Govt offers local parties for Aceh
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Talks between the government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) separatist group appeared to be back on track on Friday, after negotiators reportedly overcame a deadlock over the rebels' future political role.
"Discussions have now taken a positive turn, and we're getting very close at this moment," Damian Kingsbury, an Australian academic who is part of the Acehnese delegation at the talks was quoted by AP as saying.
"It looks like we're making progress on the last serious matter, the issue of political parties," he said, but did not elaborate.
Meanwhile, a member of the GAM negotiating team Nur Djuli said that the Indonesian negotiators had offered the possibility for the rebels to set up "Aceh-based political parties". This concept, however, remains unclear. Officials in Jakarta could not be reached for comment.
"We are now giving more room for the government to elaborate on the concept as to whether it is the same or different to our proposal," Nur Djuli told The Jakarta Post on Friday by phone from Helsinki, where the current peace talks are being held.
"I wish the government could understand our standpoint ... that we (GAM) are not in the move to ask for our own privileges, but merely to appeal for a genuine democracy, the crucial point of which is the freedom to establish local political parties, for all the Acehnese people, regardless of the place and number of members," Nur Djuli added.
In a bid to seek an end to the decades-long conflict in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, GAM agreed earlier this week to drop its demand for independence in the oil-rich province, although as a condition, former rebels must be allowed to set up local political parties as a vehicle to run in local elections.
But this demand was flatly rejected by the government, who insisted that the former rebels who wished to run in local elections must join Jakarta-based political parties. This raised the prospect of a deadlock in the talks.
Lawmakers in Jakarta have warned that allowing the formation of local parties in the outlying provinces could lead to the breakup of the country. According to the law, every party must have representation in at least half of the country's 33 provinces and must be headquartered in Jakarta.
Apart from a rigorous debate on the political party issue, Vice President Jusuf Kalla gave the green light to a withdrawal of military troops from Aceh if the rebels laid down their arms.
"Once disarmament has taken place, the TNI (the Indonesian Military) will no longer need to stay there long, and a plan for this has been agreed upon," Kalla said at his office.
Kalla said there had been "absolutely" no rejection from the military of the plan.
The fifth round of talks this year under Finnish mediation began on Tuesday with hopes a truce could be signed in August.