Suspicious of everything GAM<\/p>\n
As reported in The Jakarta Post of Sept. 27, TNI Chief Gen.
\nEndriartono Sutarto claimed that the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) had
\naccepted Law No. 18\/2000 on special autonomy as the starting
\npoint for all dialogs in the future, which means all things to be
\ndeliberated upon must not go against the principle of a unitary
\nstate. But GAM's spokesman Teuku Kamaruzzaman said that GAM is
\nready to give its views, on the special autonomy law. He did not
\nspecifically mention that GAM had accepted Law No. 18\/2000, as
\nstated by Endriartono.<\/p>\n
Teuku admitted that a cease-fire was required to establish a
\npeaceful life. We will support a cease-fire "not because we are
\ncornered, but the people need to live in peace." According to our
\ngovernment, this move will lead to an all-inclusive dialog to
\nhear the aspirations which could be the answer, but only within
\nthe parameters of Aceh as part of Indonesia. But do the GAM
\npeople accept the same parameters? And what is the main reason
\nthat GAM is accepting this dialog? We have to be very careful in
\ninterpreting GAM's statements.<\/p>\n
Learning from previous experiences when both sides failed to
\nmaintain a truce agreed in several peace talks since 1999, it was
\nsuggested by Rizal Sukma from the Centre for Strategic and
\nInternational Studies that an independent commission would be
\nnecessary to prevent the forthcoming agreement on the cessation
\nof hostilities from turning into a failure. (the Post on Sept.
\n28).<\/p>\n
This is felt as a necessary step, but when this commission is
\ncreated, do we again have to ask foreigners to sit on this
\ncommittee? Don't we have any experienced or bonafide national
\npoliticians or Indonesians from other walks of life, like
\nIndonesian NGOs, to look after our own affairs. Of course they
\nshould have a credible reputation and know how to uphold our
\nConstitution and be fair in their attitude.<\/p>\n
Another thing that needs serious scrutiny, is the existence of
\nwhat have been called recently, "the splinter groups" (more than
\none?). I think that this is just a maneuver by GAM, to have an
\nexcuse and blame some other non-exisistent organization for their
\nhuman rights violations and their destructive actions.<\/p>\n
What is more important is to ask GAM to sign a sort of MOU,
\nthat contains the official interpretation of what is agreed by
\nboth sides and this can be used by an independent commission to
\ncontrol what is going on. An MOU is a common practice nowadays,
\nand our Republic has signed several MOUs, like the one with IMF
\nand the others.<\/p>\n
SOEGIH ARTO, Jakarta<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/suspicious-of-everything-gam-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }