Endangered Peace in Aceh

There is a real danger that the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement will collapse only four months after it was signed. The situation at the moment is really disheartening: Security is deteriorating, while physical threats are increasing against the international peace monitors in the province. It is a totally different situation from the sense of great relief last December when the peace agreement was signed to end the decades-long violent conflict between the government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

Gone are the smiles of cautious expectation among the innocent Acehnese in the region, which in the first few weeks obviously boosted the hope for eventual peace. Gone too is the initially awkward sense of being able again to enjoy an after-hours life in open, public places.

The old memories of insecurity are creeping back. Thousands of people are fleeing their homes in Pidie and Central Aceh following fresh armed clashes between security forces and GAM. Concerns are coming back that there will be a rerun of the Soeharto era, which saw human rights abuses, intimidation, harassment, diverse acts of terror, threats, illegal arrests, arbitrary killings and the like.

It would not be impossible if the government continued to allow the hawks of the Indonesian Military (TNI) top brass to map their own way to retake control over the resource-rich province, while not doing anything substantial to stop GAM from materially breaching the agreement as stated by government negotiator Wiryono Sastrohandoyo last week.

In her first official visit to the province in the first week of September 2001, President Megawati Soekarnoputri explicitly noted the importance of establishing peace and order to the troubled province, after asking for forgiveness from all the Acehnese for the government's past mistakes. She urged in her speech: "We must share a common perception that we will settle (the Aceh problem) without violence".

Last week, however, her government signaled the possibility of a war with her instructions to the TNI and police to prepare military operations to stamp out the local secessionist movement. Similar instructions from former president Soeharto started the era of the military operation area (DOM) for Aceh in 1989, which led to the killing of more than 10,000 people, mostly innocent civilians, and other unaccounted for human rights abuses during its 10 years of existence. That was exactly one of the grave mistakes that President Megawati was asking for forgiveness almost two years ago and it should not be repeated now.

The nine-article agreement signed last December culminated almost three years of negotiations initiated during the tenure of former president Abdurrahman Wahid, facilitated by the Geneva- based Henry Dunant Centre (HDC) for humanitarian dialog and fully supported by President Megawati. The agreement carries a lot of weight, not only because of the courageous commitment expressed by both parties after years of hostile foot-dragging, but also because of the significant international involvement in the ensuing process.

This newspaper noted four months ago two key elements that were very crucial during the first stage of the current seven months, before the subsequent stage involving efforts to bring about democratization and socioeconomic reconstruction of Aceh could be undertaken. The first element is the Joint Security Committee, which should include the right representatives from each party. We strongly urged the participation of civilians as members from the Indonesian side. That recommendation went unheeded. Indonesian members of the Joint Security Committee are either military or police personnel. It was an arrogant decision which disregarded the notorious lack of credibility of the military and police, especially the National Police's Mobile Brigade (Brimob), as perceived by the Acehnese.

The second crucial element is the strong emphasis provided by the agreement on the role of "civil society to express without hindrance their democratic rights". We should not forget that GAM, proclaimed in 1976, is only a small part of the multifaceted problem of Aceh. In fact, the restiveness of the province originates from a time long before the existence of GAM.

Since the early 1950s, there has been a common feeling of betrayal at the hands of the Republic of Indonesia after all that the people of Aceh, from the very first years of the republic, contributed to the nation's independence and the ensuing years of development.

It is really saddening that Indonesians are conducting almost daily demonstrations all over the country against the war in Iraq, and yet we do not support a peace deal in our own province.

The assumptions should be straightened out. The Aceh problem is fundamentally not a secessionist problem. It is a problem of betrayal on the part of the central government. Instead of listening only to the hawks of the TNI top brass, President Megawati should heed the genuine aspirations of the Acehnese. She should also listen to the appeals made by noted religious leaders and scholars over the weekend: Leave the Aceh question to the civilians to avoid a war between the TNI and the Free Aceh Movement. In other words, do not repeat past mistakes.