Endangered Peace in Aceh

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.