Foreign observers?

With the prospect of reaching an agreement between our Republic and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), some politicians are beginning to think of having foreign observers on our soil to act as referees and watch that both sides observe and follow what was agreed on in the talks.

If an agreement is reached then this means that there will no longer be a GAM, nor is there an independent Aceh. The whole "struggle" of a group calling itself GAM will have finished and the whole province of Aceh, now called Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam (NAD), will legally be a province like all the other provinces in Indonesia, which means it has to act and live based on the 1945 Constitution.

Even if an agreement is reached in a foreign country, it still means that NAD is coming back (repeat, coming back) into the fold of the Republic proclaimed on Aug. 17, 1945, and there is no special treatment necessary that needs to be watched over and observed by foreigners.

The initiative coming from the Vice President is only a proposal to continue talks if necessary in a foreign country, to convince GAM that its existence is finished and NAD will come back into the fold of the Republic of Indonesia. So this is purely a domestic matter and nothing special is needed that would justify the presence of foreign countries or organizations to watch what is going on.

For the sake of the Acehnese, GAM should realize the suffering brought about by their fight for independence, not forgetting what nature (tsunami) has caused in Aceh on top of all the difficulties already experienced. We all want peace, so together we can start building the country, with our own strength, and bring about a free and happy living for all. And for these efforts we do not need foreign observers.

SOEGIH ARTO Jakarta