Government told to consider GAM's key demands

Tiarma Siboro and Tony Hotland, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Peace talks with Aceh rebel leaders are unlikely to bring any significant changes to the long-standing conflict in the tsunami- ravaged province unless the government accepts two key demands raised in Finland, an Acehnese sociologist says.

The demands -- to allow Acehnese people to establish local political parties and to hold local direct elections immediately after the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and the government signed a peace deal -- were vital to the peace process, Aceh-based Syah Kuala University lecturer and human rights activist Otto Syamsuddin said on Wednesday.

These two thorny issues would determine the fate of Aceh because "they would reconstruct the whole political system there, opening up the door for the democratization process," Otto said.

"The special autonomy law for Aceh allows the Aceh legislative council to enact the Qanun (bylaw), but as of today, none of its articles deal with the political aspects (to local self- government)," he said.

"Therefore, (these ideas) are not against the law. If the GAM leaders take such demands to the negotiation table then they are asking the same thing as an Acehnese civil society delegation, which made a similar proposal during a recent meeting in Sweden," Otto said.

From May 24 to May 25, Acehnese civilian figures, including Otto, and GAM leaders met in Sweden, ahead of the fourth round of peace talks in Helsinki, which ended on Tuesday this week.

"If the government refuses to fulfill these demands, it will be acting against the Acehnese people's interests and, perhaps, against all pro-democracy elements in the country," Otto told The Jakarta Post.

The country's national election law does not recognize certain local political parties and bans all members of separatist groups, including GAM, from contesting elections.

Otto said the lack of democratization in Aceh was one of the serious problems in the province.

"I think (if the terms were agreed to) that GAM will (eventually) cease fighting for independence because foreign donors have already committed to supporting the Indonesian government -- and not the GAM leadership -- in the post-tsunami reconstruction and rebuilding programs," Otto said.

"GAM will lose its credibility in the eyes of the Acehnese people, should foreign donors stop the reconstruction programs. On the other hand, Indonesia will also lose foreign aid if it fails to create a conducive situation to enable people to continue the reconstruction work." Otto said.

Responding to GAM's demands for an amnesty for Acehnese prisoners, Otto doubted the amnesty would have a positive effect because " ... many of the prisoners were sent to jail on criminal charges, not for treason offenses."

"Maybe only GAM negotiators and a pro-democracy activist, Muhammad Nazar, would be (beneficially) affected by the policy," he said.

However, House of Representatives Speaker Agung Laksono said that all efforts to resolve the Aceh problem had to be in line with the Constitution, which prohibited the creation of a local political party as demanded by the rebels.

He also questioned the decision to involve foreign parties in Aceh's peacekeeping issue.

Vice President Jusuf Kalla earlier said the government and GAM had agreed to allow a greater role for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the European Union in supervising and observing the implementation of a peace agreement in the field.

This came Agung said, after "both the government and the House have agreed to avoid 'internationalizing' the matter."

"We strongly reject ... if foreign parties are included in any decision-making process regarding the conflict," he said.

Otto, meanwhile, countered that "Aceh has belonged to international community even before the Dec. 26 disaster, because of the continuing human rights violations (there)."

"Human rights are certainly an international issue, and we should blame the government and lawmakers for allowing the brutality to continue in Aceh," the member of human rights watchdog Imparsial said.