ARTICLE: "In Aceh, New Governor Works To Draw Investment to Province," by Tom Wright, Wall Street Journal, 29 March 2007, p. A10.
Aceh and the Christmas Tsunamis remain the best SysAdmin effort of late.
Irwandi Yusuf was in jail when the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunamis struck Aceh. Today, he is trying to stimulate foreign investment and establish a model government in the Indonesia province.After escaping from his cell when the wave hit, the former reber strategist was elected Aceh's governor in December. The elections were possible after Indonesia's national government in 2005 signed a peace accord that ended a 30-year guerrilla war for independence, granting Aceh a large degree of autonomy.
Best CPX (command post exercise) I ever did was with Pacific Command in the mid-1990s on a humanitarian relief op focused on Aceh that simultaneously dealt with the difficulties of a separatist movement (yeah, the very same one!). It went nowhere as well as the real op went, and yet, it's that kind of training and planning that allowed PACOM to be ready when it needed to be, so I feel a tiny pride in being a small cog in that enormous wheel (a huge command, a huge exercise).
What's so fascinating here is how our military played such a crucial up-front role and how quickly and well the whole scenario got to what really matters: attracting FDI. That the former rebel strategist is now governor is just too cool for words. Beating your enemy is one thing, but co-opting him is much better. Better for you, better for him, better for business.
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