Govt vacillates on Aceh split proposal

Govt vacillates on Aceh split proposal

Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Minister of Home Affairs M. Ma'ruf has cautiously endorsed a
proposal to split Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam into two provinces but
stressed that this could only take place based on the recent
peace agreement.

He made the statement while receiving members of the Committee
for the Establishment of Aceh Leuser Antara Province at his
office in Jakarta on Friday.

Committee chairman Rahmat Salam said after the closed-door
meeting that the minister was willing to countenance the proposed
partition of Aceh into two provinces -- Aceh and Aceh Leuser
Antara.

However, Ma'ruf was quoted by Rahmat as saying the creation of
any new province in Aceh must be in line with the terms of the
peace pact.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed on Aug. 15 by the
government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) requires the central
government to seek approval for all of its all policies in Aceh
from the Aceh legislative council.

The peace accord also states that Aceh's territory corresponds
to the borders of the province as demarcated on July 1, 1956.

Ma'ruf called on the people of the five regencies seeking the
establishment of a new province to be patient as it would take a
long time before their goal could be achieved.

Besides having to refer to the peace agreement, any partition
of Aceh would have to have the full political and financial
support of the Aceh provincial administration and be in line with
the Special Autonomy Law, he added.

"The establishment of a new province will face numerous
hurdles as regards borders, governmental organization,
administrative offices and funding. It will also require a long
political process," Ma'ruf said.

The minister said that instead of pressing ahead with their
demand, the five provinces should focus first on how to help
build a permanent peace in Aceh following the peace agreement.

"The government's current objective is to maintain Aceh as an
integral part of Indonesia," he said.

Rahmat claimed that the proposed establishment of the new
province had won the support of a majority of people in the five
regencies -- Central Aceh, Southeast Aceh, Aceh Singkil, Gayo
Luwes and Bener Meriah.

The five provinces border Aceh and North Sumatra and are not
GAM strongholds.

"Creating a new province in Aceh is necessary to ensure
effective administration as the five regencies are located far
away from Banda Aceh (the Aceh provincial capital)," he argued.

Ethnically, the people in the five regencies are mostly Malays
and Bataks.

In echoes of divide and role, as well as current government
policy in Papua, the proposed partition of Aceh has also won the
support of the Indonesian Military as it believes that partition
would weaken the secessionist movement in Aceh.