Legislators renew calls for dialog to solve Aceh problems
Legislators renew calls for dialog to solve Aceh problems
Ahmad Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Legislators at the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR)
renewed their calls on Wednesday for the government to give
priority to dialog in solving the Aceh problem.
"The President should continue dialog with GAM and other
components of society in Aceh to peacefully settle the conflict,"
commission spokesman Alexander Litaay said in a plenary session.
The commission placed conflict settlement in Aceh at the top
of its list of recommendations to President Megawati
Soekarnoputri. Litaay of the Indonesian Democratic Party of
Struggle also said it was advisable for the government to move
negotiations with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) separatist rebels
from Switzerland to Indonesia.
The recommendation on Aceh was given in response to Megawati's
progress report delivered in the MPR's plenary session last
Thursday.
Megawati promised tougher action against GAM as part of the
government efforts to end the prolonged conflict.
The commission's recommendation on Aceh corresponded with the
latest developments on the Aceh issue. Also on Wednesday,
Muhammadiyah chairman A. Syafi'i Maarif revealed that the
Acehnese community in Jakarta had asked several Muslim figures to
mediate the dialog on Aceh.
The Muslim leaders are Syafi'i, former deputy chief of
Nahdlatul Ulama Ali Yafie, Muslim scholar Nurcholis Madjid,
former foreign minister Ali Alatas and former home affairs
minister Surjadi Soedirdja.
Recent dialogs between the government and GAM were mediated by
the Swiss-based Henry Dunant Centre. The center's three "wise
men", including Anthony Zinni, a retired U.S. general, are
currently in Aceh to encourage both sides to continue the peace
talks.
The commission also recommended the government protect the
Acehnese from any kind of disturbance through the use of
balanced, professional and cultural approaches.
"(The government should) uphold the law and settle the human
rights violations by establishing a human rights investigation
committee and an ad hoc tribunal," he said.
Thousands of people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the
prolonged armed conflict in Aceh.
Apart from Aceh, the commission also recommended the
government settle human right violations in Papua and establish
an ad hoc tribunal to end conflicts there.
He said the government should learn from the experience of
Poso in Central Sulawesi and Maluku. Warring parties involved in
the conflicts in the two provinces have agreed to end enmity and
have strived to maintain the hard-won peace.