Leave Aceh to civilians, scholar say
Leave Aceh to civilians, scholar say
Suherdjoko, The Jakarta Post, Semarang, Central Java
Noted religious leaders and Muslim scholars urged the government
on Saturday to leave the Aceh question to civilians to avoid war
between the Indonesian military (TNI) and the Free Aceh Movement
(GAM).
Syafii Maarif, Solahuddin Wahid and Nurcholis Madjid called on
the government to pursue dialog to resolve the decades-long
conflict in Aceh once and for all.
"If the government insists on taking military action to settle
the Aceh conflict, Aceh will be very, very bloody," said Syafii,
chairman of Muhammadiyah, the country's second largest Muslim
organization with about 30 million members.
Although the government appointed a civilian, Wiryono
Sastrohandoyo, as its chief negotiator in talks with GAM,
Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono, a four-star (ret.) general, still calls the
shots.
Moreover, the government's representatives on the Joint
Security Committee, which is tasked with monitoring the
implementation of the peace accord signed between the government
and GAM in December 2002, are either military or police
personnel. This leaves one with the impression that the Aceh
question is a conflict between TNI and GAM.
TNI and police leaders have persistently accused GAM of
reneging on the peace accord, pointing particularly at the
secessionist movement's continued campaign for independence and
failure to meet the disarmament timeline.
Under the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement (COHA), GAM
agreed to accept the special autonomy status for Aceh as the sole
basis for future dialog and lay down arms in stages until July
2003. The government, for its part, agreed to end all military
operations and reposition troops from strike positions to
defensive ones. Both sides, however, had failed to comply with
the agreement.
The government had invited GAM to a Joint Council meeting to
discuss the violations but the rebels declined, a move that could
be seen as withdrawing from the peace deal.
Susilo said earlier this week that TNI leaders would brief
Megawati on detailed preparations for military operations during
a limited cabinet meeting next week.
Syafii called on both the government and GAM to pursue dialog
to settle their differences.
Syafii suggested that Megawati appoint civilians to handle the
Aceh issue and give them full authority to resolve the problem
once and for all.
"Don't appoint anyone from the military. I would choose Yusuf
Kalla as facilitator in the Aceh conflict," Syafii said.
Yusuf Kalla, a respected Golkar politician, is currently the
Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare. He, to a certain
extent, successfully pacified warring sides in the Maluku and
Central Sulawesi provinces, where 8,000 mainly civilian Muslims
and Christians have died in a bloody religious conflicts.
Solahuddin, meanwhile, said civilians assigned to settle the
Aceh question may join the Henry Dunant Centre (HDC), a
Switzerland-based non-governmental organization that brokered the
peace accord signed by the government and GAM on Dec. 9, 2002.
"I think there is still time to settle the Aceh conflict
through dialog," said Solahuddin, a chairman of NU, the country's
biggest Muslim organization with 50 million members.
According to Solahuddin, who is also a deputy chairman of the
National Commission for Human Rights, military operations should
never be launched in Aceh.
Noted Muslim scholar Nurcholis concurred with Syafii and
Solahuddin, saying the HDC had failed to resolve conflicts in
Aceh.
"The government should immediately appoint civilians to handle
the Aceh question. The civilians can be Acehnese holding
positions in Jakarta," he said.
"Acehnese have a long, proud history of war. They fought the
Dutch for 30 years and were never defeated," he warned.