Govt also to blame for Aceh strife, Syafii says
Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Chairman of the country's second largest Muslim organization Muhammadyah Sjafii Ma'arif said the Aceh administration and its councillors were partly to blame for the worsening situation in the country's westernmost province.
Sjafii also urged the Aceh government and councillors, most of whom are loyal to Jakarta due to the election processes, to engage in some soul searching on whether or not they have given their best to help Acehnese improve their standard of living.
"I don't see that they have the desire to help Acehnese even though many in that province are suffering from economic problems," Syafii was quoted by Antara as saying in Bengkulu on Friday.
"This situation has only forced Acehnese people to turn their eyes to GAM," Sjafii said referring to the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), a secessionist movement that has been fighting for Aceh's independence since the 1970s.
He asked the central government to conduct a field inspection to determine whether or not the Aceh administration officials have succeeded in responding to the needs of the Acehnese people and "to replace them if they failed."
Sjafii, also a member of an independent team of experts on Aceh problems, said Acehnese people have long suffered because the central government continued to give empty promises to them.
A ten-year military operation imposed in the province from 1989 to 1999 killed thousands of innocent people, leaving thousands widowed and orphaned, he said.
"During the military operations, Jakarta had a lot of power but failed to curb the spirit of independence among Acehnese. We must change the old approach to the new one -- dialog," Sjafii said.
In Jakarta, the Indonesian Military (TNI) Chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto said that the military was fully supporting the government policy to pursue dialog to solve the Aceh conflict, and stressed that the TNI had no right to make its own policies.
"My soldiers have been trained to wage war, not to organize dialogs. However, that does not mean that TNI will reject the dialog, which has been favored by the government," he said.
The government decided on Aug. 19 to give a three-month deadline for GAM to accept its special autonomy offer, a prerequisite for future dialogs, or face the full brunt of the military's might.
Responding to the now-revised policy for Aceh, GAM said that they would defend themselves if Indonesia persisted with the military approach.
Several non-governmental organizations and students held a rally demanding a referendum for the province's independence, a day after the new policy was announced in Jakarta.
Endriartono stressed that should GAM and the Acehnese people reject the special autonomy and continue demanding for a referendum, "all elements of this country must be involved in the process by holding a national referendum."
"Aceh province does not belong only to the Acehnese. It belongs to all Indonesian people, so let all of the people decide whether or not they agree to let Aceh go," he said.
"The referendum in the country's former East Timor province in 1999 was a big mistake because we only let the East Timorese vote," said Endriartono, adding that "we should not repeat the same mistake in other provinces."