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After Five Years
The influx of many NGOs, International organizations and UN bodies after the hit to assist was directly helping to move the economy of Aceh looking at the amount of money spent for daily need, house rent, boarding room rent, office, rent, car rent, motorbike rent and as well the local workers hiring.
During the reconstruction time, as part of the encouragement of the government in process of build back better to source the resources from local capacity, NGos, UN and International Agencies hired the local staff. This is also that the fact the process of reconstruction needed a lot of workers.
This local workfroce were relatively hired with high payment. Compared to the national salary rate for equivalent level, the salary was relatively high. The salary was still accompanied by various allowances such as transport allowance, housing allowances, health allowance and certain percantage for working in post disaster/emergency areas.
In those five years, this local workfoce with high salary got used to a better, more convenient life and high salary. The mentality also change. They considered that the salary the got at the time became the standard for their capacity. This perception was totally wrong. Yes, it was standard salary for emergency situation but not in the peace time.
But again mentality has been shaped and situation has changed from the reconstruction time with massive activities to the continuation of reconstruction with less actitivies marked by the fact that there have been many NGO, International Agencies and UN bodies leaving Aceh for program was completed. There are then thousands or hundred thousands of local workers with self-perceivedly high-paid capacity jobless. A higly-paid job will be a scarce commodity now in Aceh and the workers with the existing capacity will reluctantly to accept an offer from local companies with much-much lower salary. Competing with other workers which are national and international is something that they are find difficult to win. Actually, some of them are still hired by the similar NGO or another NGo for the work in other areas. At least I could witnes this when I visited Padang after the hit of 7.3-earthquake in 30 September 2009. There are only few, but many many more now jobless and trying to change the mentality to accept the less paid work in Aceh.
This inflation of local once-paid high workers with capcaity less than national workers is also something that is left after the five years. Then a question is raised, where to go from here.