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.