Cease-fire, dialog preferred to settle Aceh crisis
Cease-fire, dialog preferred to settle Aceh crisis
Ibnu Mat Noor, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh
Most of 13 Acehnese leaders who met with Vice President Hamzah
Haz in Banda Aceh on Thursday said they preferred a cease-fire
and dialog to settle the prolonged dispute between the Free Aceh
Movement (GAM) and the government of Indonesia.
The various leaders, including the chairman of the Ulemas
Council of Aceh Tengku Musli Ibrahim, demanded that both the
government and GAM stop violence and begin a cease-fire combined
with talks to deal with the lingering conflict.
"The people of Aceh have been longing for the sincerity of the
government of Indonesia and GAM to stop the violence," Ibrahim
said.
Hamzah said that a peace deal was the best alternative, saying
that a cease-fire between the government and its own people was
actually a misnomer.
"Is a cease-fire with our own people necessary?" Hamzah
rhetorically asked.
A senior commander of GAM, Amri Abdul Wahab told The Jakarta
Post by phone that GAM could agree to a cease-fire if it was
requested by the Acehnese people. "But the Indonesian government
must also lay down their arms."
Soon after his arrival in Lhokseumawe, North Aceh, on
Wednesday Hamzah offered peace to GAM, saying that the government
would possibly give amnesty to the rebels.
His statements were not embraced, however by GAM officials.
Amri Abdul Wahab said on Wednesday that GAM would remain
consistent with its struggle to be independent from "colonialist"
Indonesia.
Meetings between GAM and the government had taken place in
Geneva, Switzerland and in Banda Aceh. However, those meetings
were not successful in stopping the violence.
In August this year, President Megawati Soekarnoputri signed
the special Autonomy Law for Aceh, ruling that the province will
receive 75 percent of its oil and gas revenues. According to the
law, the new name for the province of Aceh is Nanggroe Aceh
Darussalam.
While the situation in Banda Aceh was quiet on Thursday, South
Aceh Police seized five long rifles with 13,930 bullets of
various types from a truck passing Tapaktuan, some 445 kilometers
from Banda Aceh.
Police spokesman Adj. Sr. Comr. Agus Dwiyanto told Antara in
Banda Aceh that the truck driver and his assistant were in police
custody.
"The guns and the bullets were slipped among the goods in the
trucks," Agus said, adding that the guns and the bullets had no
legal documents.