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.