Govt, GAM must redraw road map to Aceh peace

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Staff Writer, The Jakarta Post Penang, Malaysia

President Megawati Soekarnoputri's address to the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) on Aug. 1, in which she said the government was considering a resumption of dialog to settle the Aceh issue peacefully, has cast a hopeful light over the search for a comprehensive solution to the prolonged problem.

Many parties, both at home and abroad, have urged the government to lift martial law and stop the military operation that has brought more grief than relief to the Acehnese. It is the people of Aceh who are most entitled to assess the "peace" achieved in the province, not the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) or the Indonesian Military (TNI).

The President's statement likely came from an awareness that war will not resolve the problem, but will just bring more suffering to the Acehnese.

Following almost three months of an uneven war that has claimed the lives of more than 500 suspected rebels, and in which 700 others have been netted, and in which tens of thousands of Acehnese have been displaced, it is urgent that the warring parties sit down together again at the negotiating table to draw a new road map to end the war.

So far the military and the police "have won" the war -- meaning that they have killed hundreds of rebels, arrested hundreds of others and now control a bigger part of the province.

Indeed one could observe that with such results the government is in no mood to go to the trouble of trying to resume negotiations. Yet a simple way to evaluate whether the war is really bringing security to Aceh's residents is to look at the Acehnese who have returned from refugee camps. Several days after returning home, they are still afraid of the soldiers and police officers who patrol urban areas.

They must make a whole new start as their paddy crops were ruined, their cattle were killed and other assets were stolen. Most adult men have fled to other provinces for fear of being accused of being a rebel.

To avoid repeating mistakes, the government should try a new political maneuver, functioning as a regulator and facilitator by redrawing a road map for a peaceful future for the Acehnese.

Peace is a condition the government should create and build on to ensure the Acehnese can live peacefully in their homeland. To win the hearts of the Acehnese, as the government repeatedly says it wants to do, it should first change its perception of Aceh to be able to construct a new road map that functions as a guideline for rebuilding Aceh.

The issue of Aceh should not be reduced to that of a mere rebellion. Most of Aceh's population of 3.6 million people have been waiting for peace for a long time, to enable them to develop their rich land to catch up with other provinces. The Acehnese are tired of the 26-year armed conflict that has claimed more than 12,000 lives and with the way the government has handled the conflict.

Enduring four decades of repression, many Acehnese have demanded that the government stop the ongoing military offensive, which initially was planned for six months. According to this original schedule, martial law, first imposed on May 19, should be lifted in November.

The extension of the military operation for another six months would likely jeopardize politics nationwide on the eve of the first ever direct presidential election. To achieve a legitimate government from the elections, political parties should seek to cut short the military operations to prevent the military from taking political advantage of the Aceh issue, as well as to enable the Acehnese to participate in the elections.

Following the six-month military operation, the legislature should follow up its recent assessment of the situation and seek to end the military operation and start an all-inclusive Aceh dialog. Such a dialog was included in the failed Cessation of Hostilities Agreement signed by the government and GAM in Geneva, Switzerland, on Dec. 9, 2002.

Those playing an important role in the dialog should represent the Acehnese, the government and GAM, and the main agenda of the dialog should be to make an inventory of Aceh's problems and how they should be resolved.

All sides, especially the government, should first listen to the Acehnese on their thoughts on injustice and human right abuses of the past. Both the military and GAM have no competence to speak about these issues, in which they were involved.

The government should be receptive should the Acehnese demand trials for all those involved in past human rights violations, or if they demand compensation for all past victims of violence.

During a seminar on peace journalism here, Kamarulzaman Askandar, an expert on Aceh at the University Sains Malaysia in Penang, said: "A transparent and fair trial of all human rights perpetrators and a fair compensation for all victims of violence in the past will help regain the confidence of the Acehnese people in the government."

He also said that "the government should enforce the law and fulfill its promises to implement development programs to improve the social welfare of the Acehnese". He hoped that in facing injustice and human rights violations, the Acehnese would remain sober and patient, and pardon the government's failures.

Concerning the territory's future, the Acehnese are expected to fully support Aceh's status as an integral part of Indonesia, while the government should lobby GAM leaders to accept the province's integration by giving them certain political positions at the local and national levels.

The government should also show a strong commitment to Aceh's special autonomy. And apart from upholding the law, the government should take action against corrupt officials to ensure that development programs reach the poor in remote areas.

The writer attended a seminar on peace journalism in Penang, Malaysia for four days until Aug. 7