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. Image File history File links Broom_icon. ... Located on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, Bireuen is 105 miles east of the local capital, Banda Aceh. ... Aceh (IPA pronunciation: , pronounced approximately Ah-Cèh, but with [e], not [ei] at the end) is a special territory (daerah istimewa) of Indonesia, located on the northern tip of the island of Sumatra. ... is the 214th day of the year (215th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... 2012 (MMXII) will be a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Regional elections were held in Aceh on 11 December 2006 after a peace treaty had been signed between the government of Indonesia and the Free Aceh Movement on 15 August 2005. ... Muhammad Nazar, S.Ag. ...

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 the University of Oregon in 1993, where he undertook a Master’s degree in Veterinary Science. ASNLF Flag The Free Aceh Movement (Indonesian: Gerakan Aceh Merdeka or simply GAM), also known as the Aceh Sumatra National Liberation Front (ASNLF), is an armed separatist group seeking independence for the Aceh region on Sumatra from Indonesia. ... The University of Oregon is a public university located in Eugene, Oregon. ...

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. Location of Banda Aceh Banda Aceh is the provincial capital and largest city of Aceh, Indonesia, located on the island of Sumatra at , with an elevation of 21 m. ... Fauna and Flora International logo - the Arabian Oryx The Fauna and Flora Preservation Society, officially renamed the Fauna and Flora International, was founded in 1903 as the Society for the Preservation of the Wild Fauna of the Empire by a group of British naturalists and American statesmen in Africa. ...

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. The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, known by the scientific community as the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake,[1] was a great undersea earthquake that occurred at 00:58:53 UTC (07:58:53 local time) December 26, 2004 with an epicentre off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. ...

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.[1] Of the prison population of 278, Mr. Irwandi was one of just 40 survivors.[2]

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) [3].

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."[4]

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. In economics, carbon trading is a form of emissions trading that allows a country to meet its carbon dioxide emissions reduction commitments, often to meet Kyoto Treaty requirements, in as low a cost as possible by utilising the free market. ...

He declared a moratorium on all logging in Aceh in March 2007,[5] and personally drives out to the villages to conduct spot inspections of former logging camps, encouraging the locals to take up sustainable new professions.[6]

See also