Irwandi Yusuf
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| Irwandi Yusuf | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Aceh Governor Irwandi Yusuf Speaking at Indonesian Embassy. September 14, 2007. | |
| Governor of Aceh | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 8 February 2007 |
|
| Personal details | |
| Born | August 2, 1960 Bireuën, Aceh |
| Political party | Independent |
| Profession | Veterinarian |
| Religion | Islam |
[edit] Biography
Irwandi Yusuf, a veterinarian (Alumnus of Syiah Kuala University, Banda Aceh), joined the Free Aceh Movement (Indonesian: Gerakan Aceh Merdeka or GAM) in 1990, participating for three years before taking up a scholarship at Oregon State University, USA, in 1993, where he undertook a Master’s degree in Veterinary Science.
After returning to Banda Aceh to teach at his alma mater, Irwandi became a founding member of the Acehnese branch of the Fauna and Flora Preservation Society (now known as Fauna and Flora International), lending his veterinary expertise to their conservation campaigns.
[edit] Political career
His concern for Acehnese socio-political issues led him into further contact with GAM. He held several different positions in the movement, including as a special staff office for psy warfare in the Central GAM command, as negotiation coordinator, and as Expert Staff on counter-intelligence in the Central Command of the Aceh National Army. He spent some time in 2001 with the Red Cross, taking the opportunity to study humanitarian law. Irwandi was arrested in 2003, and was held as a war prisoner in the Keudah Prison in Banda Aceh.Irwandi was in his jail cell when the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake struck. The epicenter of the quake was close to the Acehnese coastline. The population of Aceh before the December, 2004 tsunami was 4,271,000 (2004). The population as of 15 September 2005 was 4,031,589; a discrepancy of 239,411 lives. 170,000 people were confirmed dead.
As the tsunami's waters rose inside the prison, Irwandi fled to the Musholla (prayer room) on the second floor while walls crumbled around him. His only means of escape was to punch a hole through the asbestos ceiling, scramble onto the roof, and hang on until the tsunami abated.[1] Out of the prison population of 278, Irwandi was one of just 40 survivors.[2]
In the aftermath of the tsunami, GAM and the Indonesian central command negotiated a peace settlement, and Irwandi renounced his separatist agenda. No longer in conflict with the Indonesian government, the former rebel liaised with the international NGOs whose presence paved the way for Aceh’s first democratic election in almost 30 years. It was a landslide victory for Irwandi, who won 39.3% of the popular vote, as announced by Public Issue Network (JIP) and Indonesian Survey Circle (LSI).[3]
He took office in February 2007 and now has a normal relationship with the army that once pursued him as a GAM rebel. In an unusual move for a former revolutionary, he kept much of the old administration in place although he also moved to reform a range of positions in the senior ranks of the provincial public service. In a 2007 New York Times interview, Irwandi said, "I tell them, 'I believe, I trust you all. You are all trustworthy until you prove otherwise. Then I will know.'" In the same interview, he remarked that his former enemies in the Cabinet were welcome to ‘rock and roll’ with him – "Rock and roll... That means to do something new, rocky, that was never felt before. It is spirit. Spirited people. Young blood. Young spirit."[4]
One of Governor Irwandi's priorities is the protection of Aceh’s magnificent rainforest. "This is my obsession, since a long time ago - that Aceh is Aceh, and the forests of Aceh need to be kept well." His first step as a green governor has been to embrace the establishment of carbon trading in Aceh using the REDD mechanism, (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) in order to reinvigorate the faltering economy and prevent further destruction of Aceh's rainforests.[5][6]
He declared a moratorium on all logging in Aceh in March 2007,[7] and personally drives out to the villages to conduct spot inspections of former logging camps, encouraging the locals to take up sustainable new professions.[2]
However, in 2011, Yusuf's apparent pro-environmental efforts were abruptly halted and reversed. He allegedly surprised supporters when information was uncovered that Yusef quietly granted a concession to palm oil supplier PT. Kallista Alam, that authorised the destruction of a peat swamp forest which is one of the last refuges of the critically endangered Sumatran orang-utan. Some of the indigenous peoples took the about-face from the so-called "Green Governor" personally, calling it a betrayal of both their homeland and of his previous environmental credentials. [8]On a legal level, though, many environmental organizations argued that Yusuf's quiet grant breaches a presidential moratorium – part of an international deal to save Indonesia's forests – as well as legislation protecting a conservation area where the Tripa swamp is located. Indeed, litigation was filed by environmental groups known as WAHLI, challenging the legality of this concession, contending it was granted in an area of protected forest and further violated a moratorium on peatlands conversion.[9]
On March 27, 2012, on the eve of the WAHLI case being heard in court, over seventy illegally-set fires mysteriously broke-out in this protected Tripa swamp area, including fires set in the oil palm concession granted by Yusuf to PT. Kallista Alam.[10][11] Many involved with the WAHLI litigation believe the fires were set in direct defiance of the pending litigation, in effect ignoring any eventual ruling on the alleged legality of Yusef's granted concession. [12] Mainstream media outlets and environmental organizations report that these fires could lead to the imminent and immediate extinction of the animal inhabitants of the Tripa swamp, including over 200 orangutans.[13] [14]
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