it was pretty restful. 
I was able to meet with Pak Marzi Afriko this week at the World Bank, and he gave me a lot of interesting information about my research topic as well as people to get in contact with.

One really cool thing - my friend Muhajjir knows a guy who collects old Islamic manuscripts, and he invited me over to his house to take a look at them.  Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my camera, but it was interesting looking at all of them!  The collector, Pak Tarmizi, has been collecting these manuscripts since 1994.  They're all Acehnese, Qur'ans, books, all types of things.  The best thing about visiting Tarmizi was that unlike other collectors, who don't let people touch the documents etc., he actually let me hold them and flip through the pages!  It was a very special experience.  

Next week,  I should be going to Lhokseumawe to visit with Pak Al Chaidar, another guy I met at the ARTI book launching last weekend.  He specializes in terrorism studies, so he should be especially interesting to speak with.  Afterwords, I have plans to visit a pesantren in that area - Pesantren Darul Mujahidin.  It's headed by a man named Pak Muslim Atthahiri, and it has been associated with the terrorist group FPI (Islamic Defenders Front, Front Pembela Islam).  Apparently, Jemmah Islamiyah also tried to associate with them, but they were rejected by the pesantren.  It will be interesting to find out why they didn't want to associate with JI, and what their current relationship with FPI is.

I really hope this goes through - I'm very excited to go, and it would be so disappointing if I didn't get to visit them.  I guess it's a good thing that this has been slow, especially considering that next week should be full of activities!

I've also gotten closer to the girls at the asrama.  I know I've said this before, but they really are freaking hilarious.  And because they've gotten to know me better, I think they feel more comfortable and open with me than they did initially.  I was hanging out with a couple of them after maghrib prayers one night, and the discussion turned to boys, and boyfriends.  I had asked them a couple weeks before if they had boyfriends (jokingly), and of course they giggled and said "of course not!".  This time though, they were telling me that yes, they have had boyfriends.  One of them was so funny - she said that she's had five before, and is currently in a relationship with two.  She said, "It is cheating, but it's only pacaran* and not marriage, so it's okay!"  I thought that was too funny.  They really cracked me up.

Last night, the power went off, so a group of us sat together in one of the girls' rooms around a candle.  We were able to talk history and politics.  Yesterday, the founder of the separatist rebel movement GAM (Free Aceh Movement) passed away, and there was a huge ceremony at Mesjid Raya.  We had a really interesting talk about that, because a couple of the girls went to the ceremony.  One girl, Lisa, said that Aceh was crying for him because of the sun shower that took place after he was buried.  There was also a minor earthquake.
This is the link on BBC about his passing - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/asia_pacific/10225928.stm

Maybe I can ask some of the girls questions about my research topic, as it does focus on Acehnese society.  I'm sure that they'd have a lot of interesting things to say about it.

*pacaran - The term used for dating, or having a boyfriend/girlfriend.

Second Week

My second week here has been wonderful. I’m doing my best to make sure that I keep a busy schedule, because there’s nothing worse than being in a different country with nothing to do.

This past week I was able to sit in on Ibu Eka’s Sociology and Religion class, which was very interesting. The students were discussing laws in Sharia Islam, and even though some of the vocabulary they used was difficult for me to understand, I was still able to get the majority of it. They covered a lot of interesting stuff, my favorite was when they talked about the punishment for thieves – according to Sharia law, the punishment for theft is to cut the left hand off for the first offense, and then the right hand if they commit the crime again. Ibu Eka mentioned something interesting about this that I’d like to note here – she said that maybe instead of taking it literally, another interpretation could be to cut off their resources. She said that our hands are our biggest resource, since we do so much with them, and that cutting off a resource would be like cutting off someone’s hand.

This week was also the first week of the IAIN English discussion group. The turnout was pretty decent, there were about 5 students who came the first time, and we’re thinking that next week a few more will come. We’re planning on having different themes to talk about for each week. This week was just an introduction, but next Friday we’ll be talking about culture and the participants will prepare a 1 – 2 minute shpeel about anything they want that has to do with culture. It should be pretty fun. I didn’t get to actually lead a discussion group this week at Al-Kafi…Norman said that there were some planning issues that they needed to work out. But he gave me a few good resources for class ideas that I’ve been looking through, and next Friday we should have a class set up.

Ibu Eka also introduced me to Ibu Ina, a super sweet lady who has been studying in Malaysia. Her husband is actually a director at the Center for Conflict Resolution and Peace Studies here in Aceh, and she recommended that I get in touch with him to see what they’re all about. I still have yet to go over and set up a time to meet with him, but I’m hoping to get that done this week.

On Saturday, I went with Ibu Eka to another pesantren – Pesantren Ruhul Fatayat, otherwise known as Pesantren Seulimum. I enjoyed visiting here more than I did at Tanoh Abee. It was much more lively, as they have almost 1,000 students – about 600 girls and 400 boys. We met with the head of the girl’s section, Pak Husseini. I’m really glad that I met him; he was extremely charismatic and funny. He invited me to stay a night at the pesantren this week to see how they operate, and to meet the girls who live there. It should be a great experience. Pesantrens are normally pretty exclusive and aren’t too accepting of outsiders, but this one is very open and it will be interesting to see how the girls there live and go about their daily activities.

Later that evening, I went out with the girls from the asrama. Like I’ve mentioned before, they’re not allowed out past maghrib, but tonight was an exception because there was a theatre and music performance at the university that everyone wanted to go to. I had a great time – it was so much fun to see all of the performances. Some people sang and danced, and there were also some skits that were performed. My absolute favorite though, was when this one group played Acehnese percussion. They were so energetic, and they kept an intense beat. Whoever said that Asians couldn’t get down has clearly never met an Indonesian. I took a couple of videos of it, and will do my best to try and figure out how to put it up.

I also met some visiting students from Yale University who were here for research. They have this magazine that they publish called The Yale Globalist, and they go around to different countries and write about the various things that are going on there. The team that they have in Indonesia was split up between Aceh and Bali. They were all very nice and we ended up having dinner last night. It was great hearing about the experiences that they’ve had here; I’m sure that they’ll have a ton of crazy stuff to put in their magazine later on!

Yesterday there was a huge event called “Acai Cinta Damai – Death to Terrorism”, which was a free concert with a lot of big name Indonesian singers and bands. We got there a little bit late, but the governor of Aceh spoke about the importance of peace, and how averse the Acehnese are to terrorism.

I’ve been getting to know the girls at the asrama very well, and I thoroughly enjoy spending time with them. They are fun-loving and kind, and I always have a good time with them – they crack me up. They told me that they wanted me to cook American food for them one of these days, so on Sunday afternoon I made them fried Oreos. Because really, you can’t get any more American than that. But I did Indonesian-ify them a little bit by drizzling chocolate and vanilla sweetened condensed milk over them. The girls loved the fried Oreos, and I have been instructed to make more. We have also been bonding over this television show that they all watch called Cinta Fitri. It’s the craziest soap opera I’ve ever seen in my entire life, and I get way too emotionally involved in this show. More updates on this another time.

Later today I’m going with Ibu Eka to FBA, Forum Bangun Aceh. From what I know of it, it’s a volunteer organization that works with people in the kampung, or villages, to provide economic sustainability and whatever else their needs are. I can’t wait to see what all they do.

First Week

This summer I am the first undergraduate participant in a student exchange between Florida State University and Institut Agama Islam Negeri Ar-Reniry (IAIN) in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. I arrived in Aceh on May 9 and will stay until June 26. My first week here has been pretty busy to say the least, so I haven’t really gotten to write a detailed day-by-day account of what has happened so far. So right now I’ll do my best to write out what I can remember.

Sunday: I arrived in Banda Aceh from Jakarta this morning. Every island in Indonesia is unique in its own way, and this is especially true with Aceh – it is really the only place of its kind. It is also the only region in Indonesia that operates under Sharia law and was devastated by the 2004 tsunami. I’ve traveled around Indonesia before, and didn’t think it would differ too terribly from most of the other places I’ve been to, but boy was I wrong. It sort of hit me as soon as I was on the road to town from the airport and we had to stop every five minutes to wait for all of the cows and goats to get out of the way.

My friend Pak Khairil and his family were the ones who came to pick me up from the airport, and they showed me where IAIN’s campus was and where I would be studying. We had a delicious lunch of bakso and es kelapa muda, and then they took me to the wisma (hostel). I wasn’t too pleased with it, as it was really pricey at Rp.200,000 per night ($20). It was also very quiet. It seemed like I was the only person staying there aside from the staff. But aside from that, it was air conditioned and I did have my own bathroom, so it wasn’t horrible…but definitely not worth Rp.20,000 per night.

After Pak Khairil dropped me off at the wisma, I laid down for a nice nap. And then the bed started to shake. At that moment, I started to remember every scary movie I’ve ever seen where some ghost or monster was under the bed and waiting for the occupant to step down so that it could eat them, and thought of a story my cousin told me about how a friend of hers was sleeping and there was a ghost under her bed that kept on making it shake, and it wasn’t until she got up and ran away that it stopped. Needless to say, I was in shock. I jumped off the bed to see if it would stop or not, and it was then that I realized that it wasn’t just the bed that was shaking – it was the floor and walls as well. I hurriedly put on my jilbab and ran outside to see others holding on to the poles outside the wisma, looking just fine and dandy. One of the staff smiled at me and asked if I’ve ever experienced an earthquake. I said that I haven’t, and she said that that it happens frequently enough here that it’s not too big of a deal. I learned a few hours later that it was at a magnitude of 7.2, which has “tsunami potential”.

Another interesting fact: Aceh also has frequent power outages, which is especially frustrating considering that I have an old, barely functioning laptop that always needs to be plugged in if I need to use it. If the power goes out, or if the plug comes out, my lovely laptop shuts down.

Monday: I met with Ibu Eka, who is my supervisor during my time here. She is a phenomenal woman, and has received her degrees in the Netherlands and Australia. She now teaches at IAIN. I picked the classes that I will be taking while I’m here, which are Arabic and Ushul-Fiqh. Ushul-Fiqh should be very interesting; it’s basically the implementation and enforcement of discipline through Sharia law. She then invited me to go with her to an Acehnese wedding party, where we had lunch. I really enjoyed going, as weddings always promise to be festive and fun. It was very similar to a Javanese wedding party, with a few cultural quirks of its own. My favorite thing about it was seeing the family and friends cook for all of the guests. In Aceh, the tradition is to have male relatives and friends cook for the wedding party free of charge. There was a decent sized work space for them, and humongous cooking pans.

I was also able to visit the Aceh Research and Training Institute (ARTI) and meet some of the researchers there. They’re all really nice and interesting people. One of the researchers, Pak Dani, has been doing a youth peace project for a while now, which brings Indonesian teenagers together to promote and learn about the peace process. Conflict resolution studies in Aceh are a pretty big deal, considering that after 30 years of conflict Aceh was finally able to foster a peace agreement with the Republic of Indonesia after the tsunami.

Later on in the day, I was able to meet up with Jesse who is another ARTI researcher. He has been living in Aceh for a pretty long time now, and he has a research team out at a pesantren doing field work at the moment. They should be coming back in the next week or so, and it should be very interesting to see what they learned while they were there.

Tuesday: More meetings with people today trying to get my schedule sorted out. I was able to sit in on the Ushul-Fiqh class, and it was pretty intense. I guess my Bahasa Indonesia isn’t as good as I thought it was. I don’t know if it was because I was fasting or just going too fast, but I felt very overwhelmed that day. We decided that it might be a better idea for me to start classes next week instead of this week so that I have time to acclimate to this new lifestyle. I thought that I would be able to come in and start doing work right away, but I was very wrong. There is a lot to take in here and a lot to get used to. An adjustment period seems necessary.

After class, Ibu Nur (another IAIN faculty member), took me out to see some more of Banda Aceh. The first thing we did was drive out to a little village to see someone who specialized in “alternative medicine”. One of the men who accompanied us had some kind of stomach illness that he had been seeing an “alternative medicine” specialist for and needed to see her again. When I asked Ibu Nur what she meant by “alternative medicine”, she said “It’s like black magic. But not”.

It was interesting to visit the village. This particular one was near the coast and was hit badly by the 2004 tsunami, but most of the houses I saw were reconstructed. I also saw a few women out who weren’t veiled and didn’t have long sleeves on. Apparently Sharia is much more relaxed in villages because they’re further away from the eye of the government and police, who are based in town.

It was also interesting to visit the “alternative medicine specialist”. I’d like to call her a witch doctor, but I don’t think she was. I thought that she would speak in tongues and change her demeanor, but Ibu Nur told me that she did that the first time our friend went to visit her and wouldn’t be doing it again. All the specialist did was massage this guy’s neck a little bit and pray, and boom – he felt better. Needless to say, I was a little bit disappointed, but it was an interesting experience nonetheless.

After, we went to Mesjid Raya, which is a famous mosque in this area. I found it to be absolutely beautiful. There were groups of children there who were taking iqra lessons, and it felt very peaceful and serene. We then ventured on to the Aceh Tsunami Museum, which isn’t completely done yet. I believe it will be completed and open to the public on the anniversary of the tsunami. We were able to go inside and look around, it just wasn’t all finished yet. After this they took me to see LTO APUNG, which was a huge sea-based electric generator from Kalimantan that took 3 months to be brought to Aceh. But when the tsunami hit, it was brought to land in about 3 seconds.

Wednesday: I met up with Jesse to go to an English discussion group that he facilitates at a youth center called Al Kafi. He has this group every Wednesday afternoon and invited me to come and be a guest speaker for them. We talked a lot about Islam in the United States, and I asked them questions about how it was living under Sharia. It was a lot of fun, and it’s a great opportunity for students to come and practice their English speaking skills.

Later, I finally moved out of the wisma to an asrama, or dorm. I was kind of ticked off that I had to pay $60 for 3 nights there, but thankfully I’ll be able to stay in the asrama for free. It’s a charming place. It’s clean, which is the most important thing, and it’s lively. I think there are about 40 girls staying there right now. It’s got pretty basic accommodations – squat toilet, bucket shower, and no air conditioning. But it’s free, which is the next most important thing. To live in an asrama normally costs about Rp.400,000 ($40) for a semester, but the head of the building said that I could stay for free as long as I help the girls there with their English skills.

Living in the asrama is going to be a very interesting experience. Everyone is supposed to come back by maghrib (evening prayers), or risk getting locked out. No one is allowed out past then, so having dinner with a friend or going to an evening movie is out of the question. The girls don’t seem to mind this though, and from what I’ve gathered after talking with them, they don’t make plans in the evening or go out very often at all. They are however, permitted to spend the night away from the asrama three times a month, so they do have an opportunity to go out at night, they just can’t come back late. It looks bad, they say, for girls to be coming home in the evening. Neighbors may think less of them, and it’s just not the proper thing to do. I don’t think it would be a huge issue for me to come back at night, as Indonesians tend to make exceptions for foreigners, but I won’t ask for permission to do so. I would feel embarrassed to have them make this exception for me, and I fully intend to honor and abide by their rules. It’s definitely different from what I’m used to, but it’s an experience worth having and I don’t want to ruin it by being an imposing foreigner.

Maghrib and isha prayers are held together – all of the girls are supposed to be in attendance during these times so they can pray together. My first night there, I found it to be a beautiful bonding experience. I’m not used to praying back at home, but it was a nice moment. After maghrib, the girls had ngaji, or reading from the Qur’an. It was the first time I had ever done that after prayers, so it was a little bit of a surprise to me when after maghrib prayers everyone started singing verses from the Qur’an. Everyone participated and no voice was left out. It sounded absolutely beautiful, and I was enchanted and touched by the devotion they had for Islam and the power I felt behind their words.

After the ngaji, everyone had a lot of questions for me and I got to know them all a bit better. They’re all really sweet girls, and I think they’re absolutely hilarious. They’ve got a great sense of humor and are very kind. I can’t wait to get to know them on a deeper level – I’m sure I could learn a lot from them. They also made traditional Acehnese kolak later, which is a type of dessert consisting of a purple potato and green beans mixed and boiled together. It was pretty tasty, and very purple.

Thursday: Today was a public holiday, which was exciting. I kicked off the morning by meeting up with Norman, who runs a youth community center in Darussalam called Al Kafi; the concept is kind of like YMCA, and I believe that it’s one of the first in Aceh. This youth program offers classes in English, Arabic, and Bahasa Indonesia, and it provides the youth with a safe place to come and learn. They also have a partnership with a school for the handicapped and do service projects for them as well as other communities around Aceh. It’s a great place for adolescents to come hang out and be productive. I would like to be involved in the activities they have and maybe have an English discussion group like Jesse does. Norman said that there was a high demand for volunteers, and that they didn’t have enough teachers or volunteers to accommodate everyone who wanted to join, so they had to limit the amount of people who came.

After talking with Norman, I went to a seminar that Ibu Eka invited me to that she was speaking in: Seminar Perempuan (Super) – “Tanamkan Semangat Siti Khadijah dan Cut Nyak Dhien Dalam Setiap Langkah Mu Menuju Aceh Yang Berjaya”. Translated, in means: (Super) Female Seminar – “Embedding the Sprit of Khadijah and Cut Nyak Dhien in Every Step to Progress Triumphant Aceh”. It was fantastic and very inspirational. They talked about the strength and moral character of Khadijah, who was the wife of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and the bravery of Acehnese heroine Cut Nyak Dhien, who fought alongside her husband against the Dutch occupation in Indonesia. I got really pumped and excited, I love these kinds of seminars that empower women. I also thought it was great that they were having this here. From a western perspective, I’m sure that many would consider Sharia to be oppressive and unjust towards women. Yet, the women I’ve met here so far have been educated and progressive. This seminar was a great opportunity to see college educated women come together and talk about ways to empower themselves and muster the self confidence to be the best they can be.

When the seminar ended, I met up with some friends of my cousin Gia. He put me in contact with them when I got here so I wouldn’t be completely alone and would have friends. He met them through a Blackberry chat forum, which I thought was kind of weird, but apparently people meet up all the time from chat forums here, so I just went along with it. Their names were Azzim and Mina, and they’re both really awesome people. I think that Mina is quite possibly the only Muslim female in Aceh who doesn’t wear a veil, despite Sharia law. When I first saw her I asked Azzim if she was Christian. Nope. Buddhist? Hindu? Nope. It was really interesting to meet her. She runs her own catering business, and when she goes to work she said that she wears jilbab, but doing so serves more as a formality. They took me to a coffee place where we had lunch and she whipped out a cigarette and started smoking it – another shocking surprise. Although women aren’t banned from smoking in Aceh, it is very taboo to do so. She laughed when I asked her about not veiling and smoking.
“A lot of people think I’m a foreigner at first, but when they get to know me they know that it’s just me. I won’t wear jilbab unless the desire to do so comes from the bottom of my heart, and that hasn’t happened just yet.”

When we were done with lunch, we went to Cut Nyat Dienh’s house, which is a museum now. I found her to be fascinating, and after they talked about her at the seminar, I wanted to find out more about her. Her house was beautiful, but it wasn’t the original house. That one was burned down by the Dutch. The updated version also had to go through reconstruction after the tsunami. The house is built in the traditional Acehnese style, which resembles the houses that I saw when I was in Thailand last year. After touring her living quarters, I’ve decided that I want my future house to look just like it.

We went to the beach when we were done looking around the museum. I’ve heard a lot of good things about the beaches in Aceh, but when we got there it completely blew me away. The water was stunning and had a beautiful color that I could not capture on camera. The cliffs surrounding the beach were overgrown with vegetation and created such a pristine sight when the waves crashed onto their gray bases. Aceh has many kinds of beaches, but the one that I visited was more rocky and shelly instead of sandy. I saw enormous black and green crabs scuttling on the rocks and splashing into the water. What truly impressed me about being there was at how untouched it all seemed. Aside from the food stall that sold us es kelapa muda and the little huts that lined the shore, there were barely any people there and it had a serene atmosphere that made me feel almost one with nature.

I was a little sad when the day was over and I had to go home, but I’m looking forward to meeting up with Mina and Azzim again. I had a great time with them, and I’m looking forward to hanging out with them again soon.

Friday: Today, Ibu Eka invited me to go with her to a pesantren as she conducted some of her research. The pesantren we went to was Pesantren Darul Muta’allimin, or Tanoh Abee in Acehnese. It’s located about an hour outside of Darussalam in Aceh Besar. It’s the oldest pesantren in Aceh and used to have up to 1,000 students. But since the head of the pesantren passed away, its numbers have dwindled. It used to have a lot of old Arabic manuscripts and really valuable writings, but a lot of them have been stolen and sold. We spoke with the current head, Umi, who is the widow of the old one. They spoke entirely in Acehnese, which was a problem for me since I don’t speak it, but they decided to use Acehnese in order to let Umi speak more freely than she would be able to in Bahasa Indonesia. I was able to talk to Umi in Bahasa Indonesia, but it was difficult for me to understand her accent. She told me that now there are only 20 girls left, and about 50 boys. She also said that after the students leave, they all tend to teach religion at mosques. Ibu Eka told me that she was writing up a summary of her conversation with Umi anyways, and that she would send me a copy of it later when it’s written.

Going to the pesantren was definitely interesting, but since I was completely lost when Umi and Ibu Eka were speaking, I didn’t really get a lot out of it. Next week Ibu Eka plans on going to another pesantren, and I’m hoping I’ll be able to go with her again.