GAM's unreasonable demands

GAM's unreasonable demands

From Koran Tempo

Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security
Affairs Widodo Adi Sucipto has rightly rejected the involvement
of international advisers who would be brought by delegates of
the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) to the third round of talks
scheduled for April in Helsinki, Finland.

Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam Deputy Governor Azwar Abu Bakar has
even proposed that any negotiation with GAM should be held in
Aceh because Acehenese people are interested in their region's
peaceful condition, and that no freedom be granted to GAM
separatists.

In the second round of talks in Helsinki recently, delegates
of the Indonesian government and GAM did not achieve a consensus
on special autonomy for Aceh province. GAM proposed
self-governance -- the meaning of which was not yet clear to
Indonesia, whereas the substance of special autonomy was more
apparent.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in fact has said that
special autonomy is the final solution to the conflict in Aceh.
He is convinced that the international community supports Aceh as
an integral part of the unitary state of Indonesia, with no
countries favoring its separation.

GAM's demands for self-governance without intervention, Aceh's
own elections with local political parties and even the
withdrawal of Indonesian military forces from Aceh are
unreasonable. The government is right in making no direct
response to the changed GAM attitude because any concession could
serve as an example for the other regions wishing to demand
broader autonomy.

DWI PURWANTO
Depok, West Java