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