Welcome to Aceh, Indonesian,
This was once a busy market gateway to East Africa, the Middle East and Asia.
But, it fell away after years of civil conflict and the the world had ever seen.
Suddenly, before I realised everything a very big wave have hit us all
I was taken from the city to the sea out to the middle of the sea
then another wave came again and it took me again very close to the land.
I got back to my residence but it didn’t look like my residence anymore because all the buildings were destroyed
So at that time I realized that I will not be able to find my family anymore.
The 10-meter high wall of water that thundered through her once quiet seaside community
took 90% of the people who lived there.
Netty lost her two young children.
After a while we realized that we needed shelter, we needed a house to live.
I saw some people wanted to move back to what I saw was a very dangerous areas
So what is the criteria for the buffer zone? What is the criteria for the safer place?
Determined to help communities like hers build back better, Netty moved away from her career in chemical engineering.
She applied for and won an Australia Award scholarship
to study a Master’s of Urban and Regional Planning at Curtain University.
When we studied there was no right or wrong, it was just different. So different opinions can be applied in a case.
It was interesting to enrich my view on how we should think.
Ten years on from the tsunami, Aceh has healed.
Even so, it remains one of Indonesia’s poorest regions. One in three families live below the poverty line.
To boost our economy, we need the capital from the private sector
Today, Netty leads promotion at the Aceh Investment Coordinating Board.
She is using the planning skills she learned in Australia to attract investors to Aceh.
Before, the focus was on simply promoting the region’s potential.
Now, her team prepares investment profiles with full land surveys.
This has boosted confidence among investors like Australian Cattle breeder, Harry Lawson.
Lawson Angus is a family business that is nearly 50 years old and it was really started by my parents
who built it from scratch.
This farm breeds some of Australia’s finest Angus cattle.
Recently Lawson Angus started sharing its world-class breeding technology with Aceh.
The Aceh beef farmer should be amongst the most productive and profitable in the world
and they’re not at the moment because they’re not linked in in terms of technology, genetics, management systems,
nutrition, beef processing, marketing but the potential is clearly there
At the market it’s all smiles as families buy beef to celebrate the start of Ramadan.
The average Acehnese consumes only two kilos of beef annually. It’s a luxury item.
The Australian cattle breeder is collaborating with Acehnese farmers.
This partnership will involve importing an initial breeding pool,
alongside expertise to improve animal welfare, nutrition and sustainable land management.
The hope is to build a viable beef industry that benefits farmers in both countries.
Our vision is to be one of the leading investment destinations in Indonesia.
We dress locally, but think globally. "Laughs"
This is o ne of the many successful investment partnerships that Netty and her team have helped facilitate.
In recent months, for example, another f oreign investor started work on a major fish-processing centre.
Many stand to benefit.
My name is Rushdie
I am a fish seller. For the sellers if there is a lot of fish coming in, we don’t make many sales.
Our hope is that the new fish processing centre will help stabilize the prices.
Netty to us is the critical person. She’s hugely passionate about Aceh.
The fact that she studied in Australia, the ‘no-worries Harry’ type attitude.
She gets our culture and Netty’s been able to teach us in a very short time about her culture
I have been in the situation of life and death.
But, suddenly god gave me another chance to live.
I believe it has a purpose.
With the knowledge she gained in Australia,
Netty’s purpose now lies in showing the world a new face of Aceh,
so that the region can once again grow and prosper as an international trading hub.