Finns stay on as Aceh peace process continues

For Juha Christensen, peace in Aceh began as a hobby, and turned into a job

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By Sami Sillanpää in Banda Aceh
     
      Building peace in the Indonesian province of Aceh is continuing under watchful Finnish eyes, now that the area is moving into a new period - after the elections, and after the departure of election observers.
      The beginning of January will see the launch of the programme of the Interpeace organisation, set up to follow-up on the peace process. The effort will be led by Juha Christensen, a Finn from Lahti, who worked behind the scenes as a peace mediator between the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement.
      With its headquarters in Switzerland, Interpeace specialises in building peace; several states are members in the organisation, and it is chaired by former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari.
     
Ahtisaari served as a mediator in negotiations which led to the Helsinki peace agreement in August last year.
      "There are still parts of the peace treaty that have not been implemented. It is appropriate that key figures who have been involved for a long time should continue the process", says Christensen, 48, in his apartment in Banda Aceh.
      Peace in Aceh has been monitored by the EU-led Aceh Monitoring Mission (AMM), which is leaving on Friday. Interpeace is not continuing AMM’s mission, but it is serving as a go-between, and provides expertise for both sides in developing the peace and society of Aceh.
      Preparations for the follow-up have been going on for a year and a half, but the matter has been kept a secret until now. Officially the programme will be made public next week in Aceh. About 40 local people, as well as a few foreign experts are working under Christensen’s guidance.
      The new project continues Finland’s powerful role in the Aceh peace process. The 29 Finnish members in the multinational observer operation constituted the largest group. General Jaakko Oksanen was the deputy leader of the operation, and Kalle Liesinen was responsible for disarming the guerrillas.
      "There is no point in being too modest. The Finns have been in a leading position in this throughout the whole process", Christensen says. He began his peacemaking activities as a "hobby".
      As a linguist, he lived in Indonesia for five years in the 1980s, and learned to speak the Bahasa Indonesia language. Later he served as a consultant, and studied the conflict of East Timor. In 2000 he began to analyse the Aceh conflict out of personal curiosity.
      Christensen took serious action when Aceh peace talks collapsed in May 2003. It was at about that time that an article by Helsingin Sanomat Stockholm correspondent Mari Manninen appeared concerning the government in exile of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) that was set up in Sweden.
      "I had been waiting for the right moment to contact GAM. The article was the final touch. Thanks to the article, they have a connection of sorts with Finns", Christensen says.
     
Manninen gave Christensen the mobile phone numbers of the GAM leaders. For his first meeting with GAM in Stockholm Christensen took with him a computer and a video projector.
      In his presentation, he discussed his knowledge of Indonesia, and said that he had concluded that he would be an ideal peace mediator.
      "Now it seems a bit funny how self-confident this presentation was", Christensen says.
      That was the start of an ordeal lasting a year and a half. Christensen continued to work as CEO of a pharmaceutical company, but in his free time he shuttled between Stockholm and the Indonesian capital Jakarta making preparations for the negotiations. Everything was so secret that "for a long time even my wife did not know what I was doing."
      In Indonesia, deputy minister Farid Husain was Christensen’s old family friend. He also established a personal contact with Vice President Yusuf Kalla.
      The tsunami, which hit Aceh on December 26th, 2004, had been seen as a spark for the peace talks. In fact, Christensen says that things had moved forward considerably by then. On Christmas Eve before the tsunami, the two sides had agreed, in principle, to start the negotiations, and Ahtisaari had agreed to serve as a mediator.
      When the negotiations began in late 2005 in Vantaa, Christensen stayed in the background, as he often does.
      After the first meeting, Indonesian deputy minister Husain and GAM leaders Malik Mahmud and Zaini Abdullah secretly remained in Finland. Christensen invited them to his home. The minister and the rebel leaders sat side-by-side in the back seat of a car en route from Helsinki to Lahti. Christensen knew that the ice had been broken.
     
"Super Juha: the beginning of the whole thing is to his credit. He had a role, but naturally this [peace] is not his achievement alone", says Bakhtiar Abdullah, the GAM press spokesman in Aceh.
      Working for peace began as a hobby for Christensen, but now it had turned into a profession. On the same day that the peace agreement was signed in Helsinki, Christensen quit his job with the Swedish company that he was working for.
      Now he has worked as a peace monitor in Aceh for a year and a half. His work with Interpeace will continue at least until the 2009 elections of the local parliament.
      Christensen says that he is motivated by "my ethical and humanitarian values".
      Having worked in business for 15 years, this former CEO has taken pleasure in helping resolve the Aceh conflict.
      War tormented the people of Aceh for 29 years, and cost the lives of 12,000 - 15,000.
      "I have enjoyed this work very much. I no longer have any desire to return to the private sector."
     
Ahtisaari’s Crisis Management Initiative (CMI) group is still involved in the peace monitoring process in Aceh. According to the peace treaty, Ahtisaari will be summoned if a dispute emerges that the two sides cannot resolve.
      "We have the obligation to be in contact and to collect information. We go to Aceh regularly. Ahtisaari goes there at least once a year", says CMI advisor Sami Lahdensuo.
      Helsinki and "President Martti" are familiar names to many in Aceh.
      "We are grateful to the Finns for all of the help", says Professor Yusnu Saby, who was involved in the previous unsuccessful peace initiative.
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 12.12.2006


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Indonesian leader praises Finns for contribution to Aceh peace process (13.9.2006)
  Ahtisaari calls Aceh treaty surprisingly successful on first anniversary (15.8.2006)
  President Ahtisaari pleased with progress in Aceh peace process (14.9.2005)
  Kalle Liesinen to help disarm Aceh guerrillas (23.8.2005)
  Thousands in Aceh celebrate as peace treaty is signed in Helsinki (16.8.2005)

Links:
  Crisis Management Initiative
  Interpeace

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