Self-rule demand a tough issue in new GAM talks

Self-rule demand a tough issue in new GAM talks

Muninggar Sri Saraswati
The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

A top-level government delegation will hold a third-round of
peace talks with officials of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in
Finland next week in a bid to seek a peaceful way to end nearly
three decades of armed conflict in Aceh.

Vice President Jusuf Kalla said the team of ministers, who
would fly to Finland on Sunday for the six-day talks starting on
April 12, would among others seek explanation from GAM about its
proposed self-rule concept.

"The agenda (will) lead to a settlement," he said after a
Cabinet meeting in his office late on Thursday.

Kalla said previously that the government expected to reach an
agreement with GAM by June.

The Indonesian delegation includes chief negotiator Minister
of Justice and Human Rights Hamid Awaluddin, Minister of
Communication and Information Sofyan Djalil and several other
high-ranking officials. Coordinating Minister for Security,
Legal and Political Affairs Widodo Adi Sucipto will serve as the
supervisor to the delegation.

Meeri-Mariia Jaarva of the Crisis Management Initiative (CMI),
a Finland-based non-government organization that has organized
the talks, confirmed the planned meeting, saying that it would be
held on the outskirts of Helsinki.

"The next talks will cover similar issues as the previous
talking rounds: the special autonomy, security arrangements,
economic relations, amnesty, outside monitoring ... " Jaarva was
quoted by AFP as saying.

The last formal cease fire between the two sides broke down in
May 2003, prompting the Megawati Soekarnoputri government to
launch a major military assault to crush the GAM rebels, putting
the province under martial rule. It later downgraded martial law
into a permanent status of civil emergency, barring all foreign
press and aid workers.

However after the devastating Dec. 26 tsunami, the government
allowed foreign aid workers, troops and journalists to enter the
province. The disaster also led both sides to resume peace
negotiations.

The first two rounds of discussions, both in Helsinki, have
focused on a government offer to grant Aceh special autonomy,
with the rebels indicating they may drop demands for full
independence if certain conditions are met. During the last talks
in February, top GAM officials demanded a form of self-rule for
the province.

Sofyan Djalil said the government would seek an explanation
from GAM about its proposed self-rule concept.

"They want self-government. We don't know what it means,"
Sofyan said.

Indonesia, he said, still stuck to its offer of special
autonomy for Aceh as "a peaceful and dignified settlement" to the
conflict.

"It needs to be discussed further. What is the meaning of
this (self-rule) term? The most important thing is the
substance. Hopefully, the upcoming talks will lead to an
agreement," he said.

During the talks, the government would no longer object to the
involvement of Damien Kingsbury, an Australian academic who
served as an adviser to the GAM delegation, he said.

Meanwhile, Kingsbury was quoted by Reuters as saying that the
Indonesian government and GAM could reach a historic peace deal
by August.

"I think there is not so much problem with the term self-
government. The issue is around content obviously. Now there is
concern in Indonesia that this is a back door to independence,"
Kingsbury said.

"Now what the GAM has to do is to persuade them that this is
not in fact a back door to independence, but is self-government
within the (Indonesian) republic," he said.

Kingsbury said one of GAM's major concerns was the presence of
the Indonesian Military in the province, and that the rebels
wanted free elections to be held.

"They are asking for elections in which they would participate
as a legitimate and equal party, and assuming they were given a
majority they would expect to form a government in Aceh," he
said.

That could be a sticking point for Jakarta since Indonesian
political parties are supposed to be active in most of the
country's provinces, not just one of them.

Kingsbury, who said he has been in Indonesia recently and has
met with Indonesian leaders, said GAM wanted any peace deal to be
internationally guaranteed. "Not the UN. It will be external. The
makeup of the guarantors is still being discussed. We have a
fairly clear idea of who that will be."

That could be another tough issue.