Aceh local parties may be kept out of polls

Aceh local parties may be kept out of polls

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government is drafting a bill on the Aceh administration,
which may dash the hopes of former Aceh rebels to contest posts
in the regional administration under their own regional party.

The bill, proposed by the Ministry of Home Affairs, makes no
mention about whether local parties will be restricted to local
elections, only permitting the establishment of parties in the
province allowed to contest the general elections.

Referring to the law on political parties, Article 58,
paragraph 3, of the bill requires all political parties in Aceh
to have representative offices in least in a half of the
country's 33 provinces.

"The establishment of local parties has been agreed to by both
parties in a bid to accommodate political participation of
locals. If the bill (only) refers to the national legislation on
political parties, then I think the government has missed the
mission of the peace accord," Choirul Anam of human rights
watchdog Imparsial said.

The peace agreement inked by government and Free Aceh Movement
representatives (GAM) in Helsinki last August stipulates the
formation of Aceh-based political parties that meet national
criteria within a year after the signing. It also requires the
government to create, at the latest 18 months from the signing of
the peace accord, the legal framework for local political parties
to contest posts in the Aceh administration in consultation with
the House of Representatives.

The bill, meanwhile, says an Aceh-based party could be formed
by at least 50 people aged at least 21 years old.

Choirul said it would be easy for the former rebels to
establish their own parties, but these parties would find it
difficult to meet the requirements to contest executive and
legislative posts.

Another restriction is also seen in the bill as Article 39 of
the draft, banning all Acehnese who have applied for foreign
citizenship from holding key posts in future Aceh
administrations.

"This article is unfair. We know that Indonesia doesn't
recognize double citizenship, but once Acehnese seek
naturalization, they must be treated equally like others,"
Choirul said.

The bill also spells out the enforcement of sharia, saying it
is a specific religious value in the predominantly Muslim
province.

But Choirul said the implementation of sharia was "a
centralized-heavy policy", instead of representing the voice of
locals. Most Acehnese believe that religious affairs "were part
of people's social and cultural interaction" and not matters for
the state, he said.

Expecting that the bill could be endorsed in March next year,
three Aceh-based universities and the Aceh administration are now
preparing their own separate draft laws on Aceh administration.

A member of GAM negotiating team said, however, that no GAM
members had been consulted on the draft legislation for Aceh.

"We have not been part in the deliberation process of the
bill. But we hope the spirit of the legislation will not violate
the spirit of the peace agreement in order to prevent the truce
from breaking down," Mohammed Nur Djuli told The Jakarta Post.

"I suggest that all parties, either the central government or
local thinkers here, take into account the basic freedoms of all
people. The Acehnese must free to voice their aspirations upon
all things in democratic circumstances," he said.