Acehnese figures step up pressure to save peace deal

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.