Peaceful, prosperous Aceh remains just a dream

Peaceful, prosperous Aceh remains just a dream

Imanuddin Razak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesian government officials and Free Aceh Movement (GAM)
representatives have returned to their respective homes after the
fourth round of peace talks in Helsinki, Finland.

Yet, the six-day meeting, which concluded on May 31, still
were unable to produce satisfactory results as they seem to have
a lot of unfinished business, requiring a fifth meeting before
they can reach a final agreement.

The apparent tough times during the meeting, which was
mediated by former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari, were also
marred by armed clashes between Indonesian troops and GAM
fighters in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam's North Aceh district, a GAM
stronghold, on the second day of the bilateral talks on May 27.

The clashes were a setback to the government's decision a week
earlier to lift a one-year-old state of civil emergency in the
troubled province, a move earlier believed by many as a positive
sign for a settlement of the complex problems in Aceh.

The fourth round of talks were later proven unsuccessful as
GAM and the Indonesian Military (TNI) failed to reach an
agreement on a cease-fire, which has been demanded by the
separatists.

The reasons given by the TNI in rejecting GAM's demand, were
based on the military's assessment that the movement's previous
maneuver, which according to the TNI had benefited too much from
a cease-fire in 2003, and used the time to consolidate its
members and conducted armed activities.

The TNI, through Chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto, has
maintained a hard line approach to the Aceh insurgency, saying
that the military would continue to try to quell the rebel group
until they fully surrendered their arms.

By observing Jakarta's rigid position, we may conclude that
the fifth round of talks, if any, will end up in a failure as
none of the two conflicting camps are likely willing to restrain
themselves and pursue a peaceful solution as earlier regulated by
the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR).

A 1999 decree of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR)
mandates that the government must seek a peaceful settlement in
Aceh.

The question will then be whether, in such a non-productive
environment, it is still necessary to proceed with dialogs in the
future because both camps are just going to maintain their same
positions, and there will never be a peaceful settlement to the
prolonged problems.

Nonetheless, settlement by way of military might should not be
the government's only method as wise men say that there will
always be solutions to problems. The difference will only be in
the time span needed to settle different problems.

Perhaps we can learn from and implement a popular Chinese
proverb, which is applicable when one deals with a prolonged
problem or dispute: "A long road will reveal a horse's
endurance."

A liberal interpretation of the proverb may suggest that it
may take a very long time to settle the Aceh problems and
subsequently bring peace and prosperity to the people.

However, such prolonged efforts to bring an end to the
problems must not end up in failure as was the case the country's
former East Timor province.

The independence of East Timor in 1999 should be the only and
the last case of an unsuccessful approach to complex problems of
a province, including separatism.

We may still remember that intense diplomatic approaches by
Jakarta failed to bring a permanent settlement over the East
Timor problems in the absence of peace and security on the ground
in East Timor.

And Indonesian people will find it difficult to see Aceh
separated from Indonesia only because there is no coordinated or
integrated settlement to the Aceh problems.

It will hurt the heart of the Indonesian people to see their
Acehnese brothers and sisters wave and say goodbye and establish
a separate state like the East Timorese did in 1999. Aceh has
been historically and should always be a part of Indonesia.

The responsibility lies now with the Indonesian policymakers
and policy executors, as well as GAM itself. They just should
bear in mind that they will lose a lot if Aceh becomes
independent and then later discover that third parties will
benefit from the province's wealth of oil and gas resources.