Ex-GAM members to get allowance
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Former Free Aceh Movement (GAM) members will soon receive Rp 150,000 (US$15) per month from the cash-strapped government as part of efforts to integrate them into society after the peace deal in Aceh province, a senior minister said on Thursday.
The monthly allowance is higher than the Rp 100,000 in low- income assistance that the government will begin disbursing each month from October for poor families across Indonesia.
However, the amount is the same as the emergency aid of Rp 150,000 provided monthly to thousands of tsunami victims in Aceh.
Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Alwi Shihab said the monthly allowance for Aceh's former rebels is part of making the peace deal a success.
The aid was announced as GAM members began surrendering their weapons in Aceh on Thursday to the Aceh Monitoring Mission (AMM), as part of the peace accord signed on Aug. 15 in Helsinki, Finland.
It also came as the government planned to cut fuel subsidies next month for the people due to the soaring price of oil in the international markets.
Alwi said the allowance would be given for the next three to six months to more than 5,000 GAM members, including 2,000 former prisoners who were recently granted amnesty as part of the peace pact. According to the Memorandum of Understanding signed in Helsinki, GAM fighters number up to 3,000. Alwi said the government was still calculating the exact number of GAM members eligible to receive the monthly allowance.
"They need to buy clothes and their daily needs," Alwi told the press after a meeting with Vice President Jusuf Kalla at the vice presidential office. Present at the meeting were Minister of Finance Jusuf Anwar, Minister of Home Affairs M. Ma'ruf, Minister of Social Affairs Bachtiar Chamsyah and State Minister of National Development Planning Sri Mulyani Indrawati. The peace deal requires the government "to take measures to assist persons participating in GAM activities to facilitate their reintegration into society". It refers to "former combatants, pardoned political prisoners and civilian victims" affected by 29 years of separatist war in Aceh since 1976. Bachtiar Chamsyah said the government would allocate emergency funds for former GAM members from the 2005 state budget as well as from donors to finance the reintegration process. Meanwhile, Ma'ruf said the monthly allowance would be disbursed directly by the central government to the Aceh administration to prevent possible misuse. "The local administration will be responsible for the operational matters," he added. Ma'ruf said that his ministry would set up a team in the province to monitor the disbursement of the emergency fund. The government had also promised to give land for former GAM members to help integrate them into society.
However, Alwi said the government had yet to make a decision on the issue and other long-term economic compensation for the former rebels. "There will be land or boats for them, but we haven't discussed it," he said. Under the deal, the government must allocate funds for reconstruction of public and private facilities in Aceh, which were destroyed or damaged due to the separatist war.