House commission hawkish over ongonging Aceh peace talks

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.