Ex-GAM rebels to get farmland

Ex-GAM rebels to get farmland

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Many Free Aceh Movement (GAM) guerrilla fighters could well
become farmers after they lay down their guns and receive
compensation in the form of land, following a peace deal due for
signing on Monday.

Acting Aceh Governor Azwar Abubakar said former GAM members
would be given up to three hectares of land each as part of the
government's efforts to reintegrate them into society.

"(They could get) between two to three hectares of land," he
told journalists after a meeting with Vice President Jusuf Kalla
and Cabinet ministers in Jakarta on Friday.

Kalla expressed optimism on Thursday that peace would last
long in Aceh, but that depended on the government's ability to
reintegrate former combatants into society.

Ex-GAM rebels would need jobs to survive and land to feed
their families, in addition to housing, he added.

Azwar said that with the land the former jungle combatants
would receive from the government, they would be able to become
farmers to earn a living. "They could grow oil palm trees or
coffee plants," he suggested.

The land compensation would be part of the integration funds
set up by the government following the signing of the Aceh peace
accord to effectively end nearly 30 years of separatist conflict
in the restive province.

GAM claimed that there were about 10,000 members before
martial law was imposed to quash the rebellion in May 2003. The
figure decreased to some 3,000 active guerrillas after the two-
year military operation, according to the military. They did not
include those imprisoned or detained for various offenses during
the conflict.

House of Representatives Speaker Agung Laksono said that any
compensation, be it in the form of land, jobs or money, for
former GAM members must receive approval from House members
because the money would be allocated from the state budget.

"I can understand the humanitarian context, but proper
procedures must be followed," he was quoted by Antara as saying.

Azwar rejected the notion that such compensation would incite
jealousy among the more than four million people in Aceh with no
links to GAM, as only the ex-fighters would be the direct
beneficiaries.

He argued that everyone in Aceh would eventually get tangible
benefits from the upcoming peace accord.

"They will also get it one day. We can't do it all at once,"
he said. "Everybody's life will improve once security conditions
improve."

Separately, Minister of Justice and Human Rights Hamid
Awaluddin, who is the chief government negotiator at the peace
talks, said that based on the draft agreement, all GAM prisoners
and detainees would have to released within two weeks after
Monday's truce was signed.

Currently, it was estimated that around 500 GAM members were
serving terms in prisons on Java, and 1,200 others were
imprisoned in Aceh province or other areas on Sumatra, Hamid
added. "We need to talk about how to get those people back to
Aceh."

Hamid said the amnesty issue for the former rebels was
discussed in a meeting on Friday, which was led by Kalla, who is
responsible for dealing with the technical aspects of the peace
agreement.

The meeting was attended by 11 Cabinet members and the head of
the Aceh Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Board (BRR) Kuntoro
Mangkusubroto.

Among the ministers in attendance were chief security minister
Widodo Adi Sucipto, chief welfare minister Alwi Shihab, Minister
of Public Works Djoko Kirmanto, Minister of Home Affairs M.
Ma'ruf and Minister of National Planning Sri Mulyani Indrawati,
as well as Hamid.