Meeting GAM halfway

Meeting GAM halfway

The government and the proindependence groups in Aceh appear
to have reached a deadlock even before opening any dialog to
resolve the crisis. The government on the one hand has firmly
rejected any notion of a self-determination vote in Aceh,
understandably because it fears that it would set off similar
demands from other provinces. On the other hand, proindependence
groups in Aceh, led by the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), are
demanding no less than a referendum. With both sides hardening
their positions these past few weeks, it is doubtful whether the
long-awaited visit by President Abdurrahman Wahid to the
territory, if and when it happens, will have any real impact.

Aceh meanwhile is fast degenerating into a state of
lawlessness. Police have already lost control over parts of the
territory as armed gangs roam around terrorizing the populace.
The government is increasingly coming under pressure to send the
military back to Aceh to restore order. But with the military
already widely discredited for its past atrocities in Aceh,
another military operation would further antagonize the people
there. Since the Aceh problem was largely the military's undoing,
sending troops back there would only heighten the tension.

Aceh nevertheless is desperate for a solution, and the only
way to find one is if both sides are willing to meet halfway. The
initiative could come from President Abdurrahman, and this is
something that he could present the people with when he
eventually travels to Aceh.

Although it has firmly rejected the demand for a referendum,
the government in Jakarta cannot simply turn a blind eye to the
independence aspirations in Aceh. The problem is how best to deal
with these aspirations, which exist not only in Aceh, but also in
other provinces. Past regimes of course had an easy answer: send
in the military to quell these groups. But our unhappy
experiences in East Timor, Aceh and Irian Jaya should have told
us by now that a military option is not a solution at all. In the
case of Aceh, we can no longer accept the lost of another life
through a military operation.

The best and most effective way of dealing with separatist
aspirations is to make some political accommodations. We could
let these people form political parties that would fight for
their separatist causes through the political system. GAM in
Aceh, the Free Papua Movement (OPM) in Irian Jaya, and probably
Fretilin in East Timor, would not have taken up arms against
Jakarta rule if their independence aspirations had found the
necessary political outlets in the first place.

In the case of Aceh, instead of a referendum, President
Abdurrahman could offer GAM the chance to turn itself into a
political party, and fight whatever causes it wishes to pick up,
within the system. That means it would have to fight in a
democratic way. The reverse is also true. Those political parties
who are obsessed with preserving national unity must fight
through the system too.

President Abdurrahman, however, cannot go it alone. He needs
to convince the House of Representatives to repeal the political
laws which, because of our past blind obsession with national
unity, compel all political parties to be based in Jakarta. The
laws, while imposing no limit on the number of political parties,
effectively closes off all avenues for regional aspirations which
Jakarta-based political parties clearly cannot, or more
appropriately are not willing to, accommodate.

The current decentralization drive, while laudable, is limited
to giving autonomy, delegating administrative tasks from the
central to the regional governments. It has not been accompanied
by the decentralization of power, which would give regions
greater say in the way politics is managed in this country.
Repealing the political laws, and allowing people in the regions
to set up their own political parties, would go a long way toward
accommodating regional sentiments and discontent. The experience
of regional based parties in Scotland and Quebec, who are
fighting for separation through the political systems, shows that
while they do not speak for the entire populace, they have been
effective in securing concessions for their respective regions
from the central administration in London or Ottawa. Regional
based political parties in Indonesia could provide a similar
effective check and balance on the powers of Jakarta.

If and when President Abdurrahman travels to Aceh, rather than
making rhetorical speeches about national unity, he should come
up with a concrete proposal to break the current impasse. He
could propose to deregulate the political system, and allow the
people in Aceh, and all other regions, to form their own
political parties different from the ones in Jakarta.

In this present era of democracy, everything that determines
the future of this country must, from now on, be settled by
democratic means. Whether it is independence, regional autonomy,
federalism, or even national unity and territorial integrity
being fought for, it should be fought for through ballots, and
not with bullets.