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.