Acehnese have high hopes, but remain wary

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Acehnese people are looking forward to the signing of the peace deal scheduled for Aug. 15 but fear a repetition of the short-lived calm and freedoms that followed earlier botched agreements.

"We still haven't got over the collapse of the (Cessation of Hostilities Agreeement) CoHA," said Fakhrulsyah Mega of the Joint Commission for a New Aceh (KBAB) on Tuesday. That deal signed in late 2002 by the government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) later broke down and was followed by repressive military operations and martial law.

"We urge the President to issue a decree to guarantee the protection of Acehnese civilians involved in the entire peace process," Fakhrulsyah said.

After the CoHA signing, the Acehnese were allowed to move around freely in safety for a few months and there were less civilians caught in military-GAM crossfire. When the accord collapsed, however, peace and independence activists were sought by security force and went into hiding while the year-long martial law operation began in May 2003.

"We are again seeing signs of the mobilization of civilians to reject the negotiations," Fakhrulsyah said. He added that the CoHa process was elitist, "and so is this one, and we are pushing for more public participation in the future."

Members of the KBAB commission, accompanied by another peace NGO, the Tifa Foundation, visited The Jakarta Post on Tuesday. The groups, comprising student representatives, local leaders, ulema, women's activists and workers, said the Acehnese had high hopes for the agreement to be signed in Helsinki, Finland.

"Hopefully, there will be less lives lost, less unemployment and more freedom for farmers to be able to cultivate their land," said Basri, a pedicab driver who leads hundreds of becak drivers in Banda Aceh. "I just want to be able to ride my pedicab in peace," he added, saying his drivers were used to experiencing extortion from security forces.

The groups issued a statement saying the main requisite to the reconstruction of Aceh after the December tsunami was "peace, attained with justice and dignity."

They also expressed disappointment that the national discourse had focused on the creation of local political parties, a main demand of the GAM in the negotiations in Helsinki. "It's already a huge step that GAM no longer demands independence; we (the Acehnese) might not even choose their party," one activist said.

Fakhrulsyah said a "peace parade" by local performers was planned for Aug. 7 and 8 in Aceh to express support for the process. The parade from Kuta Raja, in Banda Aceh, to Pasai followed "a traditional route made for the declarations of peace," he said.

Meanwhile, House of Representatives Speaker Agung Laksono said on Tuesday the government had agreed to hold a consultative meeting with leaders of the House, as well as chairmen of House factions and related commissions on Aug. 5 regarding the results of the recent peace talks in Helsinki.

"The House will not push the government on the matter but only give suggestions based on the explanations provided by (negotiators). There will not be approvals or decisions sought," he said.

However, several lawmakers from Commission I on defense and foreign affairs demanded on Tuesday a hearing session with the government to discuss the results of the preliminary peace talks before the government moved to officially sign the deal with GAM.

"The government has excluded the House too many times on this issue. We're having a deal with people who are no longer Indonesians, with talks held in Helsinki, and with monitoring teams coming from the European Union (EU)," said commission deputy Sidharto Danusbroto from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).

A hearing session normally discusses a specific issue in more detail and results in formally binding conclusions.