Hotli Simanjuntak and Ati Nurbaiti, Banda Aceh – Deafening shouts of 'Allahu akbar!' and 'Long live Wali Nanggroe!' greeted the long-awaited senior Aceh figure, Hasan Tiro, who arrived in the capital Saturday after an absence of almost 30 years.
The "Wali" or "inheritor" of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, and the leader of the former Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in self-exile, was in tears as he saw the crowds occupying every inch of the field of the Baiturrahman Mosque, witnesses said.
Tiro, 83, had landed at 11 a.m. on a chartered flight from Kuala Lumpur with his entourage, immediately kneeling and kissing the ground on arrival. "He had been so impatient to come, he kept looking out the window," said Malik Mahmood, GAM's former prime minister in its shadow cabinet, at an afternoon press conference.
Throngs greeted Tiro, a Swedish citizen, along the road from the airport to downtown. The meeting at the mosque with thousands of Acehnese who had been streaming into the capital for days was the high point of Saturday's welcome to the leader who had fled his homeland in self-exile in 1979. He had briefly led GAM combatants in the late 1970s and was among those who had been hunted down by the Indonesian military.
His reputation had continued to grow "from mouth to mouth" and from one generation to the next, locals say, despite his long absence. "We missed him so much, that's why we've come all this way to meet him," said one young well-wisher from Pasai in North Aceh.
But on Saturday, after mounting a podium erected in front of the mosque, his only words were, "I am happy to have arrived in Aceh (Lon ka troeh u tanoeh Aceh), Allahu akbar!" He then sat down as Mahmood read out Tiro's statement which invoked for the Acehnese shared losses and unprecedented achievements of peace.
Some voiced loud disappointment at Tiro's brief address, an anti-climax after days of anticipation, but there were shouts and claps again as they heard the statement.
Dispelling lingering doubts of peace in Aceh, especially among Acehnese themselves, Tiro said in the speech that, "The freedom and peace across Aceh today is a precious gift given by Allah to Aceh. Never before in Aceh's history of colonialism and occupation by foreign nations, have the people gained freedom and peace in general as today."
The message was significant from the revered figure as many in the province often voice impatience at the pace of development and welfare improvement.
Tiro's own visit has raised fears of increased tension in the wake of a number of violent incidences and kidnappings in various areas during the past few months. Tiro appealed to his fellow Acehnese to maintain unity and avoid being provoked "by evil attempts of several subversive groups trying to boycott the peace".
The leader's approval of the negotiations between GAM and the Indonesian government is regarded as critical to the historical 2005 peace agreement signed in Helsinki, Finland, which finally ended three decades of bloodshed.
A day before his arrival in the capital the facilitator of the agreement, Finland's former president Marti Ahtisaari, won the Nobel Peace Prize to the praise of Acehnese leaders.
Reading Tiro's statement Mahmood added that having lost "everything, we cannot afford to lose our future. Reach for the future through the process determined in the memorandum of understanding (MOU, the peace agreement), with precision and utmost discipline".
The cost of war was high, he said, the cost of nurturing the peace was even higher. "Preserve the peace for the welfare of us all."
Tiro's speech voiced deep gratitude to all sides who had facilitated and monitored the MOU including the European Union, ASEAN, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Vice President Jusuf Kalla.
"If there are parties who still disagree and resist the MOU of Helsinki, I call on them to unite with the Aceh people who are striving to maintain and enjoy peace and freedom across Aceh."
Critics say former GAM members and supporters will continue to strive for independence.
A sea of hands waved and strived to touch Tiro as he walked around the podium before being escorted off of the field. Crowds surged to the front when they realized the event was suddenly over after a former combatant closed the meeting with a prayer.
In response to concerns voiced by a number of locals that Tiro's visit might revive aspirations of independence, Mahmood told a press conference that "all that is in the past. We now look to the future."
As to complaints that organizers involving former GAM supporters were using the opportunity for an early campaign start for the Aceh Party, Deputy Governor Muhammad Nazar said Tiro's visit to the province, which will last about two weeks, "should not be politicized and should not be a source of worry" to anyone.
"We thank Hasan Tiro for coming to Aceh, and we hope his visit will strengthen our efforts at peace," Nazar said.
As of Saturday Tiro had not publicly conveyed his impressions of the visit, leaving Mahmood to say that Tiro was "greatly moved" to have returned to his "beautiful" Aceh.