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Banda Aceh. A triumphant Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono returned to Aceh on Wednesday for the sixth time as president, after having won an astonishing 93.22 percent of the vote in the province during last month’s presidential polls.

He told a crowd of 2,500 at the opening of the 5th Aceh Cultural Week that the province was entering a new era after lifting itself out of the devastation of the 2004 earthquake and tsunami and the 30 years of bloody conflict between guerillas of the now-defunct Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and the Indonesian Armed Forces.

Yudhoyono said that with the help of friendly countries, Aceh had emerged from conflict and disaster a stronger and better province.

“We come to Aceh in a different situation than, perhaps, 15 or 10 years ago,” Yudhoyono said. “A new era Aceh, a post-conflict Aceh, which, God willing, will be more peaceful, more just and more prosperous.”

However, he said there was still work to be done in rebuilding Aceh following the tsunami, reintegrating former guerillas back into society and revamping the provincial economy by revitalizing various development sectors to create jobs and prosperity.

“Do not waste this golden opportunity and the chance to build Aceh toward a better future,” the president said. “God willing, I will be able to maintain your trust in my ability to move Aech and Indonesia forward.”

Aceh Governor Irwandi Yusuf said during the opening ceremony of the event that the tsunami had accelerated the realization of peace in the province.

“Now, Aceh wants to open up even wider,” he said. “I appeal to Mr. President to provide greater access to the outside world, for foreign nationals to come and see the progress of Aceh.”

“Now that Aceh is no longer a conflict zone, we want to be just like Jakarta and Bali, with the door open as wide as possible for other citizens of the world to come here,” Irwandi said.