Mega needs tender approach in Aceh: Acehnese figures

Mega needs tender approach in Aceh: Acehnese figures

JAKARTA (JP): Acehnese legislators and community leaders
appealed on Thursday for President Megawati Soekarnoputri to take
concrete reconciliatory measures to resolve the prolonged Aceh
problem during her visit to the strife-torn province next week.

Karimun Usman, a legislator of the Indonesian Democratic Party
of Struggle, said the President should hold a "heart to heart"
dialog with all elements of the Acehnese community, including the
separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM), to listen to what they
expected from the government to end the prolonged conflict.

"Both Acehnese officials and the President's aides should not
engineer the meeting, but allow the Acehnese people to raise all
of their problems to the surface so that the President knows what
she has to do for Aceh," he told The Jakarta Post here on
Thursday.

President Megawati was initially scheduled to leave for Aceh
on Sept. 2, but the trip was then postponed until later next
week. It is not yet clear what the President's itinerary in Aceh
involves or how much time she will spend there.

Officials have said that during her visit the President will
hold a dialogue with the Acehnese people and promote the newly
signed Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam autonomy law, which gives the
Acehnese more freedom in managing their own affairs.

Megawati said on Tuesday that the Acehnese should take full
advantage of the special autonomy law, but at the same time she
warned that separatist elements would be promptly crushed.

Farhan Hamid, a United Development Party (PPP) legislator,
urged Megawati to end the military approach employed to deal with
the Acehnese.

"Megawati must be able to end the military's cruelty and the
police's arrogance in Aceh, which have sowed the seeds of hatred
among the Acehnese toward the central government," he said.

He said the President's planned visit would be futile and
leave the Acehnese people indifferent, just as her predecessors
had done, unless she took sincere humanitarian actions to win the
hearts of the Acehnese people, including the rebels.

Nurlip, an Acehnese Golkar Party legislator, agreed and said
that the government, including the military and police, should
act in line with anything the President promised during her
visit.

"The Aceh problem will be able to be resolved quickly if the
government, including security authorities and local
administrations, have the political will to develop the
province," he said.

Meanwhile, Bachtiar Aly, an Acehnese figure in Jakarta, called
on the President to express her apology before the Acehnese
during her visit and follow it up with concrete steps to create a
reconciliatory relationship with them.

"Besides her recent apology, if Megawati makes another apology
directly before the Acehnese in Aceh, it will certainly be valued
significantly by the Acehnese," he said.

The apology, however, should be followed up by a comprehensive
policy, such as compensating relatives of victims of human rights
violations, building an Islamic center, providing free-of-charge
education services and creating a special post office box to
channel local people's aspirations and complaints.

Bachtiar added that the visit would serve as a good chance for
the President to deliver the promise made by her father,
Indonesia's first president Sukarno, to make Aceh a special
province under Islamic law.

"Megawati will be able to win the hearts of the Acehnese if
she positions herself as a lovely sister, treats the Acehnese as
a big family and listens to their true problems," he said. (rms)