GAM agrees to Aceh remaining Indonesia<\/p>\n
Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Leaders of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) have agreed to a
\ndemand by the Indonesian government that the tsunami-hit province
\nshould remain a part of Indonesia, but they spelled out
\nconditions that the Acehnese must be allowed to govern the
\nterritory under a system of self-government.<\/p>\n
\"Self-government is a political system, which provides genuine
\ndemocracy for all of the Acehnese as we put aside our demand of
\nbeing independent.<\/p>\n
\"And the establishment of local political parties that enable
\nthe Acehnese to participate in direct local elections as the key
\npoint of the system,\" GAM spokesman Bakhtiar Abdullah said on
\nMonday.<\/p>\n
Such conditions were crystallized during a two-day
\nconsultation meeting involving dozens of representatives of
\nAcehnese civil society, including activists from the Aceh
\nReferendum Information Center (SIRA), and GAM's leadership in
\nSweden, over the weekend.<\/p>\n
During the meetings, which were facilitated by the Sweden-
\nbased Olof Palme International Center, most attendees agreed that
\n\"the only way to a comprehensive and sustainable peace in Aceh
\nwas through a negotiated agreement that gives to the people of
\nAceh the right and capacity to determine their own affairs within
\nthe context of the Republic of Indonesia.\"<\/p>\n
\"The Acehnese must feel free to talk about politics without
\nbeing interfered with by the central government (in Jakarta),\"
\nBakhtiar told The Jakarta Post from Sweden.<\/p>\n
The Indonesian government and GAM leaders will meet in
\nHelsinki for a final round of informal peace talks to end the
\nthree decades of bloody conflict in Aceh, the hardest hit region
\nin the Dec. 26 tsunami disaster.<\/p>\n
Chief facilitator of Crisis Management Initiative (CMI),
\nMartti Ahtisaari said the round would last for six days,
\nbeginning from July 12.<\/p>\n
The government of Indonesia has insisted that any peace talks
\nshould be held within the context that Aceh remains a part of
\nIndonesia.<\/p>\n
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has said the government
\ncould accept demands that former GAM rebels be allowed to run in
\nlocal elections for the positions of mayors, regents and vice
\ngovernor.<\/p>\n
But the government seems to be against the possibility of the
\nestablishment of local political parties, as the law stipulates
\nthat all political parties in Indonesia must be organized on a
\nnationwide basis. This means that former GAM members must join
\nexisting, mostly Jakarta-based, parties if they wished to run for
\nmayors, regents or vice governor in local elections.<\/p>\n
Vice President Jusuf Kalla met last week with some leaders of
\npolitical parties, calling on them to allow GAM members to
\nparticipate in local elections through their respective parties.<\/p>\n
The peace talks in Helsinki had been strongly criticized by
\nsome lawmakers, who claim that the Aceh issue is solely a
\ndomestic problem. They also criticized the proposed involvement
\nof foreign monitoring team in Aceh.<\/p>\n
Kalla responded on Monday to the criticism by saying that a
\n\"peaceful solution will be the only way to stop the bloodshed in
\nthe conflict-torn province,\" where over 15,000 people have been
\nkilled since the GAM began its independence bid in 1976.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/gam-agrees-to-aceh-remaining-indonesia-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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