Govt urged to review Aceh Autonomy Law

Govt urged to review Aceh Autonomy Law

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

A Working Group for Aceh called for a revision of the special
autonomy for the troubled province, arguing that it had failed to
address the roots of the problems.

Acehnese sociologist Otto Syamsuddin Ishak said the law, which
authorizes the province to implement sharia, merely regulated
"Islamic rules -- such as the way people are to dress -- instead
of the implementation of the Islamic Law."

Contrasting it to the weakness of police and others in dealing
with rampant corruption involving officials of the Aceh
administration, Otto wondered aloud why the police remained
silent over such cases, while on the other hand, the "sharia
police arrest Acehnese women who are not wearing Islamic attire
appropriately or young couples flirting in public."

The group also called on the government to allow Acehnese to
set up local political parties and form their own government.

"The government should also create political freedom in the
province, including the setting up of local parties," Otto said.

"All Acehnese should be allowed to vote in a local election
and allow GAM to substitute their armed struggle with a political
one. Let them monitor all the policies made by local
administration and let them manage their own local
administration. This what we call special autonomy," he added.

The activists' call came days after President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono stressed that the special autonomy was the best way to
resolve the Aceh conflict, signaling that there would be no
policy changes in dealing with the secessionist movement.

Under the special autonomy arrangements introduced on Jan. 1,
2001, Aceh is supposed to be free to run its own affairs except
in the fields of defense, fiscal, foreign and religious affairs.

GAM leadership, however, has rejected the arrangement, saying
that they want full independence as they have stated that,
"Indonesia's colonization of Aceh" was the main problem.

The working group also asked for additional articles in the
autonomy law to regulate a mechanism to resolve human rights
abuses in the province to promote justice for the Acehnese.

The working group consists of several non-governmental
organizations, including Imparsial, the Legal Aid Institute
(LBH), Human Rights Watch Group (HRWG) and the Commission for
Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras).

Human rights abuses were reportedly rampant during the
decades-long military operation that ended in 1998. An inquiry
team set up by the National Commission for Human Rights (Komnas
HAM) found that at least 5,000 civilians were killed and
thousands more tortured and maimed during the 10-year military
operation.