Baca tanpa iklan
And I was back there again as the Indonesian military-backed militia began their violence.
I had also spent more than a year in West Papua on several trips, walking for hundreds of kilometers with the OPM and traveling by boat with them and writing and taking photographs under editor-approved pseudonyms.
During those years I had met a lot of wonderful, brave people and seen enough civilians killed and heard enough stories of torture and death to prepare me for the years that I would end up spending in Aceh.
On my ride from the airport into Banda my first day, I recall being surprised at how much more economically developed and better-off at least that part of Aceh was than the unremitting deprivation of East Timor and West Papua.
But I soon learned that it was a place of similar terror.
Nurdin was my first - and remained my best - guide to the independence politics and human rights situation in his beloved but battered Aceh, and I took an instant liking to him.
Part of it was that my Indonesian was still pretty bad, and he spoke a beautiful English.
Another part of why I liked him was that he was himself a very curious person, always trying to learn more and dig deeper, and it made him a teacher respectful of political complexities.
He never lectured or tried to convince me of something no matter how strongly he believed it.
Although passionate about the cause of Aceh’s independence, he was able to separate himself from it and present what turned out to be a balanced and pretty objective picture of the events swirling around us.
The other thing that quickly impressed me about Nurdin was that he was not afraid – even though he was the head of an organization gathering information about torture by the Indonesian military and police.
And this was at a moment when the military was forcefully reasserting its power and hold over Aceh, or at least its hold in the urban areas.
• Kisah Nurdin Abdurrahman dan Mobil Rental
That first day we met, I still recall that it was morning and there was a nice breeze blowing and Nurdin insisted that we sit outside in a pleasant little park under a big tree but very visible to anyone driving or walking past.
On subsequent meetings, we would meet and then at some point he would drive me to different parts of the capital and its environs on his motorbike.
All the other Acehnese I was meeting back then were far more cautious and would only meet with me inside somewhere away from prying eyes.