Acehnese hope for peace deal to be upheld

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.