Indonesia must heed history, treat Acehnese better, or else...

Kornelius Purba, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh, Aceh

Ironic as it may sound, many Indonesians probably remain unaware that natural resource-rich Aceh province has become an international issue and that Indonesia may lose more territory if it refuses to learn from the East Timor case.

President Megawati Soekarnoputri's government continues to insist that Aceh remains strictly the country's internal concern and international presence in the province is only there to help the government end the prolonged upheavals without infringing upon Indonesia's sovereignty in the rebellious territory.

It was former president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid who made the historic decision in January 2000 to visit the Henry Dunant Centre (HDC) in Geneva, Switzerland and invited the private organization to mediate peace negotiations between Indonesia and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) separatist rebels group. Gus Dur realized that Indonesia would never be able to resolve the conflict alone after decades of futility, because military approaches had worsened the situation immeasurably.

"We need the assistance of the international community to end the sufferings of the Acehnese people and to restore our human dignity because we will never believe Indonesia when they say they will help us," said Farida Hariyani, a prominent social worker in Sigli, Pidie, who has been helping relatives of victims of military atrocities in Aceh.

After two years of negotiations, on Dec. 9 last year, the Cessation of Hostilities Framework Agreement between Indonesia and the Free Aceh Movement was signed in Geneva.

Just six days before the peace accord, Japan, the United States and the World Bank co-chaired an international conference for the rebuilding and reconstruction of Aceh in Tokyo. Realizing that the devout Acehnese Muslims could be suspicious if the U.S. took a leading role there, Washington allowed Japan to play a more prominent role in collecting funds for Aceh. Last month, the Consultative Group on Indonesia (CGI), a group of donor countries, met in Bali and expressed their commitment to rebuild Aceh. However so far, only Japan has taken concrete measures by pledging US$10 million for the Acehnese. Half of the aid will be channeled through the World Food Program (WFP).

"They have strong economic interests in Aceh," local economist Nazamuddin explained about the western countries' motivation to help Aceh. He also added that the concern over rampant piracy in the Malacca Strait had become another factor for western countries to help Aceh because an unstable Aceh could become fertile soil for terrorism, as well as increase drug and weapons trafficking.

"We believe that poverty is one of major roots of the problems in Aceh," Japanese Ambassador for Indonesia Yutaka Iimura told the Post a few days before the Tokyo conference.

Meanwhile, HDC is assigned to facilitate the implementation of the agreement. The Joint Security Committee (JSC) was set up to monitor and enforce the agreement. The committee comprises the representatives of GAM and Indonesia and prominent figures from a third party cobbled together under HDC. The third party mostly consists of military officers from Thailand and the Philippines. Thailand's Maj. Gen. Tanongsuk Tuvinum heads the JSC.

"They have been fighting (militarily) for 26 years. We cannot overcome that overnight," Tanongsuk said in Banda Aceh, about people's expectations.

Now the presence of JSC is strongly felt in Banda Aceh and other regencies. Its official Kijang automobiles, with JSC flags, can be seen passing by in Sigli, Langsa, Bireun and soon will also operate in 20 other regencies and mayoralties.

Meanwhile, following the implementation of the Geneva peace agreement, Aceh will begin a critical period on Sunday, when the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) is officially scheduled to begin gradually disarming, while simultaneously the Indonesian Military (TNI) will also start recalling most of its 22,600 soldiers back to bases and reformulate their mandate from a strike force to a defensive force.

According to the agreement, the maintenance of law and order will continue under the auspices of the Indonesian Police. The mandate of the Police Mobile Brigade (Brimob) will be adjusted to strictly conform to regular police activities.

On Sunday, eight new peace zones will also be declared, in addition to the first demilitarized zone in Indrapuri, Aceh Besar regency on Jan 25.

There is a lot of pessimism outside of Aceh with regard to the ambitious five-month demilitarization plan. How can the two warring parties voluntarily disarm themselves while GAM still sticks to its independence goal and the TNI has made it clear that it will never tolerate any separatist movements? Both of them are now trading allegations that each side has been consolidating power in the last two months.

The road to peace is still very long and many observers have expressed doubts about the disarmament scenario. Despite all of the pessimistic views, however, the Acehnese people are happily experiencing peace which was elusive for 26 years until Dec. 9, 2002. The presence of international monitors after the peace accord may be the decisive factor in the successful implementation of the agreement.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed during the prolonged violence. People want a normal life regardless of their support for independence or the unitary state of Indonesia.

International assistance is crucial to help Indonesia end the grief of the Acehnese people and rebuild their new future. The world community fully respects Indonesia's territorial integrity, but when Indonesia itself does not show respect of its own citizens, it should not blame other countries when the Acehnese revolt against Jakarta.

Only by restoring Acehnese people's dignity and punishing those who committed human rights violations and other crimes in the province, either from the military or GAM, can the people be convinced that they are true citizens of Indonesia.