Pictures of missing people and images of the past conflict were the highlights of an exhibition held on the grounds of KontraS Aceh. The work of Acehnese journalists also included the official reconciliation ceremony between GAM and victims of the Aceh conflict. Around 150 visitors could also see images of the Participatory Action Research (PAR) involving villagers in Central Aceh, who had willingly joined efforts to secure peace following major clashes among them in 2001. A discussion during the exhibit also took place between a former head of Sedie Jadi village, Suterisno and a resident of Pilar Jaya village, Mawaddah, both in Bener Meriah district. Fighters of the GAM from Pilar Jaya had attacked Sedie Jadi village, however, victims included locals of both villages.
Mawaddah was shot in the leg when trying to flee her village. As she was treated in hospital it turned out her husband was tortured to death by villagers. He was part of a group of GAM fighters who went back and forth between their village and the mountains to recruit members and take supplies from civilians.
Since he married Mawaddah he took up residence in the village. Villagers who had become nervous about the GAM became drawn to the military’s promises of cash rewards for those who could capture GAM fighters, and Mawaddah’s husband fell victim to her neighbours.
For some 20 years, Mawaddah suppressed her anger and pain. In addressing the talks on Human Rights Day, Mawaddah and the former village head Suterisno both stressed the importance of sharing insights into past human rights abuses to the younger generation, to ensure their role in preventing recurrence of violent conflicts. On 29 March 2022 Suterisno signed a peace agreement with the former local GAM commander, in a reconciliation ceremony among local leaders of the former hostile villagers.
In the evening attendants listened to an oration by Suciwati, an activist and wife of the slain human rights defender Munir. The mastermind of his fatal poisoning aboard a Garuda Indonesia flight from Jakarta to Amsterdam, in September 2004, remains at large. The only suspect, a now deceased off-duty pilot, was sentenced to 20 years and was finally acquitted. Munir was involved in many investigations of gross human rights violations including those in Aceh. A monologue titled “Halimah”, which narrated the loss of family during the conflict, closed the above event.