Susilo seeks support from military, MPR for Aceh peace

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono visited Indonesian Military (TNI) headquarters on Wednesday in order to convince the armed forces that the peace deal with Aceh rebels would not pose a threat to national integrity.

Speaking in a media conference, however, Cabinet Secretary Sudi Silalahi declined to elaborate on the President's directives to military officials.

Sudi said the President briefed military top brass about the current issues facing the country, including the Aceh peace settlement, and asked them to remain professional and stay out of politics.

When asked about the peace deal with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), Sudi replied: "Because of the President's briefing, and because the (TNI) chief had already explained the accord to the top officers, there were no questions (from the audience) regarding the issue."

The briefing was conducted behind closed doors at the Gatot Subroto Hall in TNI Headquarters in Cilangkap, East Jakarta, and lasted three hours.

Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Widodo Adi Sucipto and Sudi accompanied Susilo during the meeting that was also attended by TNI chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto, Navy Chief of Staff Adm. Slamet Soebijanto, Air Force Chief of Staff Marshal Joko Suyanto, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Djoko Santoso and regional military commanders from across the country.

Each of the officers in attendance was given a copy of the Memorandum of Understanding on the Aceh peace settlement signed by the government and GAM on Aug. 15 in Helsinki.

The signing has sparked criticism from House of Representatives lawmakers, who have said they would challenge the government when it comes to deliberation of bills to implement the peace agreement.

Presidential spokesman Andi Mallarangeng said the meeting was the President's initiative.

"He wants to talk to everybody, not just the TNI. There was nothing special about the meeting, as the President is the TNI Supreme Commander," he said.

Susilo is a retired Army general.

After the meeting, Susilo held a meeting with People's Consultative Assembly leaders at the Merdeka Palace. Vice President Jusuf Kalla was present at the discussion.

At a post-meeting press conference, Susilo said the main subject of the discussion was about efforts to end the conflict in Aceh peacefully without compromising national unity.

"... all of us want the unity and sovereignty of Indonesia to remain strong while at the same time (we also want) the problems in Aceh to be settled. I want to assert that the fundamental commitment of the MOU is the settlement of the conflict within the framework of the unitary republic of Indonesia," he said.

To assure the public of the government's commitment to national unity, Susilo said he would meet British Prime Minister Tony Blair and former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari, who facilitated the peace talks, on the sidelines of a United Nations summit in New York next week.

"I plan to meet Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is also the president of the European Union, who supports the settlement (of the Aceh conflict). I will talk about the fundamental commitments so that there will no multiple interpretations, but only the peaceful settlement of the Aceh conflict within the framework of the unitary republic of Indonesia.

"I will also meet President Martti Ahtisaari for the same reason. We are very serious in resolving Aceh's problems in accordance with the fundamental commitment," he said.

EU sent some 200 monitors to join the Aceh Monitoring Mission (AMM), which is responsible for overseeing the demilitarization of Aceh after the peace deal. The mission was set up based on the peace deal.

Assembly Speaker Hidayat Nur Wahid said the Assembly supported the peace deal but asked that the government explain the contents of the peace deal to parties who might have different interpretations.