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.