Irwandi Yusuf - Political Career

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. Out of the prison population of 278, Irwandi was one of just 40 survivors.

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).

He took office in February 2007 and established 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."