House commission hawkish over ongonging Aceh peace talks

Tony Hotland, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Legislators and the government have agreed not to open the door for more talks with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) should the next round fail to strike a deal to put an end to the armed conflict in the province.

Members of the House of Representatives defense commission criticized the ongoing talks for failing to bring about a final agreement even after three rounds of dialog.

Monday's hearing, which ended after midnight, concluded that an evaluation and a deadline for the peace talks would be put in place if the government failed to "make the rebels agree" to the special autonomy package for Aceh under Law No. 18/2001, and a permanent end to the conflict.

A delegation of government officials left for Helsinki on Tuesday for a fourth round of informal talks. The series of meetings have been underway since February, facilitated by the Helsinki-based Crisis Management Institute (CMI).

Legislator Effendi Simbolon from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) said the first three rounds of talks seemed to have been fruitless and more talks would only give the separatists more time to consolidate.

Effendi's view was shared by legislator Muhammad A.S. Hikam of the National Awakening Party (PKB), who said the informal talks were not accountable and there seemed to be no meeting of minds over Aceh's administrative status.

One of the major stumbling blocks in the negotiations is the government's refusal to countenance a demand by GAM, which has been fighting for Acehnese independence since the 1970s, for self-government for the resource-rich province, with inherent powers.

The government's chief negotiator, Hamid Awaluddin, ruled out this demand, but was upbeat that the government side could convince the rebels to agree to special autonomy status.

"We managed to reduce GAM's demands since the first talks from independence to self government. One point that worries the GAM people is that we'll repeal Law No. 18/2001 after they agree to special autonomy. Therefore, they want to have special autonomy enshrined in the Constitution.

But that's very difficult. We'll try to convince them that the basic rules of special autonomy are already integrated into the Constitution," said Hamid, who is also minister of justice and human rights.

Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Widodo Adi Sucipto said no deal outside the government's offer of special autonomy would be offered.

A breakdown in the talks between the government and GAM in May, 2003, in Tokyo, during which GAM refused special autonomy status, led to the imposition of a year-long period of martial law in Aceh.

Legislators also questioned the bringing of more foreign advisors to the talks, claiming that it had been agreed that the talks would not be internationalized.

Defense commission chairman Theo L. Sambuaga said the government should not allow itself to become dependent on the CMI, which is facilitating the talks, and keep the involvement of third parties to a minimum.