Boats float around Banda Aceh’s fishery port of Lampulo. Under the scorching sun, fishy smell lingers in the air. People pass by each other on the street. Nearby, under a tree, a man sits cross-legged on top of a 3-meter fish net he is fixing. He is wearing a white shirt and black pants. He wears his wristwatch on his left hand. Every now and then he smiles and hums. His name is Sofyan Effendi Hasanuddin. He spends 20 years working as a fisherman.

“We want Aceh to be lead by a home-grown leader. We want to be led by our people. We want to prove ourselves that we are capable. If not, well, it is our own failure, not others. We hope for the best, though. We also wish that the elected ones will walk the talk. For president, we choose Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY),” he said.

Just like other Acehnese, Sofyan uses his right to vote on last April 9^th 2009.

Out of the blue, he cites poetry out of thin air.

Aneuk cicem cut sujud dalam blang, aneuk cicem ngang sujud lam paya. Badan lon pijuet han teungeut malam, Aceh lon sayang pajan merdeka.
Merdeka Aceh kon bak awak GAM, bukon hai rakan nibak KPA, Bak Partai Aceh nyang penentuan. Nyan keputusan bak naggroe lua. Bek salah pileh cok keputusan!
Rugoe fikiran hana meumakna. Seumike beujroh rakan lon sayang, jeut keteladan keu cuco teuma. Jeut kesejarah bangsa. Pahlawan jitem berkorban jicok merdeka… Pakiban, na cocok disinan?

(In the rice field a baby bird weeps, baby cranes in the swamp glee. I lie awake without sleeps, when will my beloved Aceh be free.

No, it is not Free Aceh Movement. No, it is not Aceh Transition Committee. Brothers, it is on the hands of Aceh local parties, not from outside. Choose carefully, decide now!

Regret means nothing. Dear friends, think smart. Be someone your offspring can look up to, a hero who sacrifices himself for independence. That is the way to go)

“Don’t get me wrong. Independence is not parting from Indonesia but from fear and suffering we have in the past,” he explains his words.

Sofyan views that it is about time that revenue from the local economy is enjoyed by the local people themselves.

“In the past, Aceh natural resources and profits gain by Aceh corporations are all poured onto the lap of the central government. Locals are not involved, even as manual labors. You can imagine how smart intelligent Acehnese have no place in such system. No wonder we are hurt. No wonder we are mad. Now everything starts to work out. We smile more often,” he says with a smile on his face. Later he explains that he is only an elementary school graduate.

He wants no more show of force – in any kind. He wishes everybody to comply with the Helsinki agreement. As a fisherman, he wants to make money in peace.

“Let bygones be bygones and we shall have a better tomorrow,” he says.

He cites another poem.

Ulat jak, tepuk menari, meunyo sering hana euh malam, jeut ke pancuri

(a caterpillar dances to put away the grief, lack of evening sleep turn someone to a thief).

Sofyan comes from Idi, East Aceh, where he was born in 1973. He is a pukat langga fisherman, specializing on small- to medium-sized fish such as cob fish (tongkol), cumbok and salam. Besides pukat langga, he also uses another tool – tuasan or a fish trap. He plants his tuasan around five miles from the coast line. Every five months and sometimes once a year, he collects the fish he captures. Sometimes Sofyan’s tuasan is damaged by Hong Kong fishermen looking for tuna.

“Aceh fishermen hopes the Government can interfere and solve this problem,” he says.

Every time he goes to the sea with his boat called Malaka Strait, he spends Rp 35 million for fuel only, stocks meals for three to seven days and purchases 150 ice blocks to freeze his fish.

Profit on the other hand is unpredictable. Once he pockets Rp 100 million, but there are times when he only makes Rp 25 million so he could not even reach a break even point.

“Profits and losses are no big deals. What matters is we give it a try. We can only do so when we have peace,” he says in Aceh local vernacular.

Qaharuddin shares similar view. He is a motorized pedicab driver who is based in Lampineung.

“People say it is enough. Let’s vote for our own people. We face the reality; we deal with whatever consequences emerge. We, the pedicab drivers, support Aceh Party. It is because up until now, nobody from the local parties kicks our butts yet. That’s the truth,” Qaharuddin says.

He is disappointed with those who used to be in charged. During the campaign, many make promises. At the end, they are all just lip services.

“For us, peace matters. Now we do not have to worry if we left our ID card at home. In the past, there are checkpoints every three steps. Sometimes, we were beaten up even when we simply minded our own business,” he says, remembering the past.

”We totally support Aceh Party. If this party wins, we can make our living in peace. For president, we want SBY because he keeps his words. If we vote for others, we might end up with broken teeth or legs. Things would fall apart like before,” explains the man who works as a pedicab driver since 1999. At that time, he charges Rp 200 for a trip. Now it is Rp 10.000 for the same ride. He makes Rp. 40.000 per day.

He wishes that his ideal leader would care for poor people like him.

Rukiyah, a door-to-door fruit seller in Darussalam, also wants a leader with strong leadership.

“Just like SBY,” she says. She is a mother with two kids. She is 63 years old.

Rukiyah rides her navy blue rusty bicycle everyday to sell fruits. She ties a torn basket on the back seat of her bike, where she places snake fruit (salak), mango, hog plum (kedondong) and ceremai covered in plastics. She has been selling fruits for around fifteen years since her husband passed away. To her customers, mostly students, she is known as grandma snake fruit.

“May the best man or woman win,” she says while catering her customers.***


*) Mellyan is an Aceh Feature contributor. She is studying at Ar Raniry State Islamic Institute at Banda Aceh.