Sitting on the rooftop of the prison building, 'convict' Irwandi Yusuf stared at the sea of water all around him. Hours had passed. He thought about his wife and three daughters - not knowing whether they were alive - and began a monologue with God.

Irwandi was one of two prisoners - the other a petty thief - to have climbed to the roof top after the tsunami struck Aceh on the morning of Dec 26, 2004, which claimed 160,000 lives in Indonesia alone.

"I did not escape from the prison, the prison escaped me," he quipped. Like most Acehnese, despite having suffered - and survived - one of the most devastating natural disasters in modern history, Irwandi retained his sense of humour.

Irwandi was born in a little hamlet in northern Aceh 47 years ago. He later studied veterinary science at Syiah Kuala University. Being a vet, he knew something was wrong before the tsunami struck after noticing the strange behaviour of seagulls from his prison window.

In 1990, he went to Oregon State University in United States on a scholarship for his master's degree, also in veterinary science. On returning to Aceh, he work as a lecturer at his former university. It was at this time that he officially joined GAM - the Free Aceh Movement which fought for independence.

Four years ago, Irwandi was arrested in Jakarta and sentenced to nine years' jail for rebellion. He was sent to a prison in Aceh until the day giant waves came to the troubled province.

In his own words

The following is his story in his own words as told to malaysiakini on how he survived the tsunami:

I was born in Bireuen, north Aceh. The spirit of freedom started when I was eight years old when I was able to read. My first book was 'The Lion of Aceh', which told the story of how Aceh became part of Indonesia. I read many books in my childhood - astronomy, history and mechanics. These books helped shape my life. I was 16 when Hassan Di Tiro (Aceh rebel leader) launched the movement for independence in 1976. I did not know who the rebels were then.

In 1990, I went to study in the United States. Then DOM (Jakarta's brutal military operations against GAM) began in Aceh. I monitored the situation from abroad. I knew what GAM was then, but did not join them because of the distance.

In 1991, I briefly went back home to visit my sick father. I was interrogated by Kopassus (Indonesia Army Special Force Command) for no reason. I graduated in 1993 and on returning to Aceh, I joined GAM. During that time, many people openly joined GAM.

I was asked by GAM to help with administrative matters such as checking for news on the Internet, designing the letterhead and so on. At the same time, I got a job as a lecturer at Syiah Kuala University. I ran GAM communication hub while working at the university.

I believed it was better to have peace rather than war. But I also knew that I must prepare for the worst in case war broke out again. My family had no idea about my involvement with GAM - not until I was arrested.

I was arrested in Jakarta five days after martial law was declared (in May 2003). They traced my phone calls and got me. I was brought back to Aceh, and put in a 3 by 4 meter cell with another 44 people inside. I had a new mobile phone in prison but did not have money to top it (SIM card) up because the university stopped paying my salary.

Anyway, I could still use the phone to broadcast live (on the situation of the prison) from the prison's toilet. Amnesty International then put out a report on the condition of my imprisonment and torture. Later my prison cell was searched and my phone was discovered. Luckily the SIM card was secured by me.

After a while, I was moved to a bigger cell. There I had more freedom to move around because the security guards now had developed some respect for us.

On the eve of the tsunami, I had strange feelings that something might happen. It might be a big quake, I thought. You know, I was trained as a vet. When I looked to the direction of the sea, I saw strange movements of seagulls. It was like they were moving somewhere.

The day the tsunami struck

At 2am on that day, Cut Nurasyikin (a GAM activist who was sentenced for 11 years for anti-government activities) phoned me from her cell (in another prison in Aceh) to inform me that our forces had attacked a military unit and killed three navy soldiers. Then she said something strange.

"Aceh will be free very soon," she said. And she continued, "On 30 December, the US fleet will land in Aceh." I thought she was a little 'groggy' but she put it very firmly.

I woke up at 7am and opened my cell door. Still worried about Cut Nurasyikin, I contacted Sira (a pro-independence non-governmental organisation) to ask about her well-being. Suddenly I felt the ground shaking. I tried to stand straight but I couldn't. Block B of the prison, where my cell was located, was where all GAM members were housed.

I ran to the guards who were stationed at the main door and asked them to open it and let us get to Block A in the front, but they refused. I tried to use my mobile phone to call home but could not get through. I heard the sound of a building collapsed. I felt the shaking - each time it lasted much longer.

I told others that a tsunami might be coming. Big quakes happened before in 1965 and 1985 (followed by tsunamis).

Later, there was a change of guards at 7.30am. Everyone was ordered to go back to our cells. I was still outside and saw the seagulls again.

Then I heard a rolling sound like a truck coming toward us. I told my friends to be calm. Suddenly someone shouted, "Seawater!", and everybody ran. There was only a small door to the first block (Block A). The guard had closed and locked it. A lot of people were to die there.

I decided in a split second to run back and climbed up to the prayer room on the second floor. I saw the water level raised very quickly, smashing the ladders. Soon the water reached as high as my waist. I thought to myself, "It is the time to die". There was another prisoner in the room. He was a small-time thief and he was crying. I shouted to him, "Let's climb up."

We did and when my head hit the ceiling, I realised that it was made of asbestos. Without thinking, I pushed the ceiling hard. I did not know where I got my energy from. Finally it was opened, and both of us climbed up to the roof.

We sat there until the water level decreased. Later that day, I put my phone, specs and shoes in a plastic bag and walked six kilometers back home. On the way, I saw dead bodies everywhere. I reached home but my family was not there.

In search for his family

I walked and walked to all places which I could think of (to look for my family). I stop at places where they gathered dead bodies. I have three daughters. At one place, I found the body of a girl. She looked exactly like one of my girls. Her face was covered with thick mud. I tried to wash her face, but a man came and said, "Sir, this is my daughter."

I walked again and found another body with a scar on her forehead like my second daughter. I gently washed and wiped her face, but it was not her.

I moved again to another place. While searching among hundreds of bodies, I heard a voice calling, "Pak Wandi!" It was Yuni, a girl who had stayed with my family and she was crying. She told me that everybody at home had survived, and that she thought I had died.

Ironically, it was the family of the military intelligence officer next door who helped drive them out. I had always played chess with him before I was arrested. I knew he was an intelligence officer but we (GAM) never did anything harmful to him. Perhaps that was why he remained friendly to my family after my arrest.

The next morning, my brother came to Banda Aceh from Bireuen with a funeral cloth. He made announcements in the mosque, trying to find my dead body. As far as everyone was concerned, I was dead. So I quietly left Aceh on January 3, 2005 for Medan, then Jakarta, and waited there.

But there was still a problem to be solved. While my thief friend and I were on the prison's rooftop, I saw a prison guard on the roof of the building next to ours and he saw me too. He was a nice guy, but to let him think that I was alive would jeopardise my 'official death'.

I decided to call him, pretending to be another GAM member asking for my own whereabouts. The guy surprisingly talked highly of me, saying that he saw me on the rooftop. I thanked him and asked him to keep an eye on the "missing" me. A few days later I called him again, telling him to stop looking for me because GAM had found my dead body. "He did not survive the second wave that came," I told him.

I stayed one month in Jakarta giving interviews to journalists (using mobile phone) - I was pretending to be (another person) a GAM spokesperson in the jungle. Finally the Justice Department recorded my death. I was legally dead.

I, Irwandi Yusuf, had 'died' in the tsunami.

Irwandi resurfaces

Irwandi left Indonesia shortly after, only to reappear a few months later to provide intelligence support to GAM during the peace negotiations in Helsinki, Finland. He returned to Aceh after the peace pact was inked as GAM liaison officer in the Aceh Monitoring Mission - a body established to oversee the implementation of the peace agreement.

The peace agreement paved the way for the gubernatorial and administrative elections in Aceh on Dec 11, 2005 in which Irwandi was a candidate. He and his running mate Mohammad Nazar won.

Unfortunately, Cut Nurasyikin, who was held in another prison in Aceh, did not survive the tsunami.

But she was right. The Americans did come in their warships - to help the Acehnese in the wake of the tsunami. And Aceh is now 'free'. However, little did she know that Irwandi would become the province's new leader.

Yesterday, Irwandi - a man who has returned from the dead - was sworn in as the first directly elected governor of Aceh. He has indeed come a long way from the day he sat on the prison's rooftop. Not bad for a dead man.


Part 1: Tsunami survivor begins task as Aceh's leader
Part 3: Aceh's democracy a bold experiment

PRANGTIP DAORUENG conducted a research on the peace process in Aceh under the Nippon Foundation's intellectual fellowship programme. She visited Indonesia in 2002 and 2004.