From Bullets to Ballot | Dari Peluru ke Surat Suara |

by @ayijufridar

Tgk Matang; Dari Peluru ke Surat Suara |

SUATU malam di tahun 1998, saya melihat seorang lelaki kurus berpakaian blazer panjang hitam dengan sepatu koboi membungkus kakinya. Kancing jubahnya dibiarkan terbuka sehingga di balik blazer hitam itu terlihat sepucuk pistol tergantung di pinggangnya. Beberapa pria bersenjata laras panjang terlihat di antaranya lelaki kurus tersebut.

Lelaki itu, berceramah di sebuah surau (meunasah), mengenai Gerakan Aceh Merdeka (GAM). Ia banyak bercerita tentang gerakan tersebut, kekuatan, target, dan berbagai informasi yang sulit diverifikasi akurasinya. Saya pikir, ini ceramah doktrinal dan agitasi.

Saya tidak pernah menyangka, tujuh tahun kemudian berjumpa lagi dengan lelaki kurus itu dalam kesempatan terpisah. Bukan sekadar mengenal, bahkan saya mulai akrab dengannya dan baru tahu namanya Syahrir M Daud. Dulu, ia lebih dikenal dengan nama lakab (samaran) Teungku Matang.

Ia dipanggil Teungku Matang karena lahir di Matang Glumpang Dua Kabupaten Bireuen pada 21 Juli 1961. Medio Agustus 2007 atau dua tahun setelah perjanjian damai MoU Helsinki antara Pemerintah Indonesia dengan GAM, saya mewawancarai lelaki itu untuk surat kabar harian Jurnal Nasional, di mana saya bekerja sebagai koresponden di wilayah Aceh. Saat itu, saya mendapatkan tugas untuk membuat profil sejumlah mantan gerilyawan GAM yang kini menekuni berbagai profesi. Teungku Matang bukan satu-satunya orang yang saya wawancarai. Masih ada satu mantan anggota GAM lainnya yang kemudian menjadi penjual minyak eceran.

Teungku Matang kemudian menjadi anggota Komisi Independen Pemilihan atau KIP Kota Lhokseumawe. Kalau dulu ia mendoktrin masyarakat tentang GAM, ia kemudian banyak berpidato tentang tahapan pemilu dan pilkada. Sebagai komisioner, tugas melakukan sosialisasi tentang pemilu di lakukan di berbagai daerah tugasnya.

Gaya bicara Teungku Matang cepat dan penuh keyakinan, selincah gerak-geriknya dalam berjalan. Dalam setiap pembicaraan, ia banyak bercanda. Ketika Ketua Komisi Pemilihan Umum (KPU) Indonesia, Husni Kamil Manik, berkunjung ke Lhokseumawe pada 2016, ia menyatakan keyakinannya bahwa pilkada di Lhokseumawe akan berjalan dengan sukses.

“Kenapa begitu, Pak?” tanya sejumlah orang penasaran. Mereka pikir, ini menjadi diskusi yang serius sebab Husni Kamil Manik sudah berkunjung ke beberapa kabupaten dan kota di Provinsi Aceh, tetapi tidak pernah melontarkan pernyataan demikian.

“Sebab,” jawab Husni Kamil Manik kemudian, “pilkada di Lhokseumawe dipersiapkan dengan Matang!”

Semuanya tertawa terkekeh-kekeh. Tidak menyangka Husni Kamil Manik akan mencandai Teungku Matang. Kisah ini saya ingat dengan baik karena tak lama setelah itu, Husni Kamil Manik meninggal dunia karena sakit.

Meski bercanda, pernyataan Husni Kamil Manik memang benar adanya sebab tahapan pilkada di Lhokseumawe berjalan sukses. Teungku Matang bersama komisioner lain berhasil melaksanakan seluruh tahapan dengan baik.[]

---

Tgk Matang; From Bullets to Ballot

A night in 1998, I saw a skinny man dressed in a long black blazer with cowboy shoes wrapped around his legs. The buttons of his robe were left open so that behind the black blazer was a pistol hanging from his waist. Several men armed with long barrel seen among them the skinny man.

The man, lecturing in a surau (a mosque small. Achenesse say meunasah), on the Free Aceh Movement (GAM). He tells a lot about the movement, strength, target, and various information that is difficult to verify accuracy. I think this is a doctrinal lecture and agitation.

I never thought, seven years later meet again with the thin man on a separate occasion. Not just knowing, even I began to be familiar with it and just know its name Syahrir M Daud. In the past, he was better known as lakab (guise) Teungku Matang.

He was called Teungku Matang because he was born in Matang Glumpang Dua Bireuen District on July 21, 1961.

Medio August 2007 or two years after the Helsinki MoU peace agreement between the Government of Indonesia and GAM, I interviewed the man for the National Journal daily newspaper, where I worked as Correspondent in the Aceh region. At that time, I got the task of creating a profile of a number of former GAM combatants who now pursue various professions. Teungku Matang is not the only person I interviewed. There is still one other former GAM member who later became retailer of oil.

Teungku Matang then becomes a member of the Independent Election Commission or KIP Kota Lhokseumawe. If he used to indoctrinate the community about GAM, he then made many speeches about the election and elections stages. As a commissioner, the task of disseminating the election is done in various duty areas.

Teungku speech style fast and full of confidence, look like gestures in walking. In every conversation, he jokes a lot. When the Chairman of the Indonesian General Elections Commission (KPU), Husni Kamil Manik, visited Lhokseumawe in 2016, he expressed his belief that the elections in Lhokseumawe would run successfully.

"Why is that, sir?" Asked some curious people. They thought this was a serious discussion because Husni Kamil Manik had visited several districts and cities in Aceh Province, but never made such a statement.

"Because," Husni Kamil Manik replied later, "the election in Lhokseumawe is prepared with mature!" (in bahasa, Matang the meaning is mature).

Everyone laughed. Do not think Husni Kamil Manik will mark Teungku Matang. This story I remember well because shortly after that, Husni Kamil Manik died of illness.

Although joking, Husni Kamil Manik's statement is true because the pilkada stages in Lhokseumawe run successfully. Teungku Matang along with other commissioners managed to carry out all the stages well.[]

Teungku Matang and I when attending the recapitulation meeting of the vote and vote count at the Aceh Parliament office in Banda Aceh, February 2017.