A new potential conflict in Aceh

A new potential conflict in Aceh

Ardimas Sasdi, Jakarta

The peace pact signed by the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and the
Indonesian government in Helsinki on Aug. 15 has so far brought
hopes of a lasting peace to the province after more than 30 years
of war.

But all parties must remain on guard to contain small
conflicts at the grassroots, which if not properly tackled could
spiral out of control and destroy this blossoming optimism.

The Acehnese, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and other
world leaders have good reason to be pleased. Speaking at the
Sixth Asian European Editors' Forum in Jakarta two weeks after
the signing of the accord, Susilo hailed the peace pact as a
milestone achievement of his young government.

The Acehnese in general and GAM in particular have been no
less sanguine. Despite their lack of trust of the House of
Representatives in Jakarta, GAM's response to the accord has been
positive, with its guerrillas coming down from the hills, taking
off their combat uniforms, surrendering their weapons and
returning to their communities after years apart after years
apart from their families. It is not surprising, however, that
some have admitted, after all the fighting, that they now don't
know what to do with their lives.

The response of the Indonesian Military (TNI), whose role in
the peace efforts is crucial, has also been encouraging. The TNI
and police have exercised self-restraint and begun pulling out
troops from Aceh, although they were initially not supportive of
the deal. The military's role is so vital in the Aceh peace that
it would have been unthinkable to imagine an accord without their
support.

In line with the Helsinki agreement, the government has also
released GAM members from prisons across the country under a
special amnesty program and allowed them to return to their
families.

In a nutshell as expressed by Sofyan Djalil, the Indonesian
Minister of Communication and Information who is also Acehnese
and was a negotiator at the Helsinki talks, "so far everything is
working well."

GAM took up arms in 1976 against the Indonesian government and
the response by Jakarta was the massive deployment of military
forces to crush the rebellion. But the Dec. 26 tsunami, which
ravaged villages and towns in coastal areas and killed more than
130,000 people, helped push the rebels to drop their long-held
demands for independence and return to the negotiating table with
the government.

The cessation of this armed conflict, plans to help GAM start
new lives by giving them land, living allowances and other
resources as well as the goodwill of the former rebels to stop
fighting are highly commendable. But it is wrong to simplify
conflict in Aceh into the problem of an armed struggle.

The almost 30-year conflict, which has claimed 15,000 lives --
mostly innocent people -- has gone beyond the territory of Aceh,
as it has torn into the very fabric of society there, leaving
many people with gaping wounds, both physical and mental. The
Acehnese have become sharply divided into two groups-- the pro-
Jakarta Acehnese and the GAM members or GAM sympathizers.

To heal these wounds will not be an easy job and will require
the firm determination of the Acehnese and probably also help
from outside, including psychologists and experts on peace and
conflict resolution.

"Now we are not afraid of the pai (the Acehnese for the TNI)
as at least there is a law for them to obey. Moreover, peace
monitors are everywhere to watch their acts. We are worried about
enemies in disguise and GAM, who in principle are civilians ",
said an Acehnese who lives in Depok, a suburb south of Jakarta.

Some Acehnese, who live outside the natural resource-rich
province choose not to return to Aceh, but have adopted a-wait-
and-see attitude for their own security.

These lingering doubts must be seen in the context of a
transition period in a post-war era, which is usually as rocky
and as dangerous as the initial war was. There will be many
disguised enemies, who have hard feelings about incidents that
may have happened years before, and who see this time of
transition as a chance to take revenge.

Recent reports have said that a prominent figure from Sigli
was dragged by unknown intruders from his home one night and
butchered. His body was found by his family the next day not far
from his house, but they could not bury his remains immediately
as they were worried about the murderers' return.

In the first incident to threaten the peace accord a former
GAM soldier, who surrendered to the TNI earlier this year, was
reportedly killed by more unidentified assailants in Lawet
village, West Aceh. A GAM spokesman said the victim could have
been killed by former colleagues, who had accused him of being a
traitor.

Fears about such killings are not being exaggerated, they are
common and real -- the results of a long and bitter conflict. If
the aftermath of the aborted 1965 coup taught us anything, it is
that civilians with the right motivation can kill as brutally and
efficiently as soldiers. At least 500,000 people connected to the
Indonesian Communist Party were slaughtered in this "peace-time"
conflict; one still far more devastating than the wrath of any
natural disaster.

To prevent 1965's shameful human tragedy from happening in
Aceh, all parties -- the Indonesian government, GAM and foreign
monitors grouped under the Aceh Monitoring Mission -- need to
take the proper steps.

These steps include the employment of enough police to improve
security at the villages-level and a campaign to socialize the
peace agreement and build awareness among Acehnese -- pro- and
anti-integration groups -- on the need to live in harmony and
forgive and forget past conflicts.

The initiative by a pesantren (Islamic boarding school) in
Leueng Bata, near Banda Aceh to help victims and children of the
conflict to come to terms with the past is an excellent first
step and should be emulated.

The dangers of future conflict must not be underestimated.
Those at the grassroots -- those still in pain, those still
sharply divided -- are also those that can be easily manipulated,
creating a chaos that could destroy the longed-for peace and the
US$5 billion reconstruction.

The author is a staff writer of The Jakarta Post