Acehnese hope for peace deal to be upheld

Nani Farida and Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh/Jakarta

People in Aceh are holding on to the hope that there will be a peaceful solution to the conflict in the province despite the fact that the Cessation of Hostilities agreement, signed in December last year, has come under serious threat.

They have said an imminent military and police operation to be launched by the government would not only undermine the peace process but adversely affect civilians.

"The peace pact and the presence of the Joint Security Committee (JSC) have helped reduce violence in Aceh. We want the peace agreement to be sustained," a noted North Acehnese Muslim cleric, Teungku Nurul Al Khalil, said on Tuesday.

Community leader Humam Hamid suggested that both sides sit down together and openly discuss the weaknesses of the implementation of the agreement.

He emphasized that to salvage the truce, their commitment to the peace pact was mandatory.

Citing the loss of human lives resulting from a decade-long military operation in Aceh in the past, Nurul and Humam warned of bloodshed should Jakarta resort to the use of force.

Thousands of civilians were killed, tortured and abducted during the military operation, which was terminated in 1998.

Acehnese in Jakarta have joined those calling for upholding the truce.

Lawmakers and analysts of Acehnese origin pushed for the use of peaceful measures to settle the conflict in the resource-rich province. They said the use of force would only spark more violence and therefore bring more hardship to Acehnese civilians.

They suggested that Jakarta and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) continue the peace process which the Switzerland-based Henry Dunant Centre (HDC) has been working on.

Former state minister for human rights Hasballah M. Saad and legislator Ahmad Farhan Hamid said the government should enhance the functions of the Joint Security Committee (JSC), which was set up to supervise the peace process.

"JSC has to be given more room in order for it to work optimally. The committee is important (for the peace process) because it represents the Indonesian government, GAM and HDC as the mediator," Hasballah told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

Correspondingly, Farhan who chairs the Reform faction at the House of Representatives, blamed both Jakarta and GAM for a series of violations of the peace agreement.

Fellow politician Ghazali Abbas Adan from the United Development Party of Reform requested both sides to remain coolheaded in their responses to the sporadic violence that erupted after the signing of the peace agreement.

Separately, House Speaker Akbar Tandjung reiterated that the legislative body backs a peaceful settlement to the Aceh problem.

Akbar emphasized, however, that the House was throwing its weight behind the government's plan to take sterner measures should GAM not respond positively to the peace agreement, which requires the rebels to lay down their arms and the military to relocate to defense positions and the National Police to reformulate Mobile Brigade personnel to ordinary police officers.

"Should GAM fail to respond to the peaceful settlement, it would only be reasonable for the government to take stronger action," Akbar said.

He said the House had noted fundamental differences between the Indonesian government and GAM's interpretation of the objectives of the peace accord.

GAM's interpretation is that the peaceful settlement should lead to the establishment of an independent state, while the government understood the deal to mean that Aceh would remain a part of the unitary state of Indonesia and that the province would enjoy a special autonomous status, Akbar said.

He said that failing to reconcile the opposing views would obligate the government to take stronger steps, which would be necessary to safeguard Indonesia's national territory.