Peace in Aceh, how soon?

Peace in Aceh, how soon?

President Abdurrahman Wahid's assurance that the unrest in
Aceh, this country's westernmost province, will before long
belong in the past cannot have failed to hearten many
Indonesians, not in the least those tens of thousands, security
officers and ordinary people alike, whose lives have in one way
or another been sadly affected by the decade-long strife in the
territory.

"I can now see a process to end the continuing conflict,
although in most parts of Aceh there are still armed conflicts,"
the President said on Tuesday in an address in Sabang during his
first visit to Aceh as President of Indonesia. On an earlier
occasion, Abdurrahman even mentioned April as the time when he
expected the violence in the province to be over, thus appearing
to have a definite timetable for solving the problem.

Unfortunately, events of the last few days have watered down
much of whatever optimism the public may have shared with the
President. In one of the most glaring of recent incidents -- one
that shocked even many Indonesians sympathizing with the Free
Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels -- unidentified gunmen threw grenades
and sprayed a village mosque in the Bireun regency of the
province with bullets. Mondays' incident killed six marines and
left others seriously wounded.

At the same time, the death toll on both sides of the conflict
kept rising as clashes between Free Aceh Movement insurgents and
government troops continued throughout the province during the
week. To further dim the hopes of a speedy settlement, government
reports that 310 people claiming to be GAM members had
surrendered were offset by growing demands among the population
for an independence referendum -- an absolute prerequisite to
dialog for many Acehnese, but a possibility that President
Abdurrahman's government has already ruled out. Wide-ranging
autonomy and imposition in the province of syariah (Islamic law)
is as far as the government is willing to go.

Considering those circumstances, a dialogue toward peace in
Aceh may be much further away from being realized than the
President seems to expect. During his visit to the province this
week, security considerations forced Abdurrahman to skip the Aceh
mainland (and a planned face-to-face exchange with religious and
community leaders in Banda Aceh, the provincial capital).

For certain, whatever the circumstances, it is of vital
importance that a speedy solution to the Aceh problem be found,
since it is only through a genuine meeting of minds that a
lasting solution can be found. Continued dallying can only
further complicate the situation, with potentially dangerous
consequences for the nation's unity and cohesion.

Given all this, and because Indonesians deserve to know where
precisely they stand on the Aceh issue, it is essential that the
President makes clear his statement of an expected speedy
solution of the conflict. Does Abdurrahman's stated timetable
mean he has a solid plan to settle the problem? Or is it a hope
expressed aloud?

He wouldn't be Abdurrahman Wahid if he didn't keep his
optimism under whatever circumstances. Indonesians certainly can
call themselves fortunate in this crucial era of democratic
reform to be led by a modest, populist President who is not only
capable, but has a good sense of optimism and humor. In this
case, though, President Abdurrahman owes it to the people to be
serious and to tell them exactly what their country's current
position is on Aceh, what is being planned, what has been done
and what the expectations are for the immediate future.