Irwandi Yusuf

Irwandi Yusuf (born in Bireuen, Nanggröe Aceh Darussalam, August 2, 1960), is current Governor of Aceh between 2007-2012. He won NAD regional election 2006 from independent candidate (non-party), along with Muhammad Nazar, S. Ag. as his partner.

Biography
Irwandi Yusuf, a veterinarian by trade (Alumnus of Syiah Kuala University, Banda Aceh), joined the Free Aceh Movement (Indonesian: Gerakan Aceh Merdeka or simply GAM) in 1990, participating for three years before taking up a scholarship at Oregon State University in 1993, where he undertook a Master’s degree in Veterinary Science.

After returning to Banda Aceh to teach at his alma mater, Mr 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.

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. Mr Irwandi was arrested in 2003, and was held as a war prisoner in the Keudah Prison in Banda Aceh.

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

In the aftermath of the tsunami, GAM and the Indonesian central command negotiated a peace settlement, and Mr. 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 Mr. Irwandi, who won 39.27% of the popular vote, as announced by Public Issue Network (JIP) and Indonesian Survey Circle (LSI).

He took office in February 2007 and is now guarded by the army that once pursued him as a GAM rebel. In an unusual move for a former revolutionary, he has kept the old administration in place, cabinet ministers and all. 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."

One of Governor Irwandi's priorities is the protection of Aceh’s magnificent rainforests. "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 avoided deforestation mechanism, in order to reinvigorate the faltering economy and prevent further destruction of Aceh's rainforests.

He declared a moratorium on all logging in Aceh in March 2007, and personally drives out to the villages to conduct spot inspections of former logging camps, encouraging the locals to take up sustainable new professions.

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