Acehese demand more inclusive talks
Acehese demand more inclusive talks
Nani Afrida and Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh/Medan
Prominent Aceh figures and scholars appeared lukewarm on Tuesday
about the recent peace talks between the Indonesian government
and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in Helsinki, saying that the
talks were "elitist".
They suggested that the two sides should include other
constituencies in Aceh in the next peace talks scheduled to be
held in the near future as no Indonesian or GAM leaders were
capable of representing the Acehnese people.
"They held talks for around three years and they resulted in
nothing but violence. They have to change the strategy. They must
involve other elements so as to elicit more views about the
solution to the conflict," said scholar Syaifudin Bantasyam.
Acehnese academics have long being saying that inclusive talks
were necessary to increase the credibility and legitimacy of the
peace talks, thus making them better able to bring about a
permanent peace in the province.
Peace negotiations between the Indonesia government and GAM
leaders in Sweden began in 2001 but failed to produce peace as
both sides refused to budge from their predetermined positions.
The failure of the negotiations led to violence in May 2003 when
the Indonesian government launched a major offensive against GAM.
After more than a year and a half of conflict, the tsunami
disaster of Dec. 26 last year provided a window of opportunity
for both sides to resume talks, but the two days of discussions
last week in Helsinki failed to produce a breakthrough, except
for a promise that both sides would meet again in the near future
for another round of negotiations.
In a separate development, the chairman of the Medan-based
Aceh Sepakat organization, Fauzi Usman, said that the
tsunami disaster, which killed about 130,000 Acehnese, should
have prompted the two sides to come to their senses.
Aceh Legal Aid Institute coordinator Rufriadi added that what
mattered now was how to encourage the two sides to give up their
entrenched positions and instead focus more on promoting the
prosperity of Aceh.
"They need to highlight the humanitarian issues going on right
here and now. Aceh needs a cease-fire, a humanitarian pause.
Afterwards, they can start talking about resolving the conflict
from the political point of view," he said.
Although the Acehnese had little to say in public about the
failed talks, Rufriadi said he believed that most Acehnese must
have been hoping the negotiations would be fruitful.
"I believe they do care, but perhaps they don't expect a lot
this time around after the previous series of failed
negotiations," he said.
Abbas, a civil servant in the resource-rich province, merely
said, "Let them negotiate, we don't care. Right now what we care
about is how to survive and get over the trauma of losing our
loved ones," he said.