Mega's visit expected to pave way for peace in Aceh
By Syahruddin Hamzah
BANDA ACEH, Aceh (Antara): President Megawati Soekarnoputri's planned visit here this week has long been awaited by leaders from different spectrums of Acehnese society, including the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels.
The visit is expected to pave the way for a new policy that will bring peace to Aceh after years of armed conflict involving the military and GAM.
"We hope that the presence of Ibu Mega will bring new hope in the efforts to seek a peaceful and thorough settlement to the Aceh conflict," said Tengku Imam Suja', a community leader in Aceh.
Megawati is not expected to make extravagant promises because failure to honor any commitment would result in a loss of confidence in her administration, as occurred to her predecessors B.J. Habibie and Abdurrahman Wahid.
Past mistakes have made the Acehnese skeptical about visits by government officials.
"President Megawati should not make the same mistake if she really wants to settle the Aceh problem peacefully," Imam Suja' stressed.
He said Megawati's visit to Aceh will be significant if violence, killing, kidnapping and looting, which occur in Aceh almost every day, finally cease.
Aceh Legislative Council security commission speaker M.Nasir Jamil pointed out that violence in the province of 4.1 million people had escalated between April and August this year.
He estimated that clashes between the military and separatist rebels in Aceh had claimed the lives of 500 people in that period, the disappearance of 40 people and the destruction of 1,000 houses.
During the latest tragedy in Idi Rayeuk, East Aceh, 30 people were killed and seven others seriously wounded. All the victims were employees of a plantation company, PT Bumi Flora in Idi Rayeuk.
Idi Rayeuk was only one of numerous unexplained massacres in Aceh over the past decade.
State/Cabinet Secretary Bambang Kesowo told the press in Jakarta on Aug. 28, 2001, that during the planned visit to Aceh President Megawati would hold a dialog with local people, including GAM.
"If they (GAM) are prepared to attend the dialog, please come!" he said, adding that the President had no plan to visit any regency in the westernmost province.
House Speaker Akbar Tandjung has expressed his hope that during the Aceh visit the President can find forums for dialog with the Acehnese aimed at maintaining the unitary state of the Republic of Indonesia.
Preparedness to talk with all elements in Aceh does not mean that the government will soften its stance on GAM, according to Akbar. "We will never tolerate separatist movements," he stressed.
A House member from Aceh, Nurlif, said that the abundance of violence in Aceh had made people in the region wonder why the perpetrators were never known.
He expressed his hope that the President would endeavor to reveal those responsible for the violence upon her return to Jakarta from Aceh.
When Megawati visited Aceh just ahead of the 1999 general election in her capacity as chairwoman of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, she pledged to stop bloodshed in that region. Now Aceh awaits the fulfillment of her promise.