Acehnese figures step up pressure to save peace deal

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja and Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

While the government has not responded to a request for a meeting with 50 Acehnese leading figures, people from the restive province continue to campaign for a peaceful settlement of the conflict there.

Speaker of the Aceh provincial legislature, Teungku Muhammad Yus, met with Vice President Hamzah Haz on Monday to propose several recommendations to the government before taking any decision regarding the province.

Reluctant to elaborate, Yus disclosed that his suggestions concerned the ongoing deployment of Indonesian Military (TNI) troops, a performance appraisal of Governor Abdullah Puteh and the failure of the humanitarian assistance program, among other issues.

"We remain optimistic that peaceful measures will succeed in solving Aceh's problems. Dialog is the best option, although we can never be sure whether it will work or not," Yus said after the meeting with Hamzah.

Calls for peace have been mounting in the past weeks, especially after the government set a May 12 deadline for the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels to give up their call for independence and lay down their arms as a precondition for a return to the negotiation table.

Jakarta pulled out of the planned Joint Council meeting, the highest monitoring body of the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement it signed with GAM last December. The meeting, scheduled for April 25 in Geneva, was expected to evaluate how the truce was working. The government blamed GAM for obstructing the peace process by requesting a delay in the meeting until April 27.

TNI has beefed up preparations for a military operation in the resource-rich province since the issuance of the deadline.

Thousands, mostly civilians, were killed during a ten-year military operation in Aceh between 1988 and 1998.

Some 50 Acehnese leaders, waiting to see President Megawati Soekarnoputri, said they would convey the peace demand should the meeting granted.

"They will likely ask the government to stick to the peace process, while at the same time press GAM to comply with the agreement," Muhammadiyah Chairman Ahmad Syafii Maarif told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

The Muslim leader said the Aceh figures had stuck to the view that dialog was the best way to solve the Aceh issue.

Syafii has been asked to accompany the Aceh community leaders during the planned meeting with Megawati,

Presidential staff said that as of Monday, Megawati had not fixed any schedule to meet these leaders within this week.

At the House of Representatives, about 30 Acehnese people met with legislators of Commission I on defense and foreign affairs, voicing their hope that the government continue the peace process instead of resorting to a military operation.

They said the government's plan to launch a military operation would not solve problems but simply draw Aceh civilians to join the separatists.

Said Jamalo Abidin, spokesman for the delegation, said that their arrival was an initiative of the Acehnese people to seek a peaceful solution.

"Humanitarian and development programs must be given top priority," Abidin said at a hearing presided over by commission chairman Ibrahim Ambong.

Also present at the hearing were rights activists Munir and Ori Rachman from Impartial and the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) respectively.

During the meeting, some Acehnese people disclosed how they had suffered both at the hands of the Indonesian troops and GAM members.

Rosni Idham, a resident in West Aceh, revealed that the actions of Indonesian troops and GAM members were more or less similar.

"What I have dealt with is just a small part of violence in Aceh," she added.

Ambong of Golkar faction said that the legislators would always push the government to prioritize a peaceful solution for Aceh.

He emphasized that a military operation should be only undertaken as a last resort.

Permadi of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) accused the Indonesian Military (TNI) of fostering the separatist group.

He said that TNI had supplied weapons to GAM since the separatist group was a small organization. "GAM has grown bigger and bigger, thus TNI can no longer control it," he added.

Separately, Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (ELSAM) director Ifdhal Kasim also urged the government to continue the peace process in Aceh.

He added that a meeting of the Joint Council (JC) that includes representatives of the government, GAM, and Henry Dunant Centre (HDC) was imperative.