Govt wastes opportunity to resolve separatism issue
Zakki Hakim, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The government has wasted a golden opportunity to resolve the secession issue in Aceh and Papua by failing to show goodwill to the people of the two resource-rich provinces, further complicating the matter, an expert said.
Sidney Jones of the International Crisis Group said here on Thursday that the government's failure to prosecute military personnel accused of human rights abuses in Aceh and its half- hearted implementation of special autonomy in Papua had made it difficult to address rebellions in the two provinces.
"I believe a focus by Jakarta on establishing responsive and accountable local governments in the immediate aftermath of (president) Soeharto's resignation might have put a significant damper on the growth of these movements.
"And even five years later, I believe that good governance remains a key to reducing the alienation of people in Aceh and Papua," she told an international conference on conflict in the Asia Pacific jointly organized by the Management of Social Transformation (MOST)-UNESCO and the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI).
Jones, however, added: "I don't believe any of the post- Soeharto governments have treated the issue seriously."
The end of Soeharto's authoritarian rule in May 1998 saw an increase in demands for independence in the two provinces.
Regarding Aceh, Jones said she had been told by local councillors there that had the government brought one officer to trial in the period between May and December 1998, Jakarta could have generated enormous support from the Acehnese.
She said the horrors of the decade-long military operation zone (DOM) between 1989 and 1999 were revealed for only seven months after Soeharto's resignation, and went no further.
Under DOM, rampant human rights abuses were believed to take place and left thousands of Acehnese dead.
Meanwhile, Papuans had put high hopes on the special autonomy law, which would enable the province to generate much more revenue, she said.
Jones said that if properly implemented and given a chance to work, the law could have produced the most responsive and representative government Papua had ever had.
"And even if it were implemented poorly, at least it would be Papuans and the Jakarta elite responsible," she said.
However, the Megawati Soekarnoputri government first prevented the establishment of one key institution, the Papuan People's Council (MRP), which was central to the whole autonomy package, Jones said.
Then, in the name of more efficient delivery of services -- but in fact as an effort to weaken the independence movement -- it undercut the entire law by issuing an instruction last January to divide the province into three, she said.
By reversing autonomy, Jakarta undermined the moderate intellectuals who were willing to give autonomy a chance, who could have acted as a bridge to the proindependence leaders and who probably stood the best chance of acting as advisers to the autonomous government and ensuring that it acted responsibly, she said.
Another speaker, professor of peace studies and 1987 Alternative Nobel Peace Prize winner Johan Galtung said conflict in Indonesia was inevitable, due to the various differences in its population.
Galtung said that naturally people wanted to be run by their own kind, and in such a diverse society, conflict would surely occur, which now and then would lead to violence.
"The general solution for the problem is called federalism, and I predict that in 10 years time we will have the Federal Republic of Indonesia," said Galtung, who won the Bajaj International Award for promoting Ghandian values in 1993.
He was aware that federalism was somewhat forbidden in Indonesia, whereas Indonesian in fact had little knowledge about federalism.
He suggested that Indonesia learn about federalism and keep an mind open about it as a possible solution to overcome conflict and violence in the country.